Sound Transit’s train wreck?
Here is some clarification of misleading statements in earlier letters.
1. Congestion with light rail will be less than congestion without it. Yes, congestion will exist either way but the train will make available an option for people to avoid congestion on the roadways.
2. True, few daily person trips will be by light rail. Trips to grocery stores, schools, barber shops, restaurants, clinics, etc. may not be convenient by light rail. It will help work commutes the most thereby reducing peak hour congestion.
3. The I-90 center roadway will be closed with or without ST3. Voters already approved this project and the construction will proceed to convert the center roadway to rail transportation. ST3 will only make the center of I-90 more fully utilized by increasing the number of trains in the exclusive rail center.
4. The transfer of express lanes, elimination of center roadway detours, addition of MI parking, or agreements for HOV mitigation will not change with or without ST3. The City Council is currently negotiating mitigation.
5. The sales tax increases for the MISD $40,000 tax exposure would be about $200.
6. ST3 will increase mobility for MI residents by providing convenient access to Everett, Ballard, University District, Downtown Seattle, West Seattle, Tacoma, Issaquah, Redmond, South Kirkland, and all areas in route to these locations regardless of how congested the roadways become. Not being imprisoned by congested roadways will make the Island more desirable for Mercer Island residents.
Mark Madden
Mercer Island
Vote no on ST3
There are some good reasons why anyone in King County should vote NO on ST3. I’m focusing on why Mercer Islanders should vote NO.
Public transit is a community thing and every community has to make sure that its needs are met. If we are approving our taxes for a mammoth public transit project shouldn’t we also get transit that fits our needs as well? The fact is that over the last ten years Sound Transit and Metro have not provided new local service or even maintained existing transit services for Mercer Island. Consider the following negative effects of these agencies on Mercer Island: Over the last 10 years all of our usable community bus service to Seattle has been canceled. The East Link Light Rail project will change nothing for Mercer Island as it is no more usable than the present 550 bus route. Analysis indicates that at full capacity East Link will only reduce traffic on I-90 by 1%. We are loosing the express lanes next year and the plan is to re-stripe the remaining freeway to remove the ample wide shoulders for HOV lanes. As someone who grew up with the old (no shoulder) floating bridge in the 60s, I can assure that this is not going to be pretty. When you drive to work, count on an extra one hour delay at least every month.
Given our large contribution to Metro and Sound Transit, don’t we deserve something in return? If you think yes, then please be aware that at this point we are not getting it. The Mayor tried very hard to reverse the sacking of our bus service but with little effect. At this point Sound Transit and Metro don’t need to pay attention to Mercer Island, the Mayor or the City Council because there have been no consequences for the bad treatment that the Island has received from these agencies. We might have unknowingly bought into ST2 but now, we have a chance to send a message, no more money Sound Transit until you take care of our community.
Clark Powell
Mercer Island
