Sound Transit fumbling light rail

When I attended a town-hall meeting with Sound Transit salesmen regarding the proposed light rail expansion, I discussed this issue of the system bypassing the industrial areas.

I argued that if the light-rail system didn’t go to the places where people work, commuters won’t ride it and it won’t solve our traffic jams. The Sound Transit salesman, formally known as a relations specialist, told me that the planners for the light-rail system decided to exclude the needs of Boeing employees because “Boeing employees carry toolboxes and they all drive trucks to carry those toolboxes so they wouldn’t want to ride on the light-rail trains carrying their toolboxes.”

I happen to work at Boeing and I don’t carry a toolbox. In fact, I see hundreds of employees coming to work and they aren’t carrying toolboxes either. Now, do you think with an answer like that, that Sound Transit really took the time to investigate their customers’ needs? I don’t think so. In fact, this town-hall meeting really wasn’t for the purpose of getting the input of potential customers as they portrayed it, it was a sales presentation trying to sell us on what Sound Transit believes we need.

My input, as well as that of anyone else attending that meeting, was of no value to them. Proposition 1 is a bad idea not because light-rail is a bad idea but because Sound Transit is so inept at doing light-rail planning that it would be a huge waste of money that won’t solve our traffic congestion. On top of that, we would be forced to pay to maintain a system that couldn’t generate enough revenue to pay for the electricity it takes to run the trains. The story about the toolbox conversation is a true story.

Douglas Theer