Skip to main content

Seattle, The Viaduct, and Life In The City

Here’s my response to this article/survey (online at the Seattle PI).

The Question:

What's the best option for the viaduct?

Gov. Gregoire seems to have resuscitated the possibility for a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Have you decided what transportation option you want on the waterfront? If not, what information do you need in order to come to a decision?

Looking over the debate, the mayor only seems to be concerned about the beautification aspects of this whole debate. I'm bothered by the fact that few folks are mentioning the economic impact of tunnel construction, how we will mitigate the effects of this roadway being inaccessible for nearly a decade, or, of course, the justification of the extra expense. The tunnel hasn't been sold to me, at least.

Personally, I’m worried that this project has not been thought through. The economic impacts for areas such as Ballard and immense, and haven’t been publicly addressed/discussed. Mayor Nickels has not addressed many of the valid criticisms of his plan, and certainly hasn’t made a case for the tunnel option being better. The only I see in the tunnel is the beautification of the waterfront. A great thing, don’t get me wrong. I’m just not convinced that it’s worth the other costs incurred.

Comments

Unknown said…
I've basically given up on the entire public transportation system in Seattle. Sadly, I also gave up on driving a while ago, too, so the former is my only mode of transportation. But the monorail shut down, my busses tend to be 20 minutes late (literally) and for some reason the express buses and the normal busses that go down the exact same path come at the exact same time. Why is that? I still have to wait 30 minutes each time for the bus, so what exactly makes it so "express?"

But that's just me ranting about Seattle transportation. In response to your question: If they stop spending money on road reconstruction for roads that barely have a single pothole, they probably can find a little extra money in the budget, but it is not worth the time or trouble for something that will not be completed for a decade.
Carl said…
For several years I was able to live exclusively on public transit in Seattle. However, I lived just out of downtown, one block up the hill from the ride free zone. Also, I worked downtown, and their was a small grocery about 2 blocks away. Once I started working at Northgate, busing was too limiting and annoying (for all the reasons you point out). Now, I live up north and taking the bus goes from annoying to grossly inconvenient.

Sadly, there are times that I think the whole mess in Seattle is just hopeless.

Popular posts from this blog

iPad and other glories

Perhaps I’m the only Macfan that’s not gaga over the iPad. It’s an interesting idea, but I’m just not sold on the concept. For what it offers, I think it would be valuable (to me) at a much lower price-point. Say, < $100. Then I could conceive. Heck, if it were $200 I would be sorely, SORELY tempted. But not $500. It doesn’t offer me much more than my iPhone. And I almost never use my Sony eReader (if the Mac version of the desktop software actually worked with it, then I might use it more). Anyway, if the iPad had handwriting recognition, or could do more with photo editing...I don’t know.

Link of the Day

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind. We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Perhaps somewhat sacrilegious (ok, ok...nuke the "somewhat"), but I found this hysterical. I wonder, though, if they've made any money.

Photo Streams

Ok, as I’m getting my photography back up, I’m wondering about online photo services. Right now, I have a Flickr stream as well as Picasa . They both offer online editing and such things. All in all I can’t see any difference except for the networks (individuals) connected. My Flickr stream has a few subscribers, only one “link” to my Picasa. Flickr seems to offer more choices regarding formal prints, but I haven’t used that yet. Thus I feel puzzled about which to focus on. First, I guess, I need to figure out what I need. The main thing I want is to have an easy way to connect. Most of the editing I do is on my machine. However, I have found that it’s nice to be able to edit something that I’ve sent from my phone (they rarely look like the phone screen). So, a question to you folks. What other services have you tried? Smugmug? What is good? What features have you seen that didn’t seem important at first, but have become indispensable?