Posted Tue, Apr 24, 9:41 p.m.

PJS. You can't be serious. Censorship really? Mr. Van Dyk worked in D.C. for Presidential Administrations. I doubt any attacks or comments in this forum compare to what he experienced in D.C. You have to admit that TVD's revelations of secret service agents whistleblowing to him are, interesting to say ...

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 4:17 p.m.

Pythagoras. I couldn't agree with you more. This whole article shows just how much another institution has degraded in our country... the media. The Fox Propanda channel continues to focus on trivial things like Solyndra and I continue to be amazed at how they are able to lead around the ...

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 3:51 p.m.

PJS. Bad wording on my part. I meant the comment more as a reference to a period in time, which was the 80s. During Reagan's tenure, the top rate was dropped to 50%, which is still much higher than the top rate today. My story was meant to be more ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 6:29 p.m.

Gary. You're exactly right. But the media in power is too corrupt, inept or lazy to tell the truth anymore. Me and a friend of mine had a 2 hour conversation with another less liberal friend of ours (a corporate lawyer) who is also a fan of the Fox Propaganda ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 3:02 p.m.

I agree largely with Harris. This article is pretty unfocused and seems to be a 'kitchen sink' article that talks about everything from the tea party, occupy wall street to unpaid taxes, Secret Service hookers and Solyndra. I would also vigorously disagree with his opening statement. Namely, that the Secret ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 8:05 p.m.

What an unfortunate article. To bring up a fictional play like the Music Man and compare it to a real life situation on Capitol Hill. It reads more just like an attempt to bully people on Capitol Hill into accepting the fate of ugly, 'mixed-use' buildings. That block is one ...

Posted Thu, Apr 12, 8:36 a.m.

GaryP. Interesting perspective. That could certainly be part of the equation. There's never just 1 reason why these decisions are made. I think realistically, the number of people trekking down to SouthCenter to shop on a train would have been pretty small. A 30 minute ride and a $5.00 trip ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 7:40 p.m.

I entirely disagree with the statement in the article that FOX Noise Channel and MSNBC are both propaganda channels, as if they are equivalent. Not even close. The Trayvon murder case is clear evidence of the differences. Fox came out portraying the 16 yo murder victim as a thug who ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 9:01 a.m.

Interesting choice of issues. Let me comment on the tax issue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnpG6qCltCw Watch this video above of Ronald Reagan championing exactly the same issue as President Obama is today. Ronald Reagan spoke in 1985 of a letter he received from 'an executive who is earning in 6 figures'. What's puzzling ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 8:45 a.m.

Wells. I don't disagree that the deep bore tunnel is going to be a huge mistake for all of the reasons you state. Earthquakes, building destabilization and cost. But if you talk to people from Ballard, who use the viaduct to get to the airport and I-5 they want highway ...

Posted Tue, Apr 10, 4:43 p.m.

sjenner. Seattle is less supportive of transit in many ways. While some core neighborhoods in Seattle are very walker friendly and have lower car ownership rates, most of the region is not that way. The Seattle-Everett-Tacoma area is very sprawly. But even in the closer in neighborhoods like Ballard or ...

Posted Tue, Apr 10, 7:19 a.m.

Wells. I don't disagree with your thoughts. I think a Southcenter stop would have been a good one. However, the cowboy Tukwila City Council decided to use their role to try to stop the entire light rail project. I know. I was at the very emotional and contentious meeting where ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 9 p.m.

Wells. I can't remember exactly the arguments about Southcenter. I know the shopping center had concerns about light rail commuters filling up the parking lots and crowding out shoppers. With Southcenter being such a car-centered hub, surrounded by I-5 and I-405, it's a really pedestrian unfriendly environment. With that being ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 8:55 p.m.

crossrip. I've given up on participating in politics other than just observing. The entire country seems focused on all the wrong things. It's always struck as somewhat bizarre that people like you are so concerned with the money that ST and other transit agencies spend while there is no outrage ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 4:17 p.m.

crossrip. We're going to just have to disagree. Sound Transit is not a 'local government'. That's ridiculous. It's a tri-county agency. Thus the name, Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority. You're being totally deceptive when you say the board has 'unfettered discretion to decide how much taxing to do'. The thing ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 3:35 p.m.

Really. It's not my job to justify the subsidies for transit, highways, airports or anything else. I don't believe in parking meter politics like you do. The subsidy for transit is far less than what it is for gasoline. Why no complaints about that?

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 2:48 p.m.

crossrip. You say, "That core problem is exacerbated by its unaccountable governance structure." Typically that means people are unhappy with the Federated board structure of Sound Transit and they want direct elections. You seem to think this is somehow unique. It's not. The MPO for Puget Sound, the Puget Sound ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 2:22 p.m.

Really really? I've never lived on MLK. I've been accused of lots of things, including the media accusing me of being paid by Sound Transit. I guess it's impossible to support transit in Seattle unless you're being paid by the agencies. I guess it's so obvious, at least to the ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 1:34 p.m.

Wells. For whatever reason, critics of transportation seem to be eternally angry. Your comment is a perfect example. Rather than engage in conversation, you personally attack me and my education despite having no idea who I am and having never met me. I don't really care personally. I'm used to ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 11:27 a.m.

Wells. None of what I say is nonsense. For whatever reason, some people have developed a hatred of Sound Transit like some people hate President Obama. All I can say I used to work with Sound Transit staff and board members when I was President of a transit coalition back ...

Posted Sun, Apr 8, 6:24 p.m.

crossrip. You're contradicting yourself. You quote this passage from the article: [O]nly one metropolitan area has a regionally elected governing body: the Metro Council of Portland, Oregon, created in the 1980s. No other region has followed suit. Then you go on to say, "Sound Transit is our Grand Experiment in ...

Posted Fri, Apr 6, 9:26 a.m.

Good comments Taylor. Another significant factor which seems to have been forgotten or just ignored by the press and pundits, is the horrible Citizens United case that was ruled in 2010. So it's never been in play for a Presidential campaign yet. This will be the first year. Since the ...

Posted Tue, Apr 3, 5:12 a.m.

Harris. I agree. I am simply stunned when people use such phrases as the 'free market'. It instantly shreds one's credibility to use such republican party one-liners. Take for instance the practice of insurance companies to drop people who have paid insurance premiums for years after they require major medical ...

Posted Sun, Apr 1, 8:27 p.m.

I have to agree with psj. An interesting article but I also said WTF when I read, "Let free competition reign and prosperity ensue". Such a broad Republican message point with no explanation. Plus it's just completely untrue. When the S&Ls; were set 'free', a few years later, we got ...

Posted Fri, Mar 30, 6:42 p.m.

If you want to improve education, the first thing they should do is increase wages and salaries for the parents so they can spend more time parenting and less time working. Having a middle class that can afford to spend time on their kids' learning would do wonders for improving ...

Posted Thu, Mar 29, 10:05 a.m.

Cameron. Of course I'm biased, just like you are. Is that some kind of revelation? Is there anyone who isn't biased? Is this news to you? You've used the typical propaganda tactic of tossing out a whole bunch of issues rather than present 1 single fact about anything. 9/11, 9/11, ...

Posted Wed, Mar 28, 11:22 a.m.

What a thoughtful comment Cameron. No facts to back anything up? Personally I think Rob McKenna could very well be the next Scott Walker. A stealth candidate who gets elected Governor and then like a trojan horse, unleashes his plan to break the unions at Boeing and turn the Seattle ...

Posted Wed, Mar 28, 7:50 a.m.

Cameron. The Republican party of today isn't really a political party anymore since the people controlling it are all multi-millionaires surrounded by lobbyists who are all advocating on behalf of other millionaires and billionaires. The Republican party is merely a proxy for the corporations. Simple evidence of this is the ...

Posted Tue, Mar 27, 10:20 p.m.

As this article points out, the individual mandate was a Republican idea. The idea being that it was the responsibility of all Americans to contribute toward health care rather than getting a free ride. My how times have changed. Health-care provision at center of Supreme Court debate was a Republican ...

Posted Mon, Mar 26, 9:38 a.m.

Ted. You seem to automatically make the assumption that the expiration of the tax cuts is going to kill the economy. That's a Republican talking point, not a fact-based policy reality. That's how your statement reads at least. The reality is that taxes get spent in the economy as well ...

Posted Sun, Mar 25, 9:19 p.m.

As far as Medicare goes, forget Obamacare. I want Cheney-care where I can have 4 heart operations and a heart transplant without getting kicked off my health plan. How many health plans in America provide heart transplant coverage for a 71 year old? Apparently the government-run health plan that Dick ...

Posted Sun, Mar 25, 9:14 p.m.

One thing needs clarification in this article: Then both Bush tax rates and a payroll tax cut will expire while, simultaneously, $1,2 trillion in automatic spending cuts will kick in (after the bipartisan congressional "super committee," co-chaired by Sen. Patty Murray failed to make rational deficit reductions). Unemployment-benefit extensions also ...

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 1:42 p.m.

The Bales' case is tragedy in many ways. But be careful about parroting things like, "brain damage, post-traumatic stress disorder, money troubles, family troubles, he saw terrible things, he was drinking." Most of these descriptions came from 'unnamed government sources' meaning that the military-industrial complex is hard at work to ...

Posted Thu, Mar 22, 9:33 a.m.

Chris. You're talking about 2 different things. There's the truthful question, "Does the President have the power to lower gas prices?" Then there's the propaganda and spin from the usual channels that is SAYING that the President does indeed have the power to lower gas prices. Propagandists like Gingrich state ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 9 p.m.

It's a simple answer why Obama is talking about energy. It's because the Republican party spews such nonsense like the President should be able to wave a magic wand and lower gas prices. And Newt Gingrich says he'll have gas prices back to $2.00/gallon as soon as he's in office. ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 2:28 p.m.

Agreed Andy. It's not the gas prices stupid. It's ridiculous and there is nothing that gives any credence to the notion that the President has any control over gas prices. And the polling doesn't show that President Obama is being hurt by gas prices. In addition to Andy's sources, here's ...

Posted Tue, Mar 20, 9:14 a.m.

It would seem to betray the very nature of the Republican party to blame the government for high gas prices and not have faith in the market. Gas is traded on a world market. While political pundits may still try to hold out gas prices as a 'mega event', today's ...

Posted Sun, Mar 18, 8:56 p.m.

This quote from the article is curious: "I don’t think campaign finance reform will be the big issue in the next few years." Jordan provides no explanation for why he thinks this which is a little disappointing. I'm hoping campaign finance reform will become an even BIGGER issue than it ...

Posted Sun, Mar 18, 9:34 a.m.

afreeman, you have it exactly right. The people involved in war profiteering don't care a bit about soldiers like Sergeant Bale. The government's case will no doubt treat him like a malfunctioning toaster, a product with a defect, rather than as a human who was pushed beyond the brink to ...

Posted Tue, Mar 13, 9:39 p.m.

These types of massacres have been happening in the Middle East for years. Here's just one video from a shooting several years ago. It's called Collateral Murder. It looks like a video game where the soldiers just shoot and shoot and keep shooting. Only these targets never come back to ...

Posted Mon, Mar 12, 9:23 p.m.

As Eisenhower said decades ago, "Beware the military-industrial-congressional complex". Today, that nightmare has come true as all of the institutions of our country have a blind allegiance to war making. That includes the media and writers like TVD who are full time apologists for U.S. policies that are ultimately creating ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 11:39 a.m.

Gary. It's because the Christian evangelicals that have taken over the Republican party don't care about human rights. They are obsessed with sex and abortion. Abortion and sex. That's it. The new Evangelicals believe that God blesses rich people and it's poor people's own fault that they are poor. Pretty ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 4:24 a.m.

bkochis, your point is well taken. But this article is about the far, far right targeting companies because of their support for gay rights and gay marriage. What's particularly stunning is how religious people like the pastor or Rick Santorum don't even acknowledge the U.S. Constitution and seem to think ...

Posted Mon, Feb 27, 2:50 p.m.

It's funny how the alleged 'Christians' are just obsessed with gay people and gay marriage that these tech companies support. However, you don't hear one word from Pastor Andrew about the inhuman working conditions for the tech workers who make their products. Apparently these 'Christian' churches don't care that young ...

Posted Mon, Feb 27, 10:32 a.m.

Just when I thought the far right Christian crazy train couldn't get any more weird, up steps another disciple. The problem with Pastor Andrews and all of the Baptist Churches is that they don't recognize the Constitution as the governing document of this country. They only recognize the bible. It's ...

Posted Sun, Feb 26, 9:27 p.m.

I have to agree, the title is really a false choice. Exactly how are Amazon.com and the Arena deal even remotely related? This article makes no connection really. One would hope that the media would give a careful look at projects that affect the public such as sports teams do ...

Posted Sun, Feb 12, 9:01 p.m.

Kudos to Maureen Walsh for her thoughtful floor comments and courageous vote. With the Republican party firmly against equal rights for gay people, stepping outside the party takes real courage. She will be remembered for it. She will help save lives as young gay people in Washington State can now ...

Posted Sun, Feb 5, 9:16 p.m.

5. What are the negatives? Unemployment. There remains a large overhang of workers who cannot find jobs, are accepting jobs at lower pay, are taking part-time jobs, or have just given up. A more accurate description would be to say there is an overhang of workers compared to jobs available. ...

Posted Tue, Jan 31, 8:55 p.m.

Why is it that columnists and writers focus on the most ridiculous statements by candidates as if they're real? Obviously Newtmare was pandering to the Space Coast employees by dangling a huge new BIG GOVERNMENT program in front of them. Equally obvious is the fact that nothing would ever come ...

Posted Fri, Jan 27, 7:54 a.m.

Tom. Let's face it. Nearly all projects fall short of what is promised at the outset. The SMP and Joel Horn made the rather naïve promise that they would build it on time, on budget, or not at all. The SMP was the poster child of a smoke a mirrors ...

Posted Sun, Jan 22, 3:17 p.m.

Also not mentioned in this article is the fact that Sam Reed tried to force the voters of Washington State into using paperless computerized voting machines. Activists like myself and countless others fought him and helped stop it. It turned out to be a national train wreck and now states ...

Posted Sun, Jan 22, 12:53 a.m.

The Republican party doesn't really exist as a party anymore. They care not about issues that concern their constituents. They only care about those 'people' (Corporations are people my friend, says Romney) that stuff their pockets. The Republicans in Congress are merely proxies for the mega corporations. The Republican party ...

Posted Sat, Jan 21, 8:39 a.m.

Great propaganda piece. Superior system? Are you serious? Washington state has perhaps the slowest vote counting system in the entire United States. While other states report votes on election night, Washington State always has the standard, "Hold on, give us a couple weeks" response. The unfortunate response by Sam Reed ...

Posted Fri, Dec 23, 4:31 p.m.

BlueLight. Quit your whining. Welcome to the world of today's journalism. Don't you think Fox News 'censors'? Or is it only germane when it happens to you? Take this as a great example of why government functions shouldn't be privatized and taken over by corporate entities. Just like BP or ...

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 9 p.m.

FACT: The Roosevelt neighborhood lobbied VERY hard to get the station in their business district. This is not a case of NIMBYism. David Miller, you got this exactly right and this article is a bit off the rails in that respect. Roosevelt lobbied Sound Transit HEAVILY to get the station ...

Posted Thu, Dec 15, 5:39 p.m.

Kieth. You and Cameron and BL continue to miss the point here. Going through the ceremony of getting arrested is all part of protesting, if you're a committed human being who really cares about a cause, which Reverend Helmiere does. The question here is a matter of the appropriate use ...

Posted Thu, Dec 15, 11:22 a.m.

Cameron. You didn't answer my question. I remember a comedian once said he had a solution for the population problem... death penalty for speeding tickets. He obviously was kidding. Let's say the Reverand was pulled over for speeding and the government police pulled him out of his car and abused ...

Posted Thu, Dec 15, 8:23 a.m.

Cameron. I'm sure the Reverend would react by allowing people to protest in front of his church for as long as they felt like it. Part of living in a country like the United States is allowing people to protest and express their concerns in the public space. Your post ...

Posted Tue, Dec 6, 11:40 a.m.

Cool papa. You are 100% right on correct. Everyone knows the wealthy (and wealthy corporations) own DC and the elected officials who reside there. The corporate media is at the top of the pyramid of problems and it needs to be fixed first. Anonymous commenters like PJS who post propaganda ...

Posted Mon, Nov 28, 9:10 p.m.

BlueLight - Your comment is so indicative of people who couldn't possibly be more clueless about the status of the corporate takeover of our government. It's open, legalized bribery in DC. Wall Street is nothing more than a Casino, except when they lose, you get the bill. Apparently, you couldn't ...

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 9:31 p.m.

I think it's delusional to think that Obama could have somehow waved his magic wand or given a magic speech and gotten the Super Committee to do anything. The #1 objective of the so-called Republican party is to make sure President Obama fails as President. Or as Jim DeMint says, ...

Posted Sun, Nov 20, 9:40 a.m.

After reading the entire 23 page Grand Jury findings detailing the 8 male victims that Sandusky raped and abused, I have to say the only lessons for 'all of us' are that there is obviously a massive coverup going on at Penn State. There is no way 1 man could ...

Posted Wed, Nov 16, 8:17 a.m.

Since our Wall Street is just a Casino and the government process is little more than legalized bribery, Mayor Bloomberg should have made a bet with the Occupy Wall Street protesters. If the Super Committee comes to an agreement on cutting the deficit, the #OWS campers would leave. If the ...

Posted Sun, Nov 13, 9:26 p.m.

If only "forgery, illegal break-ins and manufacturing evidence" were the only things happening in our government today. This list sounds like a list of charges being prosecuted against the NYPD today. Stop and frisk, planting drugs on minorities to meet police quotas. Let's not mention our new U.S. policies of ...

Posted Sun, Nov 13, 12:35 a.m.

Crossrip. Our group was a nonprofit grassroots coalition advocating for better transportation in the Puget Sound region. We opposed the monorail and favored a mix of rail and buses. Only in Seattle does the argument that buses are better than rail seem to resonate with many people. We were mostly ...

Posted Fri, Nov 11, 9:03 p.m.

Crossrip. When I was President of PMT, we talked about this I-90 issue quite a bit. That's when I was made aware of the 1976 Memorandum of Agreement regarding the future conversion of the center lanes to High Capacity Transit. People say governments don't plan into the future but clearly ...

Posted Thu, Nov 10, 11:51 a.m.

Crossrip - You've got it exactly wrong on all fronts. As they say, a fool and his money are soon parted. Well, the same logic applies to Tim Eyman initiatives. Tim Eyman is like Harold Hill from the Music Man....only he can't sing. Danny Westneat nails it in this column: ...

Posted Fri, Nov 4, 11:28 a.m.

Extending your spiral CFL analogy, alot of present day voters (and politicians) only look at short term cost rather than long term value. The problem isn't the politicians. The problem is the money.

Posted Thu, Nov 3, 11:19 a.m.

Thx bkochis. In many ways Mayor McGinn is just like Jobs. Argumentative, forward thinking and not inclined to back down. How's that working out for the city? Don't forget the sorry, sad, propagandist state of our 5 watt corporate media.

Posted Wed, Nov 2, 9:40 p.m.

I wish people would quit comparing 'leaders' in business like Steve Jobs to 'leaders' in government. Government and business are 2 completely different worlds. Business is a secretive, hierarchical, non-democratic world driven by money and aggressive, dominant leaders like Steve Jobs. Government is (supposed to be) public, transparent, non-hierarchical and ...

Posted Sat, Oct 29, 11:45 a.m.

Here's something from the OWS group in New York on Sept 21, 2011. This is their one demand. It's interesting, when they passed this, the approval rating of Congress was 15%. It's now 9%. I think the OWS groups understand the insanity from demanding anything from this Congress. It's completely ...

Posted Sat, Oct 29, 11:38 a.m.

Let me take a stab at the author's question: "After all, how long can anger keep people camping in the park or on the plaza at City Hall, at least those who were not already living on the streets?" That remains to be seen exactly but right now in New ...

Posted Sat, Oct 29, 10:13 a.m.

I think I interpreted your comments exactly right. Namely, you feel the unions are unreasonable and should defer to Boeing management in every case. What this means is accepting lower pay and fewer benefits so this money saved can be given to investors whose only concern is ever greater dividend ...

Posted Sat, Oct 29, 10 a.m.

dbreneman. There are indeed people who want to eliminate environmental regulations. It's call the 'Republican Party'. Gingrich: End the EPA http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/01/25/gingrich-end-the-epa/ Rick Perry prays for an end to drought and EPA regulations http://www.grist.org/climate-policy/2011-08-09-rick-perry-prays-for-an-end-to-drought-and-epa-regulations The correct framing for the current Republican Party is that it's not a political party at all. ...

Posted Thu, Oct 27, 5:17 p.m.

Some food for thought on Mr. Nelson's article on wanting demands. As he says, "The 42 current demands, which go far beyond income equality concerns, are essentially being prioritized through direct voting." Let me ask the author and others a very simple question. If the Occupy Seattle group comes up ...

Posted Wed, Oct 26, 10:39 a.m.

You're right Gary. I don't understand people like crankyoldlady who don't want Boeing jets built by well-paid, well-trained laborers. Would she rather they be built by minimum wage unskilled labor? Are you insane? Plus, why would anyone who lives in the Puget Sound region want to join in the insane ...

Posted Wed, Oct 19, 11:17 a.m.

You've got it right Gary. Most Americans believe that if you succeed, you deserve the just rewards. The $15 Trillion bailout turned that American principle on its head. The banksters managed to turn themselves into corporate welfare babies, ruined their companies, crashed the economy, got a huge bonus AND have ...

Posted Tue, Oct 18, 11:13 a.m.

"This has NOTHING to do with racism and everything with Progressives hating American success." Randy, the problem with getting your message points from Fox News is that they make you sound stupid, ignorant and angry.

Posted Tue, Oct 18, 10:34 a.m.

I don't get the 'rail transit is anti-poor' comment either. But largely, I think the professor's predicted scenario is highly likely. First, let's all agree that the political parties are little more than cults today, particularly the Republican party. The elected officials serve the monied lobbyists rather than their constituents. ...

Posted Sat, Oct 15, 9:37 p.m.

Here's the official web page for Occupy Wall Street in NYC. They are basically against greed and corruption. Is anyone not in sync with this goal in politics? http://occupywallst.org/ Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all ...

Posted Thu, Oct 13, 8:40 p.m.

Here's more of what the 1% at Goldman Sachs is up to. Buying a city's infrastructure. America for Sale: Is Goldman Sachs Buying Your City? http://www.dylanratigan.com/2011/06/16/america-for-sale-is-goldman-sachs-buying-your-city/ Prices for Privatized Parking Meters go through the roof: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43415983#43415983 Privatized Road Tolls go through the roof in Indiana: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43432085#43432085 Seattle and WSDOT had ...

Posted Wed, Oct 12, 2:56 p.m.

They've said nothing as a group. That's my whole point.

Posted Wed, Oct 12, 2:24 p.m.

Bluelight, you just like the corporate media, seem to think that this movement can be summed up in 1 demand or 1 simple message point. Why do you think that? The group hasn't come out officially for ANYTHING. Don't you think that when groups of people come together that they ...

Posted Wed, Oct 12, 12:39 p.m.

One thing you need to do is not believe any of what you're seeing on TV. The corporate TV is so pathetically horrible that you should just turn it off. They have an agenda to portray these people as dumb, violent and unfocused. The sad thing is that the Corporate ...

Posted Wed, Oct 12, 11:45 a.m.

crank - You seem to have no clue what these people are protesting at all. Once AGAIN... they do NOT want other people's money via taxation or legislation. I've talked to many of them and most of them hate every aspect of the government. In that way, they are farrrrrr ...

Posted Wed, Oct 12, 10:11 a.m.

The fact that they've captured the attention of the national media and millions of citizens nationwide says that the OWS group has struck a chord. Thomas Friedman seems to have captured part of the concerns pretty well. Keep in mind these protesters are protesting more than just 1 thing. Something’s ...

Posted Tue, Oct 11, 9:06 p.m.

My case in point. The Corporate media refuses to cover events in this country accurately. The Occupy Wall Street movement is making it so perfectly crystal clear the slanted agenda of the corporate media, most especially the fox propaganda station. Yesterday, American war veterans were beaten by Boston Police while ...

Posted Tue, Oct 11, 1:45 p.m.

Yea, I agree. Enough of the over the top, irrelevant comparisons to Communism. The author mentioned the Communist Manifesto, not the protesters. The Occupy Wall Streeters are protesting some of the same things that the Tea Partiers and many of the Conservatives and Liberals are protesting. Namely, the rewarding of ...

Posted Tue, Oct 11, 7:41 a.m.

I'm curious if the author has actually talked to any of the occupiers or did any research to understand these groups. The slogan “We’re the 99 percent” is exactly that, a slogan. Like all slogans, it's symbolic of something a whole lot more complicated than income or wealth. In fact, ...

Posted Sat, Oct 8, 2:10 p.m.

The words trust don't really belong in government. As GaryP said above, 'trust but verify'. Washington politics more than lacking trust, seems to be lacking the notion of honesty and transparency. Transparency breeds trust but most of the major setbacks on major projects was due to lack of transparency. Let's ...

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 9:45 p.m.

I have to agree it's completely unfair to pigeonhole the Occupy Wall Street protesters as leftist. This seems to be a need of the media people to classify everything as left or right as if everything is so easily dropped into one of two boxes. When it comes to electing ...

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 9:51 p.m.

Knute and the Cascadia Institute should be careful what they wish for. In New York, we have an 'integrated' governance infrastructure with the CEO of the MTA answering to the governor. And the Port Authorities control all of the bridges and roadways in the bi-state area. Sounds great huh? Well, ...

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 9:38 p.m.

Wow, where to start with this article? Let's start with using union pensions to fund public projects. From the article: Could public employee or union pension funds invest in such projects to make a reasonable return and keep their people in jobs? Cascadia originally envisioned the downtown tunnel as a ...

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 9:26 p.m.

Here's a bit more on the Republican shenanigans with respect to election fraud. New State Rules Raising Hurdles at Voting Booth http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/us/new-state-laws-are-limiting-access-for-voters.html?_r=2&scp;=2&sq;=voting%20&st;=cse They are already running scared as evidenced by their need to rig the elections in as many states as possible. The Republicans are implementing 'papers please' laws in ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 9:51 p.m.

Kage87Z - It's time you and others get things straight about convicted felons. No one gives you or anyone else the power to take away people's right to vote. After all that's why they call it the RIGHT to vote. It's a RIGHT. Here's the text from the WA state ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 9:43 p.m.

Nothing on TV can be remotely classified as 'news' anymore. Kiro, by presenting its untruthful story about dead voters, was meanly going for the ratings since alot of rabid Republicans wanted to believe that dead grannies and felons had voted and that's why they lost the election. Blaming it on ...

Posted Fri, Sep 30, 11:40 p.m.

Kage87Z - I dispute everything you wrote. It's both classless and wrong. It's not up to the government to provide everything to you on a silver platter. It's not Sam Reed who was whining and sniveling, it was people like you. People like you whine about big government and then ...

Posted Tue, Sep 27, 9:07 p.m.

Thanks for that last post Gary. What about the people indeed. There seems to be some misconstrued notion that the President is all powerful. In fact, the Presidency is probably the least powerful branch of the government. After all, it's just one guy. The real power lies in the people ...

Posted Mon, Sep 26, 5:07 p.m.

Harris, like you, this article makes smoke come out of my ears. I have no intention of sitting idly by while media pundits vilify President Obama because he's inexperienced or isn't reaching out to the 'other side'. The other side is so focused on bringing down President Obama, they'll bring ...

Posted Fri, Sep 23, 11:14 a.m.

@afreeman. This isn't partisan. It's a matter of wanting our country to win the solar manufacturing war. By definition, a free market should be free of government or any other subsidies. Otherwise it's not free is it? When it comes to solar, China wants to win and they're pumping money ...

Posted Tue, Sep 20, 7:52 p.m.

The reality in the case of Solyndra is that China is subsidizing their solar energy industry and the U.S. is not. Some of the comments above seem to say that the U.S. should cede this industry to a communist country rather than violate some nonexistent rules of the 'free market'. ...

Posted Mon, Sep 19, 8:05 p.m.

As we speak, a 5 day long protest is happening in China at a Solar manufacturing plant. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/world/asia/chinese-protesters-accuse-solar-panel-plant-of-pollution.html?scp=1&sq;=china%20and%20solar&st;=cse Even in Communist China, people are sick and tired of the government abusing them and they're fighting back. From the article: According to Chinese news reports, residents claimed runoff from solid waste ...

Posted Mon, Sep 19, 7:59 p.m.

The reason the political parties are pro-corporate and pro-war is because that's where the money is. It's funny how lrlopez blames this on the Democrats rather than the corrupt corporations and war profiteering contractors. Dwight Eisenhower warned our country about this 50 years ago. Yet, all we get are articles ...

Posted Sun, Sep 18, 7:36 p.m.

Are we seriously trying to compare Obama to Carter? Carter was 30 years ago! The entire world has changed since then. I hope people in the media can focus on more things than the jobs numbers. Our country is alot more complicated and sophisticated than just the unemployment numbers. Perhaps ...

Posted Wed, Sep 14, 9:59 a.m.

OttoOrange represents most of what's wrong with politics in the country. An anono-mice that is quick to name call. Too cowardly to reveal himself and speak on the record. Too intellectually lazy to make an actual informed comment. Most likely you'll find OttoOrange at a Tea Bagger rally holding a ...

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 5:22 p.m.

Gary, I agree. Between the dysfunctional government and a media industry that seems to often serve as little more than a scribe for the government officials, clearly the public is ill served and ill-informed. What is particularly audacious by Gorton is to claim, as he does in his Seattle Times ...

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 12:59 p.m.

For a slightly more sober view of the 9/11 Commission Report, its recommendations and the progress, see the NY Times Editorial of Sept 4, 2011. WHAT Remains to be Done http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/what-remains-to-be-done.html?_r=1&scp;=4&sq;=remains&st;=cse Believe it or not, after 10 years, an entire decade, the first responders still cannot communicate between agencies. So ...

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 12:04 p.m.

Feliks. It's interesting you don't think there was any propaganda in the quotes. Not a very decisive statement. I've always been puzzled why the press and journalists like yourself seem to willingly serve as lapdogs for governmental officials rather than watchdogs, particularly when it comes to 9/11. That's the constitutional ...

Posted Sat, Sep 10, 8:30 p.m.

Feliks - One of the things I found most disturbing about your article as well as the Op-Ed piece by Gorton published in the Seattle Times is the utter disregard for any sort of dissent when it comes to 9/11 or the 9/11 Commission. Probably the worst person to pick ...

Posted Fri, Sep 9, 9:28 p.m.

Feliks - Anyone from the Republican party should be very careful about using the word 'conspiracy' as an intellectual slur since all of their leading candidates for the 2012 Presidential race are climate change skeptics.... ie conspiracy theorists. Stated another way, Rick Perry, the likely Republican Presidential nominee believes that ...

Posted Fri, Sep 9, 9:10 p.m.

Feliks - First of all, any crime involving 2 or more people is a conspiracy so you might as well drop the use of the word as some kind of intellectual slur. Any good lawyer is a conspiracy theorist. 9/11 was a conspiracy no matter what you might believe about ...

Posted Fri, Sep 9, 5:30 p.m.

You're entirely correct Gary. Who imploded Building 7 and why did the 9/11 Commission ignore this event? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3NRc48fUWA Perhaps Slade Gorton and the historical 9/11 Commission can reconvene and explain how TV news outlets knew that Building 7 was going to collapse and the firefighters told them it was going ...

Posted Thu, Sep 8, 10:18 p.m.

Thanks Gary. Don't get me wrong... the changes need to be made in DC. Big changes. Massive reforms to make the elected officials more than just lobbyists for the corporations that get into office. Unfortunately with the Corporate Supreme Court and the Citizens United case, we're moving further down the ...

Posted Wed, Sep 7, 5:15 p.m.

I completely disagree with the premise of this article. Nothing is riding on this speech. Americans have already given up and turned their backs on DC. A 9% approval rating pretty much confirms that. Instead of hoping Obama will say something that's going to save the country, let's wake up ...

Posted Sun, Sep 4, 6:43 p.m.

jabailo, you're way off base. New York City wasn't evacuated, only low lying areas like Battery Park City, the Lower East Side and the Upper East side. These were places that did, in fact flood. Most of Manhattan just hunkered down at home for a few days. Lots of track ...

Posted Sat, Sep 3, 4:31 p.m.

While David's article is a good starting point to get the design of the waterfront started, it almost sounds like most of it has already been predetermined. The comparison for this space shouldn't be the Highline park in NYC. It should be the Hudson River park on the west edge ...

Posted Wed, Aug 31, 5:21 p.m.

Good job Knute in exposing yet another Republican hypocrite. They ought to just call it the Hypocritic Party. The Democrats and the Hypocrites. There really is no Republican Party anymore. Republicans in Congress are merely lobbyists who happen to have gotten elected. Their sole purpose is to get taxpayer money ...

Posted Wed, Aug 24, 8:17 p.m.

The question that the Republican party needs to answer, "Does the government = corporation?" Namely is the purpose of government to merely enable the lowest prices possible, the lowest wages for workers by repealing all worker protections and destroying unions? This is clearly the agenda of the lobbyists who are ...

Posted Mon, Aug 22, 4:09 p.m.

Just an observation based on Lincoln's response. It's funny when a transit system is running at less than full capacity, it's viewed as a failure. But when a highway is running with few cars, it's viewed as a success. To answer Andy's question about where the extra cars are going ...

Posted Mon, Aug 15, 8:35 p.m.

How about talking about who pays for the bailout? Read this article below. This one line says it all: "....the $150-million road could wind up costing more than $1-billion." http://www.sptimes.com/News/071600/State/Flawed_figures_leave_.shtml Flawed figures leave toll roads running flat A consulting firm has grossly overestimated traffic projections for five different projects in ...

Posted Fri, Aug 12, 8:23 p.m.

To say these solicitors are threatening is a bit over the top TVD. This is a bit of a tired stereotype that homeless people who are on the street soliciting money are 'threatening' as well. Only in Seattle would 'Thank you, have a nice day' be construed as threatening. This ...

Posted Thu, Aug 11, 11:59 a.m.

Is this the #1 priority of the Seattle City Council? Are you kidding me? The encounters I've had with these people have always been respectful and polite. They're energetic young people just trying to make an honest living. Does every complaint into the Seattle City Hall have to be responded ...

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 12:15 p.m.

PJS - This parroting of the line 'nearly half of Americans pay no income tax at all'. The assumption seems to be that half of Americans are getting off easy because they're paying no tax and the income tax is overly burdensome of the rich. Well, reality is a little ...

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 10:43 a.m.

Alexjon. You ask a great question. "why aren't we casting the same wary eye on the influx of pro-tunnel money to incumbents? They're the same thing. No good. The answer to that question is that money is power and the people with money decide the debate and they decide what ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 10:13 p.m.

David S. You're exactly right that the fix was in for this project years ago. Or so they thought. All of the transportation agencies operate the same say, DOT, ST and the now defunct monorail agency. The monorail agency made the outrageous claim (lie) that they were special (magical) and ...

Posted Thu, Jul 14, 3:37 p.m.

My compliments to Dick Nelson for an amazing article that's well researched and chock full of numbers. It's one thing to say "We need to cut big government" in the mindless fashion that people scream it these days. It's another thing entirely to say $38 million will be cut from ...

Posted Thu, Jul 14, 10:52 a.m.

Your argument is full of holes cwilkey. First off, dust off your cuckoo clock and rewind the weights. We're not living in the 30s and 40s. It's 70 years later!!! How amazing that you advocate the same policies as in the 30s and 40s. It's amazing how in love so ...

Posted Wed, Jul 13, 2:33 p.m.

Mr Van Dyk says: Fact is, upper-income taxpayers already provide the largest share of federal tax revenues. Almost 50 percent of Americans (mainly the poor and working poor) pay no taxes. Isn't this the very basic assumption of a progressive tax system? Namely, that the millionaires and billionaires pay more ...

Posted Thu, May 19, 11:17 a.m.

Methinks that the engineers who were trying to warn GE and Japan about the dangers of nuclear reactors in case of tsunamis were probably greeted with the same type of jeering and taunting by the elected officials and media as McGinn is now.... until it was too late. Read Harper's ...

Posted Mon, May 16, 9:56 p.m.

So Mr. Almquist wants Crosscut to censor authors based upon their 'worthiness' or illogical arguments? So following that logic, all editorials that dispute global warming should be banned too. Where would this list end?

Posted Wed, Apr 6, 1:43 p.m.

The only thing that matters with the tunnel option is the ability to repay the bonds and it's unlikely that they will. Just like other tollways and rosy public projects like the Las Vegas monorail, they enter a death spiral when the toll revenue comes in less than expected (which ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 9:42 p.m.

It's sad the far left and far right screamers are too busy trying to assign blame in their own way. "HE WAS A LEFTIST! NO, HE WAS A RIGHTIE!" Yet, no one is talking about the most obvious thing here. This was, by definition, a TERRORIST attack. That is, an ...

Posted Tue, Nov 30, 9:33 p.m.

What an unfortunate title. "Seattle schools could use some of what Kalamazoo has (yes, you read right)" This just says it all. Namely, that the media and politicos of the Seattle region always feel SO superior to every other city in the country. After all, what could dinky little Kalamazoo ...

Posted Wed, Oct 13, 9:01 p.m.

Randy - So you're saying the Progressives ran up a $114 trillion debt in 4 years? Your post shows exactly why it's impossible to have an intelligent discussion about issues today. You talk about a 'collapsing economy' but you don't give any proof to back up your buzz phrase. You ...

Posted Tue, Oct 12, 1:41 p.m.

I must say it's very disappointing that someone with as much policy experience as Mr. Van Dyk can speak about politics today without mentioning the breathtaking Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court in Jan, 2010. This ruling opened the floodgates to secret influence of our elections by unknown corporations, ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 8 p.m.

This discussion just wouldn't be complete if the hypocrisy of diehard Republican Kemper Freeman wasn't pointed out. He sure loves 'big government' when he needs it for his own purposes to file frivolous lawsuits The entire tri-county transit district approved ST2, which includes light rail across I-90. Just goes to ...

Posted Wed, Sep 22, 8:37 a.m.

coolpapa- Great points! "Of course people are average on average. It's a stupid statement." "The bulk of student achievement is determined by home-based factors, not school-based factors. All research confirms that." The right-wing think tanks that supposedly want to fix education seem to have few if any education credentials or ...

Posted Wed, Sep 15, 8:22 p.m.

It's seems a little unbelievable that a political analyst can talk about our Federal elections and not even be aware of the corrosive effect of the Supreme Court 'Citizens United' ruling in Jan of this year. That ruling was definitely a game changer since corporations can now spend unlimited amounts ...

Posted Wed, Sep 8, 8:12 a.m.

Quinn - I guess I'm not familiar with the tactics of the Tea Party as you appear to be. I didn't call the Tea Party my enemy.. you did. I enjoy talking with them and they treat me fine since I'm white and middle aged. Their rally here was quite ...

Posted Wed, Sep 8, 4:18 a.m.

I have no problems with disagreement, Quinn. I have a problem when groups make up stories, like the landing gear story, just to inflame people who don't know any better. The description of the Mosque at Ground Zero, was also incorrect. It's not a Mosque, it's a community center. And ...

Posted Tue, Sep 7, 8:23 p.m.

Psychic marker? More like a lying marker. It's pretty much impossible to have an honest conversation when you're so comfortable with lies. The landing gear lie by the Tea Bagger crowd just sends out a huge flag of desperation in my book. The people in New York know it's a ...

Posted Mon, Sep 6, 8:32 p.m.

Quinn - None of these cases you cite alarm me in the least and hardly rise to the level of a Muslim takeover of the United States which the Tea Baggers and the Evangelicals seem to indicate is the goal. For starters, I don't believe any of these alleged stories ...

Posted Sun, Sep 5, 3 p.m.

Quinn - Every Church has these strict doctrines. And I think the general worshippers just ignore it. When you say, "Every Moslem is required to uphold and implement it in the public sphere", I think you overstate your case. It's like saying the Catholic doctrine on birth control is never ...

Posted Fri, Sep 3, 10:01 a.m.

I still can't understand how people seriously want the state government to force a church into a location that the government essentially is choosing. That's my point. That seems to be ok to you. I find that completely ridiculous. Namely, that you trust the government in choosing a location for ...

Posted Fri, Sep 3, 8:48 a.m.

Regardless of how the state government is getting involved, I think it's inappropriate for them to wield their muscle in chasing a religious group out of a location that they chose. Governments are classically BAD at doing real estate. Maybe if the developer is really smart, he can sucker the ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 9:19 p.m.

Quinn - You mention Governor Patterson as a calming influence in this debate. Why does this conversation need a compromise when the church involved is doing nothing wrong in any way? How would you like it if you were drummed out of your home or your place of business simply ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 9:11 p.m.

Arizonan - Exactly my point!!! Why are the Tea Partiers asking that our actions be based on some Muslim countries? So are the Tea Partiers going to be asking to stone women in America since that's what they do in the Middle East? It's pure lunacy and it should be ...

Posted Thu, Sep 2, 12:57 p.m.

Quinn - I must say one of the stupidest arguments I've heard against this Mosque is that it shouldn't be allowed by our government until they allow the construction of churches in Riyadh, Teheran and Damascus. By this kind of upside down logic, the U.S. should legalize stoning of women ...

Posted Thu, Aug 5, 4:52 a.m.

cleanhouse2010 - You say both parties are corrupt and throw them into the same category. I couldn't disagree with you more. Here's why. Granted, Chris Dodd may have put a provision that protected Wall Street bonuses but he still voted FOR Wall Street reform. The Republicans voted against it. That's ...

Posted Wed, Aug 4, 8:49 p.m.

cleanhouse2010 - From your quote: I think that if the economy goes into a downcycle, government spending should also go into a down cycle, not be driving up our deficit and debt. I'm sure you believe this and I doubt there's anything I can say that would every dissuade you ...

Posted Mon, Aug 2, 8:37 p.m.

cleanhousein2010 - I'm not trying to dodge your questions. It's just that these threads are getting longer and more complex. But it's all good. You seem to be a well-informed and fair minded debater and I enjoy learning from people I don't necessarily agree with. I think we both, however, ...

Posted Mon, Aug 2, 3:24 p.m.

cleanhouse2010 - re: the video, I'm just stunned that this woman is SOOOOOO upset by providing health care for everyone in this country. She refers to the people providing the health care (like doctors) as 'slaves'. Kind of a perverted interpretation if you ask me. I wonder where this woman ...

Posted Sun, Aug 1, 8:05 p.m.

cleanhouse - re: your last post, I 100% agree with you on campaign funds. Get the funds from a central fund that creates a level playing field! I think we both agree you shouldn't have to be a millionaire or billionaire to run for office, which is how it is ...

Posted Sun, Aug 1, 9:36 a.m.

I think we both realize that we'd never be able to raise the millions needed to run for office. That's why I support amending the U.S. Constitution to eliminate corporate personhood. See: www.MoveToAmend.org

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 9:18 p.m.

A single track system of any type is nonstarter. Come on, seriously! It's like putting in a 1 lane highway or 1 lane street. I would never support such a cheapened, unreliable system and neither would any other serious transit advocate in Seattle.

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 10:22 a.m.

cleanhouse2010 - Here's my answer on your GDP ratio..... I must say I find your explanation lacking any sort of numbers to support your feelings. Just because GDP happened to be 20% at your selected periods in time doesn't mean it's related in any way. The biggest indicator of economic ...

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 10:10 a.m.

cleanhouse2010 - Regarding jobs, we clearly have different views on that. My view is that if you have 3% unemployment and everyone has minimum wage jobs, that does nothing to boost the economy. Why? Because jobs like that provide no disposable income. My view also is that once people have ...

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 10:02 a.m.

cleanhouse - As in bed as the repubs? Hardly. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Your post talks about a Democrat that accepted money from Citgroup. That's HUGELY different than acting as an elected lobbyist for Citigroup or some other offshore corporation. What I'm talking about is actions since actions speak louder than ...

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 9:43 a.m.

Wells - Monorail will always be a dream, at least for Seattle. I used to half-believe in monorail. But after I found out the reality, I didn't. Face it Wells, elevated rail transit in a dense urban core is a nonstarter. It's massive, it's bulky, it's ugly, it's expensive. What ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 3:41 p.m.

cleanhouse2010 - It's obstructionism because the GOP has made that their legislative strategy. NO, NO, NO, NO. They've said quite explicitly they intend to try to stop everything that Barack Obama is attempting to do so they can say during midterm elections that the Democrats can't get anything done. It ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 3:32 p.m.

Here's the old Jean Godden back in 2004 when she was engaged in 'textbook manipulation' about the monorail opponents. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/monorail-routs-opponents/Content?oid=19060 Back when the monorail recall campaign was underway, Jean Godden was quite concerned about the cost to the city, just to put the monorail recall initiative out to a vote. ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 3:25 p.m.

I must say her opening paragraph is really vile. We all understand the connotation Jean and the George Bush's joking about WMDs. From her article: I went home the other night and looked under the bed. Then I looked in the closet and the alcove by the fireplace. Nothing. Not ...

Posted Thu, Jul 29, 9:12 p.m.

Harris - I totally agree. I'd have to ask TVD if putting John Boehner back in charge is the solution when he has publicly questioned whether the President was born in the U.S. At Republican rallies, they compare Obama to Hitler! And these are the people that are supposedly a ...

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 3:41 p.m.

Reklessone - You believe in God huh? It doesn't sound like it. I'd say Jesus would fall right into the Socialist category that you so dislike. I've often wondered if Jesus really were alive today, trying to help felons, homeless and downtrodden people. He'd probably be killed or run out ...

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 9:52 a.m.

cleanhouse2010 - Thx for remembering my question. I agree, the question of the size of government is both complex and relative. I think it's one of those things that sounds good but in practice tends to work exactly the opposite from what you're thinking. For instance, let's say you want ...

Posted Mon, Jul 26, 2:48 p.m.

cleanhouse2010 - You try to sound so definitive with your conclusions and you make statements without backing them up. For instance: "The financial system collapse was primarily a result of the housing market crash, which was a direct result of conditions created by the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977." You ...

Posted Mon, Jul 26, 10:18 a.m.

cleanhouse2010 - Your statement: "I want smaller, more effective, efficient government, something that we have not had for a long time, and that has grown worse in the last 18 months." Your statement indicates that at one time we had smaller, efficient government. What time are you thinking of? I ...

Posted Mon, Jul 26, 5:12 a.m.

cleanhouse2010 - You seem like one of those people who want it both ways. First you complain that you're not getting enough value from your taxes, which is why you want tax cuts. Then a couple posts later you say "The current Financial Reform bill still has left these entities ...

Posted Sun, Jul 25, 7:51 p.m.

Bella - I agree with your point completely, which is glossed over in this article: From your comment: "Do you honestly think folks want to support and vote for the party under whose watch they saw their retirement and home values crater? " We have to remember the Republican party ...

Posted Sun, Jul 25, 7:02 a.m.

Ted - Your comments seem stunningly out of touch. There are a number of things I disagree on. Such as this: "The Obama of 2008 promised to govern as a pragmatic problem solver, reaching across partisan and ideological lines to end the polarizations of the Bill Clinton and George W. ...

Posted Fri, Jul 23, 9 a.m.

McKenna's outrage over light rail might be half way believable if he had any concerns for any other projects. But he doesn't. He's a cookie cutter Republican who supports roads projects no matter what they cost and he opposes transit, especially rail transit. He supports the elimination of social security ...

Posted Wed, Jul 21, 7:05 p.m.

Mud Baby is exactly right. McKenna wants to be part of this controversy to raise his stature both statewide and nationally. As Mud Baby says, McKenna has his eye on the Governorship and beyond that afterwards. He's a snake for sure and he's a cookie cutter tightie rightie. He tried ...

Posted Wed, Jul 21, 11:36 a.m.

adex, whoever you are. It's really dumbfounding to me that anyone would lump all of these events into 1 category of engineering hubris. It's so obviously not true, if you had studied these at all. I studied the Chernobyl explosion in depth since I had a degree in physics. I ...

Posted Wed, Jul 21, 7:32 a.m.

I read this article yesterday in the print edition of the 'Science Times' section of the New York Times. I have to say it struck me as one of the most ridiculous articles I've read recently. The writer throws together very unrelated events and throws them into the category of ...

Posted Sat, Jul 17, 7:50 p.m.

Knute - I've heard you talk on KUOW for years and you seem to have a distaste for big projects like the monorail, light rail, the commons and now the viaduct replacement. I think you're one of the types of people who long for the older, simpler Seattle, which is ...

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 11:01 p.m.

Lest we forget that voting and revoting is some sort of scheme that big project people like Knute advocate, here's a few words about Gov Gregoire. Gregoire: 'Watch me' tear down the viaduct http://www.seattlepi.com/transportation/346052_gregoire04.html "It's coming down in 2012. I'm taking it down -- the middle," she said, referring to ...

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 10:55 p.m.

serial_catowner - I totally agree with you on the Commons. http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1996/9605270046.asp It was Seattle's last attempt at a beautiful park in the center of the city. It could have been Seattle's 'Central Park'. Instead, it's just condos and the public got nothing. Seattle is just a city of small ideas ...

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 9 a.m.

Count me as one of the people who believes that the only solution to bring the Corporate leeches under control is to amend the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution needs to be amended to say that Corporations like BP are not people and that their billions of dollars of money is ...

Posted Wed, Jul 14, 8:31 a.m.

Serial, you said it best. That's exactly what would happen. The people running for office would be people from Goldman Sachs, British Petroleum, Hedge Fund managers and other millionaire and billionaires. It would probably have exactly the opposite effect that Knute wants. These people would come into office and privatize ...

Posted Tue, Jul 13, 10:50 p.m.

Another thought provoking article by Knute. However, I totally disagree with his solution. Can you imagine running for City Council knowing that any cost overruns for any project would be coming out of your pocket??? Rather than preventing boondoggles, it would merely prevent elections. Who would possibly run for office ...

Posted Thu, Jul 8, 10:53 p.m.

eastkingcountyrednecklogger - Like you, I have a number of problems with this article. It compares morality of people with the morality of corporations like Enron. Well, corporations have no moral fiber. They are strictly legal entities that are formed for the purpose of making money. So comparing people to corporations ...

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 11:21 a.m.

Sarah - Mega dittos to that!! From what I can gather prayer leads to organized religion and organized religion leads to war(s). That's what they're fighting now in the Middle East. Holy wars. If everyone was an Atheist, we wouldn't have all of this death and destruction from the holy ...

Posted Mon, Jul 5, 7:53 p.m.

I find so many aspects of this article disturbing, starting with: "As we celebrate Independence Day, we're also moving toward more government regulation." I fail to see how Independence Day and government regulation are the least bit related. The declaration of Independence celebrates the end of British rule by Kings ...

Posted Sat, Jul 3, 9:51 a.m.

GaryP - Yea, I'm living in NYC now and enjoying using transit instead of arguing about it. My reasons for not wanting the waterfront streetcar are purely pragmatic. I've never had an attachment for the waterfront streetcar so maybe I'm a little less emotional about getting rid of it. I ...

Posted Thu, Jul 1, 5:42 p.m.

I'm glad there is more attention being given to the design of the waterfront. As a transit supporter and former president of a transit coalition group, let me just say I do not support the streetcar along the waterfront. I've yet to hear a really compelling argument to bring it ...

Posted Mon, Jun 28, 10:30 a.m.

Sierra Girl - I guess what people don't realize when they sign petitions is that they are acting as unelected legislators. Your example of Initiative 1068 is a perfect one. If the Legislature had voted to put that on the ballot for the citizens to vote on, would you like ...

Posted Thu, Jun 24, 11:51 a.m.

I agree this stretch will never compete with Gasworks, West Seattle and Myrtle Edwards. Why should it? Why even try? Why not make it completely different, since it is a completely different space? That's why I say we should stop calling this a 'park'. It just begs comparisons to the ...

Posted Thu, Jun 24, 11:22 a.m.

Seawolf - Thanks for the comment. I think the first step to making the waterfront successful is to STOP calling it a park, as if it's one space. If it gets constructed as one long green space, it will be a failure. Park should be stricken from the language. It ...

Posted Thu, Jun 24, 5:23 a.m.

Randy - Your comments about Norm Dicks breaking the law are so cute. However, we no longer live in a country of laws and most Americans know that. Distain and disgust for everything in DC reflects that. Americans know corruption is the new law in DC. Americans know that the ...

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 4:18 a.m.

Great analysis and I agree that National issues will define the races this Fall. However, those national issues are highly volatile and not fully defined yet. I would say the 4 national issues most likely to drive elections are: 1) Jobs 2) Immigration 3) Money in Politics and 3) G.O.D. ...

Posted Tue, Jun 22, 9:26 p.m.

As David Sucher mentioned in the 1st post, it's unfortunate that Seattle didn't study the Hudson River Park along the west bank of Manhattan. There's nothing spectacular or any 'knockout bold concepts' that the author referred to in his article. Perhaps that's why it works so well. I live 1 ...

Posted Fri, May 28, 11:47 a.m.

Thx for the comment Ted. But really, having critics accuse people like me of accepting money to buy my influence is the oldest trick in the book. You weren't being informed, you were being misinformed. But like with the birther movement, the right wing noise machine knows that if you ...

Posted Fri, May 28, 5:01 a.m.

I have no idea if I'm the "frequent critic who identifies himself by name", but I wouldn't be surprised if I am. Like many in the old media, Ted seems to be particularly prickly about comments about Sound Transit and rail transit. In short, he just doesn't like rail transit ...

Posted Sun, May 23, 7:55 p.m.

For those wanting a great overview of some of the issues confronting education reform, give a listen to this 2 part series from TVW. TVW - The Quest for Quality http://tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?evid=2009090103A&TYPE;=V&CFID;=7533781&CFTOKEN;=16183980&bhcp;=1 They interview people from the unions, the washington roundtable, teachers, parents, even the students. Imagine that, asking the students ...

Posted Sun, May 23, 7:48 p.m.

I've always wondered why the state of washington developed the WASL test when many states use the ITED (Iowa Test of Educational Development). I was in high school in the 70s and we took ITED tests every year even back then. One thing they were NOT used for was to ...

Posted Tue, May 18, 7:22 a.m.

afreeman - What does your question mean? It sounds like a baseless comment. So if Seattle played a role in the "insanity of Wall Stree", explain away. Inquiring minds want to know.........

Posted Fri, May 14, 11:51 p.m.

All of a sudden, this statement by Randy Dutton seems pretty idiotic. "Murray votes to continue the moratoria on offshore oil drilling which holds back jobs increasing GDP by $2.36 trillion." Funny, how this article was written just 1 day after the biggest oil catastrophe in history. It's also interesting ...

Posted Fri, May 14, 8:56 a.m.

Somehow I think this oil spill will be different, unless the military-industrial media complex is able to successfully cover it up. After all, oil is an instrument of war.. and for war. It's different because it's happening right in the heart of the country, not up north in some frozen ...

Posted Thu, May 13, 6:54 a.m.

bellringer. Your comment about your Republican father makes me laugh. Maybe we should let BP, TransOcean and Halliburton build the 520 project and let the 'free market' take over. Then we can bring back Joel Horn to manage the whole thing as a public-private partnership. He, of course, will bring ...

Posted Wed, May 12, 9:16 a.m.

$73,000 for an average city worker seems quite excessive, given that this doesn't even include fairly generous health care and retirement benefits. I agree with Ted that the capital projects need to be taken into account as well. However, these need to be separated into what is fully funded, what ...

Posted Tue, May 11, 9:48 a.m.

Part of the problem is told at the very beginning of this article. Namely, Obey was 1st elected in 1969!! Congress is filled with people who have been there too long and who have embraced the corporate money thereby wrecked our democracy. In Seattle, people like Kerry Killinger ran WAMU ...

Posted Wed, May 5, 10:35 a.m.

Not one of Knute's better pieces of work. This article throws in just about everything: Katrina, Vietnam, BP Oil Spill, NY's fake car bomb, Wall Street, Great Recession. Then it mixes it all up into one big hopeless mess. I'm not sure why anyone would write a conclusion on an ...

Posted Mon, May 3, 12:22 p.m.

Lex - Thanks so much for posting that article. I agree, the entire premise of the article seems to follow a flawed GOP message point. Namely that the 'illegals' are shooting people, raping the women, killing the cops, invading the homes and causing accidents on the freeways. Whenever I hear ...

Posted Mon, May 3, 6:14 a.m.

With anything high profile Republicans do these days, you always need to look behind the curtain to what they're REALLY trying to do. And what this law in Arizona is aimed at is a 'Brown Out'. Disenfranchising hispanics from voting to steal the election this Fall. Keep in mind that ...

Posted Sat, May 1, 10:35 p.m.

I find the Arizona law not just stupid and unconstitutional but wrong from both a human rights and human economics point of view. I find this article lacking a few key policy related points that I feel should be included. Despite the fact that Ted has had some personal bad ...

Posted Thu, Apr 29, 10:14 p.m.

sjenner - Here is a bit more about the monorail. This was essentially the game-changing article written by Jane Hadley at the Seattle P-I. It should also be noted that Goldman Sachs was A-OK with the $11 billion monorail finance plan. Monorail's building, debt costs balloon to $11 billion http://www.seattlepi.com/transportation/229504_monorail22.html ...

Posted Wed, Apr 28, 9:40 p.m.

sjenner - Here's one source. A posting from John Niles in 2002 talking up the monorail as 'modern' compared to light rail. Sounds like a pretty warm endorsement of monorail to me while he speaks about Sound Transit folding its tent. When John Niles and Emory Bundy were part of ...

Posted Wed, Apr 28, 12:01 p.m.

As usual, the anti-light rail debate is entertaining, but it doesn't seem to be based on sound policy analysis as Mr. Van Dyk would like to think. If it were, the lead critics like John Niles, Maggi Fimia and Emory Bundy wouldn't have been such cheerleaders for monorail as a ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 10:08 a.m.

This whole article is such a false choice, vanpools or light rail. On that point, the article fails miserably to make any kind of logical case. It's like saying community colleges vs. 4 year colleges (like UW). That would also be a phony argument. Community colleges serve different markets than ...

Posted Tue, Mar 23, 9:06 p.m.

The Federal government puts new burdens on state government all the time. What about No Child Left Behind? What about the REAL ID Act? What about the State Voter Registration Database? What about the PATRIOT Act? What about the burdens imposed by the Iraq War? The sad truth is that ...

Posted Tue, Mar 23, 3:39 p.m.

This frivilous lawsuit is very likely to be thrown out before it even gets heard because the AGs are suing on behalf of someone else. In other words, they have no standing to even sue in the first place. If someone were to sue, it would be an aggrieved taxpayer ...

Posted Wed, Mar 17, 9:25 p.m.

As Knute says, the Seattle Center people ignored their newly prepared Master Plan. They ought to just rename these things the Master Scams. Apparently the Seattle Center is just being bribed to toss the Master Plan in the garbage this time. The last time it was when the Monorail agency ...

Posted Wed, Mar 17, 11:17 a.m.

Let me be clear, troutbum the anonymous, I don't support carbon neutrality. It just seems to monumentally impossible, if it's even needed. Plus as corrupted and criminal-infested our federal government is, I would never support anything that gives more power to the federal government. I also find it curious why ...

Posted Tue, Mar 16, 8:20 a.m.

Knute - Never let it be said that you don't get people thinking. This issue of carbon neutrality seems like it has the potential to be devastating to the economies of American cities. Obviously a glass blowing shop is not carbon neutral. By that measure how can someone like Richard ...

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 3:28 p.m.

Knute - I'm predicting you'll get your wish before this is all over. The delays could easily run another 5-10 years. If a major earthquake does indeed take the bridge out, the Puget Sound region will very quickly find out how to get around without a 520 bridge. They will ...

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 8 a.m.

GaryP - You've got it exactly right. 1) Light Rail on 520 is difficult because once across the lake, where does it go? Bueller? Bueller? McGinn? 2) And who pays for the track? North Seattle Sub equity area is tapped out for building North to Lynnwood. Bueller? Bueller? McGinn? These ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 9:50 p.m.

crossrip - Your comparisons of Seattle to Portland is rather useless, in my opinion. It's like saying a house in Spokane costs 1/3 of the same sized house in Seattle and somehow concluding that the Seattle house is overpriced. The same holds true for Portland. Portland's rail system was built ...

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 10:31 p.m.

David - The speed issue is definitely something that is important and not mentioned thus far. Anyone who has concerns about surface alignments, however, really should make their way to Portland and ride the MAX out to Gresham. Or take the Yellow Line, both of which run right in the ...

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 5:13 p.m.

GandolfST - In response to your statement, "In any case, this decision must be made based on best guesstimates for the future - where will the center of town be in 2040? " The center of town will be directly related to where the transit stations are located. These 2 ...

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 11:02 a.m.

There was a great quote in the original Star Trek Motion Picture where Captain Kirk said, "The Needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one" The modern day version of that quote should be amended to: "The Needs of the Monied outweigh the needs of ...

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 10:32 a.m.

The only vision I see with this freeway station is a vision of grafitti all over those cement columns. It will be a hideous eyesore in a matter of years. Plus, freeways are inherently bad places to locate stations because there are no people there. No one lives there. No ...

Posted Sat, Feb 27, 6:11 a.m.

Vince - SouthHill isn't serious about any of this. Since he brought up the immigration issue, it's clear he's been propagandized to death about the 'illegal aliens' from Mexico. He says, "I would start with eliminating any health care benefits for the 31 million illegal aliens currently residing in the ...

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 2:08 p.m.

SouthHill - As Taupe mentioned in the post above, there is no common ground here. People like me consider health care to be more of a right and the Republican Party considers it to be optional... except for them of course. Thanks for not debating me. It would be a ...

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 12:23 p.m.

(Sorry. I didn't edit fully) Harris - You have to understand that the Republicans have no compassion, in an almost inhuman way. So pressing them to fix these horrible problems with the health care system don't really apply to them. They don't care. I watched the entire show yesterday and ...

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 12:22 p.m.

Harris - You have to understand that the Republicans have no compassion, in an almost inhuman way. So pressing them to fix these horrible problems with the health care system don't really apply to them. They don't care. I watched the entire show yesterday and not once did I hear ...

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 10:56 a.m.

Thanks for your clarification Jan. I tend to agree with you. I talked to people at the Sierra Club last summer during the Light Rail grand opening, before McGinn was elected, that they should quit pressing for light rail on SR-520. Sound Transit made their choice on which bridge to ...

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 9:09 a.m.

South Hill Conservative - As Vice President Biden said during the meeting yesterday, "You're allowed your own opinion, but you're not allowed your own facts." So please explain specificially what part of this health care reform plan is a "government takeover of 17% of the economy." What do you mean ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 10:42 p.m.

Crossrip, you state that Chopp, McGinn, Pedersen, and Murray are stalling for time on SR 520 and looking at the feasibility of light rail over that corridor. That may be how it appears but I think the real reason is quite different. The Montlake neighborhood has been pushing for a ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 10:33 p.m.

Thx for the detailed information Crossrip. I've lost my memory on that 1976 MOA. I've never understood the importance of those center lanes. They're basically a private driveway to/from Mercer Island. I can't give you the exact numbers off the top of my head (I can get them if you're ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 12:17 p.m.

Crossrip - As far as I know, the feds are ready to sign off on the I-90 corridor. In fact this was put on paper DECADES ago with a Memomorandum of Understanding that the WS-DOT signed off on too, when the I-90 bridge was built. I'm not sure what you ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 8:32 a.m.

Thanks Jan. Wish I knew your full identity. I would disagree that this is a tactic to do nothing. This belief in putting light rail on 520 is sincere. It's just about 15 years too late for the advocates to come forward. I also disagree that this is a 'bizarre ...

Posted Tue, Feb 23, 8:57 p.m.

Now that Microsoft Corporation is a fully sentient person as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, they can speak out with their billions of dollars in free speech and they are doing so. Until the Consitution is amended, these new creatures will speak out loudly and strongly with their billionaire ...

Posted Wed, Jan 13, 7:21 p.m.

It's truly stunning how tone deaf the anti-rail crowd is, despite vote after vote after vote in FAVOR of mass transit. Mr Van Dyk says that light rail, "threatens to displace not only non-rail transportation but other spending for other public purposes in the decade ahead. Time for a reevaluation." ...

Posted Fri, Sep 25, 6:17 p.m.

A little piece of history regarding transportation. Here's a piece from Danny Westneat that captures it as well as anything. Transit on fast track to nowhere Friday, April 02, 2004 Danny Westneat / Times staff columnist http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20040402&slug;=danny02 Sound Transit may soon get what it has long had coming: A regional ...

Posted Fri, Sep 25, 6:02 p.m.

tikunolum has it exactly right. Nothing matters but the money. Everyone wants a Cadillac or a BMW option. Why doesn't everyone drive a BMW then? Because they don't have the money. $1.3 Billion is unfunded. That's ALOT of money. That's essentially the entire price tag for the Green Line Monorail ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 6:30 p.m.

Ted Van Dyk's comments are worth saving for the history books. His attitude seems to be that the people in the tri-county district who voted again and again and again for transit, be it monorail or light rail, strongly support the concept of fixed guideway rail transit. I guess they ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 6:21 p.m.

Great article David. I've never heard anyone numerically analyze why Seattle has such a horrible time making decisions. The disperse nature of the government agencies is perhaps more at fault than most people realize. But then having 1 huge transportation agency that rules like a czar isn't an answer either. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 6:06 p.m.

As a transit advocate and long time supporter of the light rail project, I'm glad this project is finally open and I'm glad people are so thrilled with it. This is perhaps the only light rail line that is going to the airport as part of the original plan. Granted, ...

Posted Fri, Jul 17, 2:16 p.m.

I agree with Jan. The 'great transit debate' is over in Seattle.... finally. Most cities have moved past the bickering about parking and calling people who are pro-transit 'anti-auto'. Apparently not Seattle. Or rather the Seattle media. How unfortunate. KUOW's Friday gang was at it again today making fun of ...

Posted Wed, May 27, 8:06 p.m.

Mr Van Dyk's whole story is based on 'reading between the lines', in which he concludes Pelosi's staff had been briefed several years ago by the CIA without her present. This assumption seems utterly absurd. We're to believe that staff members were given highly, highly classified briefings by the CIA ...

Posted Wed, May 27, 7:51 p.m.

There's something so poetic about the phrase "unexpected truth" in reference to Wendell Cox and his views on transit.

Posted Mon, Apr 6, 9:47 p.m.

I wish I could share Mr Van Dyk's optimism about President Obama. Mr Van Dyk states, "He clearly is getting a better handle on financial/economic issues day-by-day. " Based on what? Just think about it. Every month a city the size of Seattle becomes unemployed. Every month. Month after month. ...

Posted Fri, Apr 3, 1:55 p.m.

This whole article and the whole notion of public private partnerships is founded on a completely flawed assumption that the revenue model for roads is broken, and that a public-private partnership is some magical solution to the problem. Take this quote from the article: "States, hurting from falling revenues of ...

Posted Thu, Apr 2, 10:05 a.m.

Hopefully the public officials of Washington State will proceed more cautiously than the Discovery Institute, with its unbridled promotion of public private partnerships. Transportation in Washington State is like the movie 'Groundhog Day'. Huge boondoggles caused by flawed projects get forgotten, only to be promoted for future boondoggles. Has everyone ...

Posted Wed, Apr 1, 4:28 p.m.

There's nothing magical about "public private partnerships". These projects still cost money and keep in mind that privately funded projects cost the same as publicly funded projects + profit margin + nonperformance bonuses for the executives. A very recent transporatation project in Washington that was a public private partnership? The ...

Posted Mon, Mar 30, 2:56 p.m.

It's amazing how smart Republicans become on the topic of taxes and economics when Democrats are in power. Remember, John "The economy is fundamentally sound" McCain? Remember how the Republicans always said "Deficits don't matter" when Bush was in office? A little bit of consistency might give the Republicans just ...

Posted Tue, Mar 24, 8:59 p.m.

Mr Van Dyk, you say Obama "Promised unity and consensus have given way to one-party proposals to deal with the current financial/economic crises." Does anyone really believe that someone in the Republican or Democratic party is going to be 'bipartisan?' What does that mean anyway? And is it physically possible? ...

Posted Fri, Mar 13, 4:51 p.m.

Kieth - Good point. Fair point. The solution to that would be to raise the MVET. In Washington State, they call it an Excise tax. In states like Missouri, they call it a motor vehicle property tax. And it's non-controversial. The problem in Washington State is that the Democrats (mostly) ...

Posted Mon, Mar 9, 7:30 p.m.

Matt - I think the better question is to ask, "What is it about the mileage tax that YOU don't understand?" What a complete waste of time and money to implement an entirely new billing infrastructure when all that's needed is to RAISE THE FEDERAL GAS TAX. RAISE THE FEDERAL ...

Posted Fri, Feb 27, 7:44 a.m.

Adam Vogt writes: "To rail against big business and the moderate Gary Locke after a month in which 600,000 Americans lost their jobs is ridiculous." Whatever happened to freedom of speech Adam? Knute's article is dead on. If you're a big business like Boeing or Microsoft or Nordstrom or a ...

Posted Tue, Jul 22, 6:43 a.m.

Directly Elected Board: John Stanton pretty burned all of his credibility by being part of the team that tried to 'bleed' the ownership group from OK City during the Sonics ordeal. Ditto for Slade Gorton. The Rice-Stanton report can pretty much be viewed in the same light - Namely, a ...

Posted Wed, Jul 9, 1:32 p.m.

RE: a dozen ways to make bus travel faster: Good point. I doubt you'll see any of the alleged 'BRT proponents' from fighting Eyman's initiative this Fall. Their support for BRT is fake, as is clearly demonstrated by their actions. David Brewster is perhaps the first media outlet to clearly ...

Posted Tue, Jul 8, 12:47 p.m.

RE: Depends on Your Definition of Bus Rapid Transit: Sarajane3h - Your topic title says it all. There really should be only 1 definition of BRT, as you describe. Buses in separate lanes with its own right of way and no stop lights. There is no such thing as watered ...

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 5:12 p.m.

Can't politicians be honest AND get re-elected?: Deb - Your response to me points out a major problem with politics in this region. It's the notion that you can't be honest with the voters AND get re-elected. Why can't you explain to the public that light rail is such a ...

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 8:25 a.m.

RE: Well done series. Kudos to Doug.: Deb Eddy must not want to get re-elected. She's missing (as is McDonald) the one key element in her dissing of Sound Transit and light rail... the people. Try putting an all-bus, no rail solution to the voters. I can see the speeches ...

Posted Tue, May 13, 4:50 p.m.

Has the Seattle process really turned this crazy??: So now we're calculating British Thermal Units (BTUs) of construction projects as yet another reason to do nothing in this city? What's next? The no-bots in this state are crazed. If Bundy wants to oppose light rail, he should just oppose it. ...

Posted Sun, May 4, 8:56 p.m.

Response on funding for PMT: Tom Heller states that I and PMT have received directly and indirectly from Sound Transit. This is simply a bald-faced, unsubstantiated lie. As any good political hack knows, however, if you repeat a lie enough, it becomes the truth. So let's set the record straight, ...

Posted Sat, May 3, 12:30 p.m.

RE: yes, Link Light Rail is low capacity: John - You can argue for tolling but let's call it what it is. It's pricing people out of the market. It's reducing demand not increasing capacity. And no where in King County do we have it. Maybe someone should call up ...

Posted Sat, May 3, 12:12 p.m.

RE: yes, Link Light Rail is low capacity: John - I find your comments to be simply bizarre. You continually damage your own credibility by saying them. Is this what an MIT education yields? 1) First, either choose a consistent response that rail trains are going to be empty or ...

Posted Mon, Apr 28, 6:06 p.m.

Article forgot to mention the Capitol Hill Station: I know others have commented about the errors in this article. Here's another. First Hill station, projected to be the station with heaviest use, has been cancelled because of engineering problems and financial shortfalls. (The next projected northward station, at Husky Stadium, ...

Posted Wed, Apr 16, 5:35 p.m.

RE: Comment by Ted Van Dyk: Please allow me to correct Mr. Van Dyk's comments regarding me and our transit group, People for Modern Transit. I can't speak about any time before I was involved but in the time I was involved since 2001 as President of the group, we ...