Seattle voters have spoken, but what did they mean?
City voters said no last week to rebuilding the Alaskan Way viaduct and no to a small tunnel in its place.
So, the questions are whether there’s anything voters would approve and whether we outside the city have any influence on the matter,
First, there’s probably no plan for a waterfront highway that could get majority support from voters or their representatives either in the city or outside.
The best idea I’ve heard is from state Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island. Haugen says we should just tear the viaduct down.
Tearing it down would buy time to make a decision without the urgency of having to replace a decaying viaduct. We could then develop a surface highway.
A surface highway would be not much wider than the viaduct that was on last week’s ballot, it could keep the city connected to the waterfront with pedestrian overpasses every few blocks, and it would probably cost less than either an elevated highway or a tunnel. We could add capacity with a second deck, creating a viaduct with the lower deck at ground level.
Before we tear it down, let’s have an enhanced transit system in place to move people through the area.
Will suburbanites have any influence? Not much. The state has already set aside money for Alaskan Way. So, our only role is pushing our legislators to protect that money.
Save the presidential primary
Legislators are fighting over whether Washington will hold a presidential primary next year. Part of the reason to cancel it is that Democrats refuse to recognize the results, and Republicans use it for only part of their slate of delegates to the presidential nominating convention.
Let’s hold it with those facts noted on the ballot. Most people would pick the ballot that is most meaningful.
I also hope we keep the scheduled June date rather than join the race toward earlier primaries. With California having just moved its primary to February, voters will have picked most of the delegates by mid-February. If Washington opts for such a date, it will be just another state racing for early influence.
Instead, let’s keep the June date, with the hope that the early contests fail to produce two clear winners. Then, next year’s legislature can decide if the primary is worth the $9.2 million cost or whether we should let the parties continue with the caucus system.
This race to be early has created a de-facto national primary on Feb. 5. Let’s have a national primary, but let’s make it in June. It’s time for a national rule that only delegates chosen after mid-May could participate in nominating conventions.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor.
Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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