For those that remember, the Seattle politicians got the Kingdome (remember the Kingdome, the demolition guy said it was the finest building he had ever blown up) approved on the third try (Seattle Dome struck out, Kingdome I struck out, Kingdome II was approved) ONLY AFTER promising the King County residents who would have to help pay for it that the Kingdome would NOT necessarily be put in Pioneer Square, but that a disinterested committee of experts would be appointed to make recommendations for siting. The committee considered 14 sites. The Pioneer Square site was ......... tenth best. The Seattle power structure reneged, and had it built there anyway.

For those who didn't think history could repeat itself, please read below:

New proposal to pay for regional transit Thursday, April 26, 2001

By CHRIS McGANN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Escalating costs and shrinking revenue forecasts for light rail may force Sound Transit to grapple with an explosive and previously untouchable issue: that the whole three-county region, and not just the areas from SeaTac to North Seattle where the trains will run, may have to pay for the system.

Several members of an influential advisory committee, the chairman of which is former Mayor Charles Royer, raised the issue at a meeting yesterday.

"You have a regional goal. But you've set up a political hurdle" by promising to pay for light rail with only those local tax dollars coming from the areas where rail would be built, said committee member Jim Ellis, a retired founder and partner of the Preston Gates & Ellis law firm. "With that hurdle in place, I'm not sure whether that (light rail or regional transit system) is going to be built."

But Sound Transit board members who represent suburbs outside the rail system area called the Project Review Committee proposal absolutely out of the question.

"It's crazy," said King County Councilman Rob McKenna, who represents Eastside communities. "It forgets the political compromise that was the basis for the plan voters approved. And it would totally undermine future support.

"If they want to think regionally, then let's build a regional transit system. A light-rail line running through Seattle with average trips of less than five miles -- that's not regional."

That said, committee members jumped at the opportunity to talk about the "fire wall" set in place to ensure money collected in the suburbs would not be siphoned off for projects that would benefit Seattle only.

Royer said he'd been warned not even to mention the words "subarea equity," but he was glad it came up.

Politically, "they have not been able to have this conversation on the Sound Transit board. Now they will," Royer said.

Ellis and the committee can only advise the Sound Transit board, but several members who serve on both the committee and the board said the issue has life beyond the Royer panel. "The question at some point will have to be asked," Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel said.

New cost estimates for the proposed Seattle rail project surpass revenue available under the current financing structure, but using taxes collected in Pierce and south and east King counties could greatly change that financial picture.

East King County alone has a $1.7 billion spending capacity between 2007 and 2016. But currently that money can only be used for Eastside bus and rail projects.

Dave Earling, chairman of the Sound Transit board, said, "That sort of open questioning of any part of the plan is what we need to hear." But the Edmonds councilman added that "subregional equity" is "the glue that held the plan together."

Mayor Paul Schell said hard economic realities force the board to at least consider paying for transit projects with money collected regionwide. "When you are $1 billion short, you'd better take a look at all aspects of the financing plan."

The plan was crafted after voters in Pierce, Snohomish and King counties rejected a more ambitious $6.7 billion bus and rail project in 1995. The next year, voters approved a $3.9 billion bus and rail plan that included a 21-mile light-rail route from Seattle to SeaTac. Now Sound Transit says the project will cost $7.8 billion with unanticipated costs and inflation.

Since voters approved the 1996 plan, "a whole bunch has changed," Drewel said. He said public policy is more flexible in other areas such as protecting endangered species. In that case, "you make investments where it makes the most difference."

McKenna disagrees. "We told the voters that their taxes would be reinvested in their subareas. Why in the heck would anyone think that wouldn't be illegal?" he said.

Royer said a new public vote on the project and the rules regarding how locally collected money is spent "might very well be" needed

SOUND MOVE AT A GLANCE

Sound Transit's Board of Directors oversees Sound Move, the three-county express bus and rail project voters approved in 1996. It's made up of 17 elected officials from King, Pierce and Snohomish counties and the state's transportation secretary.

Changing the provisions of the voter-approved plan requires a supermajority board approval -- 12 of the18 members.

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), April 26, 2001

Answers

SCREW TRANSIT
BUILD ROADS!

-- (zowie@hotmail.com), April 26, 2001.