Board must restore faith Friday, January 5, 2001 POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD The group of citizens that oversees Sound Transit has slammed the agency's management of the Central Link light rail project in a stinging critique. The blistering letter from Reid Shockey, chairman of the Citizens Oversight Panel, left little doubt that the light rail portion of the massive transit project is in trouble. The Citizens Oversight Panel report said management had broken promises to the voters, failed to exercise proper management and financial controls, disregarded the panel's warnings about escalating costs and, in general, "not served the board or public well. "Sound Move, the voter-approved 1996 Regional Transit Plan, promised to be 'based on extremely conservative cost ... assumptions' and to have 'adopted strict cost management control principles to make certain it stays on schedule and within budget' ... promises to the voters have been broken." The panel insists that if Sound Transit's elected board of directors is to regain the public's confidence, it must "make major management and organizational changes." If that's the case, the board is obliged to examine whether Executive Director Bob White should continue to head the agency. Members of the Sound Transit Board are left little choice now but to review whether White's continuing to lead the agency is compatible with restoring public confidence in Sound Transit.

PI editorial

Saturday, January 06, 2001, 12:00 a.m. Pacific Transit director considers resigning by Andrew Garber Seattle Times staff reporter Bob White, executive director of Sound Transit, is considering resigning. White said some board members have been discussing whether he should continue heading the agency, and he has been wondering himself. "I'd be lying to you if I said I hadn't been evaluating that question. I know individual members of the board have as well," White said, adding that he has not made a decision. If White leaves, it would be the second high-profile resignation since Sound Transit discovered there were major flaws in its estimates of how much the 21-mile light-rail project would cost, and how long it would take to build. Paul Bay, former director of the light-rail project, resigned in November after the agency revealed that a proposed 4-1/2 mile tunnel would cost $171 million more to dig than was budgeted. The news has gotten worse since then. In December, the agency announced that the entire project was $1 billion over budget and would take an additional three years to build.

Times article



-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), January 06, 2001

Answers

Nice try Mark, but Patrick is PHILOSOPHICALLY incapable of NOT believing in light rail.

Like the California environmentalists who stopped all new power generation facilities for 25 years and are now paying the piper (Gee, sounds like transportation in the Puget Sound basin), he can't believe that reality isn't some sort of a conspiracy out to get "the people."
It's not in DSM-IV, but it appears to be at least a mental blind spot if not a mental illness.

-- (zowie@hotmail.com), January 08, 2001.

SEATTLE, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Two former Washington governors, a former Metro Transit director and a group of community leaders came together today to urge the Sound Transit Board to halt its rush toward an ever-more-costly light rail plan and to closely examine alternatives such as Ride Free Express, a transportation proposal backed by the coalition.

P R Newswire

-- (mark842@hotmail.com), January 10, 2001.

Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company

Editorials & Opinion : Tuesday, February 20, 2001

Guest columnists Sound Transit: a matter of trust

By 15 members of the state Legislature

The 10-year plan for increasing transportation-system capacity in the Central Puget Sound area was dubbed "Sound Move" by its creators at the regional transportation authority, Sound Transit.

It had something for everyone: car-pool lanes, regional express bus routes, commuter rail, even light-rail routes. It'll help keep the region's economy moving, Sound Transit told us in 1996. Later that year, voters in the urban parts of King, Snohomish and Pierce counties bought into the idea, literally, by approving a local tax increase to help fund it.

Half of those 10 years are now past, and the "Sound Move" plan has fallen well short of its billing. The most visible culprit, of course, is the light-rail project, which is $1 billion over budget, three years behind schedule and the subject of a federal audit. But look at the reasons behind the budget busting - for example, how a recently proposed change in light-rail routes was designed to appease local governments and other stakeholders.

It's the sort of indecision that makes one wonder, despite the agency's official denial, just how much of the 10-year plan was completed in a vacuum, without input from the very people it is meant to serve. It's the kind of day-to-day waffling and mismanagement that wastes time, overruns budgets and over time, causes people to lose trust.

Some of us in the Legislature have noticed the loss of trust in Sound Transit. That concerns us because our state's transportation system is in dire need of expansion and repair - work that will cost billions of dollars statewide. Why should taxpayers support long-term financial commitments to transportation when Sound Transit provides such a convenient example of a commitment gone sour?

Legislators passed the 1993 law that ultimately let Sound Transit District residents decide whether to send tax dollars to their regional transit authority. Now, we believe it's time to trust them to decide whether to continue that relationship, and on what terms.

The Senate and House of Representatives have a trio of proposals to consider, all of which put Sound Transit's fate in the hands of the voters who have supported it these past five years.

One gives them the choice of staying with Sound Transit or shifting their taxes toward road improvements and local transit programs.

The second offers a revote on the grounds that the Sound Transit board's actions have significantly altered the proposition citizens approved in 1996.

The third would call for votes whenever Sound Transit chooses to deviate from established boundaries, timetables or work scope.

Transit obviously is a critical component of the solution to traffic congestion in the central Puget Sound area. So are the taxes to pay for transit. But we can't have meaningful congestion relief without first restoring citizens' trust in government's stewardship of tax dollars. Because of Sound Transit's lackluster performance so far, any taxes directed toward transit and transportation projects from here on out need to be the best-spent money in state government.

Maybe, in spite of its performance, Sound Transit should stay at the helm. If any of these bills become law, the agency will have an opportunity to make its case directly to the people, as it did five years ago. Voters will get to be the judge, as they were in 1996. That's how it should be.

At the heart of the public trust, President Abraham Lincoln once wrote, is trusting the public. Government should not be - and cannot afford to be - afraid of letting the people judge how well their money is being spent. Let's vote.

Co-signed by the following members of the state Legislature: Sen. Dino Rossi, R-5th District; Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-5th District; Rep. Cheryl Pflug, R-5th District; Sen. Pam Roach, R-31st District; Rep. Dan Roach, R-31st District; Sen. Jim Horn, R-41st District; Rep. Dave Schmidt, R-44th District; Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-45th District; Rep. Kathy Lambert, R-45th District; Sen. Stephen Johnson, R-47th District; Rep. Jack Cairnes, R-47th District; Sen. Dan McDonald, R- 48th District; Rep. Luke Esser, R-48th District; Rep. Steve Van Luven, R-48th District; Rep. Roger Bush, R-2nd District.

-- (mark842@hotmail.com), February 20, 2001.

If there is a vote, what are we voting on...Sound Transit (as a whole) or just the Link portion?

If the vote is on the entire Sound Transit project, then you are also voting on Sounder and the east side transit improvements.

If the vote is on just the Link portion, then only those people that are affected by the Link should vote (e.g. Seattle residents only).

-- Questioning (g_ma2000@hotmail.com), February 20, 2001.

to Questioning: The vote would be on whether to continue to collect taxes past 2006. There never has been an explanation as to how the taxes would be divvied up past 2006.

When folks orginally voted on Sound Transit, half the money was for light rail, and the other half was for buses, HOV lanes, Park'n'Rides, etc.

Now, Sound Transit is changing the rules. Light rail will be at least 60% of the expenditures, plus it will be 3 years late.

As for Seattle, the people have already voted. They've expressed a desire for a monorail.

So, the only purpose of a vote would be continue the taxes, past 2006, in order to fund the ever-increasing cost of light rail.

Don't forget, the region no longer has the electricity to even power light rail, anymore. Of course, the same is true for a monorail.

-- Matthew M. Warren (mattinsky@msn.com), February 22, 2001.

Just had to resurrect this one in light of the DOT IG findings.

-- (mark842@hotmail.com), April 09, 2001.

Cracks in support for light-rail transit project show up on City Council Wednesday, April 4, 2001

By KERY MURAKAMI SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A Seattle City Council proposal asking a Sound Transit citizen panel to examine alternatives to light rail had no practical effect. The city couldn't have made the transit agency do it.

But the proposed resolution alarmed light-rail supporters, who worried that any hint of doubt from the state's largest city would reveal divisions over a $3.6 billion light-rail project that has grown by $1.2 billion in recent months. And that might weaken the case for getting $500 million in federal funding that is crucial to the project.

So for an hour and a half, a council committee yesterday debated Councilman Nick Licata's resolution. It was ultimately gutted, 6-2. But in the process, the debate revealed the passionate division that exists over the Link rail project connecting SeaTac with North Seattle.

"Do you consider yourself a supporter of Link light rail?" Councilman Jim Compton asked Licata.

"Am I appearing before the McCarthy committee?" Licata quipped.

"I didn't mean it in a confrontational manner," said Compton, who is a supporter. "I could put it in a confrontational manner."

Given the escalating costs, Licata said, "I think Link light rail needs to be investigated."

Councilman Peter Steinbrueck was upset Licata's proposal didn't call for stopping the project while alternatives like monorails or buses are examined.

"We're being incredibly weak-kneed at this point," he said. "We have every neighborhood in the city opposing this proposal or at least raising doubts about it. What is wrong with saying let's hold off with implementation? Let's get real."

"Let's get real," Councilman Richard McIver rejoined. Without light rail, he said, "we will lose more than Boeing's headquarters."

Ultimately, Compton, McIver and council members Margaret Pageler, Jan Drago, Richard Conlin and Heidi Wills voted to express support for light rail. Licata and Steinbrueck voted to keep the original resolution seeking alternatives. Councilwoman Judy Nicastro supported Licata's resolution but left before the vote. The full council will vote again on the weakened resolution Monday.

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), April 09, 2001.

And even Sims is getting desperate in his support for light rail. PLEASE, PLEASE, let's get some money spent so we can use the old "if we don't finish it, all the money we have already spent will be wasted" ploy:

Sims: Act on south light rail Most Sound Transit board members are behind the idea

Friday, May 11, 2001

By CHRIS McGANN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

King County Executive Ron Sims said yesterday that Sound Transit should quit wasting its resources studying an unaffordable light-rail line to the north and instead focus on building the southern segment.

He forced the issue at a Sound Transit board meeting, saying the board should make a "threshold decision."

"We need to give this agency a direction to act. Take them out of purgatory," Sims said.

Ten of the 18 board members signed on to Sims' plan, detailed in a letter he circulated at the meeting.

"It's time to quit talking and start building," Jim White, Kent's mayor and a Sound Transit board member, said as he endorsed Sims' plan.

The Sound Transit staff must now prepare a formal document, which would be presented to the public for review and comment, and then the board could ultimately make a final decision.

Among other things, Sims wants the board to shed its previous plan of beginning construction with the 7.2-mile section north of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Instead, he wants to build south from there and allow both buses and trains to run through the existing bus tunnel.

"Higher costs and risk have made it clear that we cannot build the (21-mile light-rail system) as proposed," Sims said. "It's important that the board acknowledge this so we can move forward with a viable project."

The agency needs to focus its resources and stop spending money on a light-rail alignment that is unlikely to be built, Sims said, adding that the required analysis to develop a new alternative for the northern line would take at least two years before construction could begin.

"I don't think you will find the public patience. I don't think we can expect the public to indulge us any more," Sims said.

Sims added that if Sound Transit does not have a firm proposal ready by early fall, it will miss the 2003 federal funding cycle and "we won't have anything to discuss.

"That would be almost fatal," he said.

-- (mark842@hotmail.com), May 11, 2001.

Transit's Mr. Fixit leaving Tuck Wilson's early departure adds to project's uncertainty

Tuesday, June 5, 2001

By CHRIS McGANN AND LARRY LANGE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

The man Sound Transit brought in to resuscitate Seattle's light-rail project is stepping down three months before his current six-month contract expires, adding uncertainty to a project already on the brink.

Lyndon "Tuck" Wilson said yesterday he will return home to Portland, where he once directed the MAX light-rail project, instead of remaining as interim director of the SeaTac-to-North Seattle light- rail project that he came to fix. He will work as a part-time consultant, and his $250,000 contract will be reduced accordingly.

His departure comes as Sound Transit is struggling to make the $4.2 billion project affordable in light of an $1.8 billion increase in estimated costs since voters approved the light-rail plan in 1996. The project presented to voters is no longer possible, and Sound Transit board members so far have been unable to agree on an alternative.

This has now moved from the ridiculous to the absurd. It is well past time to pull the plug on LINK!

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), June 05, 2001.

Sound Transit losing two of its key people

By Andrew Garber Seattle Times staff reporter

Sound Transit is losing two key people from its light-rail program.

Lyndon "Tuck" Wilson, acting director of the light-rail project, plans to leave his job at the end of this month. And Bill Houppermans, the chief engineer, plans to leave by the end of July.

Ahmad Fazel, deputy project director for the agency's Link light rail, will take over as interim director. Joe Gildner has already taken over as the acting chief engineer. Gildner was formerly a geotechnical engineer for the project.

Wilson's contract with the agency expires in September. Although he's leaving the director's job early, he will continue working as a consultant.

"Over the past few weeks ... it has become apparent that he has delivered all that was expected of him, and more," Joni Earl, the agency's acting executive director, said in a prepared statement.

Wilson took over as acting director in November through a contract with the engineering firm CH2M Hill. From the beginning he professed little interest in taking the job permanently. He informed Sound Transit two months ago that he planned to leave when his current contract expired.

He became acting director shortly after Sound Transit revealed it had seriously underestimated how much it would cost to dig a light-rail tunnel under Capitol Hill. He helped compile numbers showing the entire project was more than $1 billion over budget.

-- (mark842@hotmail.com), June 06, 2001.