The Real Cost of Seattle's Next Transport Bill Would Come from Not Passing It
Just watching the staggering change that has happened now that Capitol Hill and University Link stations have opened makes me both thrilled for the next ones (U-District, Roosevelt, and Northgate) and insanely jealous of the handful of areas inside the city that are going to get real, grade-separated mass transit over the next two or three decades.  It is already far too late for me to afford to buy housing in any of the coming-very-soon areas that is walkable to the new train stations and the new stations (Ballard and West Seattle Link) are going to areas that are already priced out of most affordability.<p>Though I understand the political and infrastructure reasons <i>why</i> we have to build light rail to the suburban areas before filling in the urban core[0], that doesn&#x27;t stop me from being sad that, in my lifetime, already-dense areas like Georgetown or the Central District or Lake City or even Greenwood[1] won&#x27;t see real high-capacity transit.  (Having a single station in the CD&#x27;s Judkins Park doesn&#x27;t really count, not when Interbay and Ballard are getting five stations between them, or when West Seattle has four.)  I read somewhere, probably on Seattle Transit Blog[2] from someone who likes to rant about this stuff like I do, that route 48 through the CD has more daily riders <i>now</i> than the train to Issaquah is supposed to have five years after it opens in 2035.<p>But Goldy makes the most salient point: Voting against Sound Transit 3 doesn&#x27;t accomplish anything except, maybe, make Sound Transit <i>more</i> cautious in a second vote and less willing to put out a big package to build for the next generation.  Voting for it doesn&#x27;t get a perfect system, but I think that it helps more than saying no.<p>0 - Because Sound Transit is a regionwide taxing district so the region has to pass it and selling voters in Everett on a transit package that builds only in Seattle will not fly; because we should have been building Ballard Link 30 years ago so, by that same logic, we need to build Redmond and Issaquah Links <i>now</i> instead of waiting 30 years...<p>1 - Yes, I realize that &quot;85th St Station&quot; is marked as &quot;provisional&quot; and that 85th is the southern boundary of Crown Hill and that having a light rail stop west of IH-5 with easy bus and RapidRide access from west Greenwood and Crown Hill would be a good compromise...but nothing would beat having a station parked right at NW 100th and Holman.<p>2 - It&#x27;s a good blog, you should read it: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;seattletransitblog.com" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;seattletransitblog.com</a>