Failure of Prop 1

The RTID/Sound Transit Proposition 1 for Election Day 2007 here in the tri-Puget counties is very likely to fail. There are a myriad of reasons why people wanted to vote against it. However I underestimated the number of people who were on the fence leaning toward "No". I voted for it, knowing it was a flawed proposition. However, I wasn't confident we would have another pro-light rail initiative in the pipeline in the foreseeable future. I hope I'm wrong on that latter point.

That said, I'm starting to understand what might have pushed the votes more toward the "No" edge, and it comes down to one very simple word:

Monorail

The link above is one of many that has exhibited the sad and frustrating tale of the barely approved Monorail project by Seattle voters. I'm guessing many people in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties saw Prop 1 as a bigger and uglier Monorail Part 2 waiting to happen. I disagree that this is necessarily the path such a plan would take. However, if someone argued to me this was the reason he or she voted against Prop 1, I wouldn't be able to argue with him or her.

Just like with the Skytrain in Vancouver, just like with MAX in Portland, Seattle is not going to be in love with light rail until they see it happen. Barring any unforeseen disasters, this will happen in 2009. I don't think we'll see any major push for light rail in Western Washington until 2009 at the soonest.

Post Election Day Soul Carving

Every time an election day goes wrong for me, I can't help but try to find a way to reinvent myself. Elections happen every year, and if one day a year is going to regularly upset me to such lengths, I should buck up and find a way to deal with it properly and move on.

As many readers on Slog know, I am an asshole. However, I only play an asshole on blogs. I'm not an asshole in real life. And I now vow to not play an asshole on Slog any longer. However, I will remain asshole on my own blog. Who's going to block me from my own blog, after all?

I'll also be tackling an approach to making points circulating Seattle, King County, Washington State, and Pacific Northwest areas that might actually involve not being an asshole! It can be done, but now I realize it's a better way to make a point than be smug and confrontational. Thought and civility are the new sexy.