News: Margaret Pageler, Seattle WA
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Tuesday, June 20, 2000
Monorail dreams fading fast
City Council may vote to repeal '97 initiative
The dream of a citywide monorail is dead, and City Council President Margaret Pageler says she's lined up enough pallbearers to finally lay it to rest.
Pageler says five out of nine council members have agreed to repeal the 1997 pro-monorail ballot measure. She's pushing for a quick resolution at Monday's council meeting.
"If we know it's not feasible, then why should we spend more money to study whether it's feasible?" she said of efforts to keep the monorail program alive with another study.
Council members are well aware that undoing a voter-approved measure is risky, however. Despite Pageler's predictions, at least a couple of the five votes she's counting are far from certain.
Pageler disputes the city would be violating the will of the people. Voters were not asked to spend any money to build the monorail. Instead, the initiative envisioned finding private backing for a monorail before asking the city for any money.
And she says the city honored the initiative when it gave the ETC $200,000 to get off the ground and to search for private investors. The ETC couldn't find any private backers, and Pageler said the city doesn't have $1 billion or more to build a monorail, either.
A majority of council members agree. But they're nervous about simply killing the initiative without finding another way to address public frustration over gridlock.
Simply put, it's much easier for the council to repeal the initiative if it can show it's doing something about transportation.
Under a draft resolution unveiled by Pageler yesterday, the council would repeal the initiative, then urge Mayor Paul Schell to include monorail technology in a city transportation improvement study.
By KERY MURAKAMI,
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
More Replies:
-
Margaret Pageler, Seattle WA
Denise Moskovitz 9/08/00
-
Margaret Pageler, Seattle WA
Denise Moskovitz 8/22/00