Monorail a go: In nail-biter, 'yes' votes finish 868 ahead

The Seattle Times ^ | November 20, 2002 | By Mike Lindblom

[freedomcrusader]

Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?
-- Homer, ``Marge vs. the Monorail''

[Antoninus]

"I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, and it sure put them on the map."

[zingzang]

What is this going to accomplish for the greater Seattle area? As sure as there's rain in this town 9 months out of the year, this thing will be massively over budget in the end. All for what? So the people living in Alki Beach can commute quicker than taking the ferry? That's great, but meanwhile I-5 from Everett to Tacoma remains a parking lot. This does nothing to releive the gridlock, and everything to serve the snooty Seattle dorks who want some new toy to play with. Had referendum 51 included the monorail, I bet it would have passed. Instead, voters decided to kill something that could have helped the entire state (emphasis on could considering the slime running this place) and voted for something to help only themselves. When people start fleeing the area due to exhorbitant taxes and a crumbling infrastructure, I hope they like their shiny monorail.

[MotleyGirl70]

LOL!

Phil Hartman (RIP) was that guys voice, right?

[CougarGA7]

Poor Phil Hartman. A friend of mine told his wife after that happened that if she ever felt like doing that to do herself first then go get him.

[MotleyGirl70]

Phil did the best Clinton impression.

He was one of my all-time favorites on SNL.

[MotleyGirl70]

She sounds a bit psycho to think like that.

[CougarGA7]

She was. We helped him build a house and then she divorced him and took the house.

[MotleyGirl70]

Nice girl /sarcasm

[thesharkboy]

I thought it was more of a Shelbyville idea.

[John O]

Let the construction begin!

Like all mass transit this will fail miserably. Sure it will be ok for a while until the novelty wears off. And then the requests for increased subsidy from government will start and soon it will be almost entirely a useless tax burden.

The killer is that people never change and people want to be around people just like them. I think the guy's name was John Rocker who complained about mass transit in NYC that way. He was right then and the sentiment is still right.

I, like most folk I know, would rather drive in the privacy of my own car, safely insulated from the smells and sounds of the strange people in the town I live in. Paying $100 or more a month for parking is infinitly better than paying $50 a month for mass transit.

God Save America (Please)

[irishtenor]

I live about 5 miles from the Seattle line and I didn't get to vote. I better not be taxed for it.

[HardStarboard]

Listen - there are a lot of folks in Ballard that have relatives in West Seattle and vice-versa. It's only right that we build a monorail to facilitate their ability to visit each other.

Hell, its only $1.4Billion; with all the whining you'd think we had better uses for the money.

[HardStarboard]

>>>I live about 5 miles from the Seattle line and I didn't get to vote. I better not be taxed for it.<<<

Ha1! But look at the bright side - its only about $140/year per $10,000 value of your automobiles. Hope you aren't into Benz's or Beemers.

[irishtenor]

They'd better not start importing lutefisk!

[Rate_Determining_Step]

Kudos to Seattle voters.
Let the obstructionist luddites squawk.
Let the construction begin! 

You suffer from a lack of pertinent information here my good friend Green. All things being equal, and from the face of it, you're thinking "great, a step forward".

Not so fast. This city is the most politically correct place on the planet. Institutionalized incompetence, Eco-Lawyers and and old-boy patronage system will conspire to see that this thing is never build anywhere near budget.

The following illustrates this exactly:

[Tribune7]

News Radio was great.