Take the "A" Train ... Please

San Francisco has BART, a sleekly beautiful interurban system. Washington, D.C., has Metro. Chicago has the antique but serviceable "El" with all its municipal and interurban connections. New York has its gritty but efficient subway system. Atlanta has MARTA. Los Angeles has its Red and Purple lines.

These are all heavy rail systems, running off of electrified third rails. Seattle voted down an excellent, comprehensive area-wide system proposed in 1969. Seattle today has no heavy rail.

Portland has MAX, carrying passengers through downtown and to outlying areas. Colorful Los Angeles has its Gold, Blue and Green lines. Vancouver has its successful SkyTrain.

These are light rail systems, more like streetcars but running on dedicated off-road routes, for the most part, and powered by overhead lines. Seattle is building a light rail line from downtown to the airport, due to open in 2009, and is planning an extension northwards to the University, which may open in 2016. That's all we have in the way of light rail.

I'm depressed.

The light rail authorized to date will be nice for users of the airport, and the extension will be convenient for students. But it does not come close to a comprehensive rail transit system. And Tuesday, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have provided funding for an additional 50 miles of light rail, extending the system into Pierce County to the south and Snohomish County to the north. The measure lost by a decisive margin.

This city has enormous difficulty in carrying through on any project. Part of our problem seems to be the local press. Whenever a public project is suggested, the newspapers are full of excited stories and beautiful architectural drawings. Everyone professes excitement. The project goes forward. Then comes the election to provide financing. All of a sudden, new forces within the newspapers' management seem to surge to the surface. Stories of cost overruns and faulty estimates abound. Headlines warn voters of the increases to come in their tax bills if the measure is approved. Questions are raised -- does this project, paid for us all, only serve certain elite groups (or only poor folks, depending on the project), although paid for by everyone?

An editorial written by a senior editor in one of the two dailies, shortly before the election, was filled with dark forebodings of the money to be wasted, the boondoggle being thrust upon us. He ended with his coup de grâce-- ask yourselves, he wrote, how much good am I -- yes, me, myself, as an individual -- going to get out of this transit system? Ah yes, the attitude that made this country great: "What's in it for me?"

What's in it for me, of course, besides the fact that I think rail transit is inherently cool, is an electrically powered system of mass transit, separated for most of its route from motor vehicle traffic, and able to move people about the city, and to and from work, with a minimum amount of CO2 emissions, a minimum amount of energy consumption, and a maximum amount of speed.

Which brings us to the Sierra Club. I'm a long-time member and fervent supporter of the Sierra Club. The Club has done wonderful work in setting aside wilderness areas and parks, work for which future generations will owe them immense gratitude. But the local chapter of the Sierra Club may well have tipped the balance in ensuring defeat of the rapid transit measure. The problem, for the Club's decision makers, was that the proposition also authorized a large amount of road and bridge construction. They opposed making it easier to drive cars.

I'm not an automobile enthusiast. I love visiting New York and European cities, places where you can spend days traveling around by transit, without needing a car and where a car is merely an encumbrance. But Seattle is not that kind of city yet. It wouldn't have been, even with 50 more miles of rail transit, and even with an excellent Metro bus system. A large percentage of the population will need to depend on motor vehicle transportation for the foreseeable future. As the density of transit routes and the frequency of service increase, that percentage will decrease. But for now, traffic is a nightmare. Road improvements are necessary. The objective is to improve roads and bridges with as little impact on the surrounding community as possible.

To the Sierra Club, half measures were unacceptable. They were unwilling to accept increased road construction in order to get the improved rail transit that will make even greater road construction in the future less necessary. I think that was a mistake.

So I'm depressed. I'm depressed that Seattle has talked about rail transit for so many decades, and has so little to show for it. I'm depressed at the part that the media have played in the debacle of this election. I'm depressed at the role played by the Sierra Club, an organization with whom I feel close ties.

And I'm generally depressed at our inability as a community to make decisions and work together to accomplish what we set out to do.

Hail to the Chief

When George V, By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, arrived in Delhi in 1911 to receive the joyful tribute of his imperial subjects at an Imperial Durbar, he entered the city in a five-mile long procession through the Elephant Gate. The effects on Delhi traffic, even in those early days of the horseless carriage, can only be imagined.

When George W., By the Grace of the Florida Secretary of State and the Supreme Court, President of the United States, Defender of Big Oil, and Decider for the Entire World, arrives in Seattle on Monday to receive the joyful tribute of Eastside Republicans at a $1,000 a plate dinner ($10,000 for those wishing to purchase a brief personal audience with the Divine Presence), the impact may be somewhat less if only because we have fewer elephants in our highways and byways.

Traffic in Seattle is always congested, because of the geography of the area. We have many bodies of water surrounding small amounts of densely populated land. This August has been worse than usual because of the closure for re-paving of many of the northbound lanes of I-5, the most heavily trafficked route through downtown. And the two bridges across Lake Washington, connecting Seattle to the the Eastside suburbs, are daily nightmares on the best of days.

According to this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, drivers can expect the afternoon commute on Monday to be totally snarled. All streets and roads on the President's route will be entirely closed to all other traffic while he is en route. The Secret Service will not announce the President's route in advance, and will not indicate which airport he will use for his arrival and departure. It will be therefore impossible for motorists to plan alternative ways to go home from work.

But we are of course honored to have our President visit the Northwest Corner. His visit will obviously be an expensive nightmare for our police, a major inconvenience and elevator of blood-pressure for our motorists, and a serious logistics problem for the Secret Service. But, of course, whether we are Democrat or Republican, he is our President and we welcome him.

President Bush's only purpose in making the trip is to raise money for the re-election campaign of Dave Reichert, a suburban Republican Congressman for a swing district. As stated in the P-I, "Contacted Friday, Reichert's campaign staff declined to comment on the event."

The President will make no public appearances. Seattle's citizens probably are not considered part of his core constituency, such as it is. Unless they have $1,000 to pony up for dinner.

Photos: (t0p) State Entry into Delhi (1911 postcard); (bottom)King George V in imperial robes

Pigs on Parade

Some towns go to the dogs. Seattle always has to be a little bit different ...

Briefly, briefly, briefly

Putting aside any pretensions of profundity for the moment, let me give my vast audience of blogophiles -- that stalwart army of literati that sweeps out of the back lots of Hollywood, marches up the hills of western Colorado, and flies over the sea to the barracks of Stuttgart, Germany -- a down and dirty summary of recent events as seen up here in the Northwest Corner ...

• The globe may be warming, but not so here in Seattle. We reached a balmy 79 yesterday -- mothers pulled small, scared children out of doors and showed them the Sun -- but quickly the thermometer reverted today to a breezy, cloudy disgruntling low 60's.
  
• But the first of the season's cruise ships pulled into port, portending warmer days and summer tourist hordes soon to arrive. (I watched this Alaska-bound pride of the Celebrity Cruise line come lumbering slowly into Elliott Bay from my office window on Monday. My god, it looked like an ungainly white elephant walking across a mud puddle. Why the @#$%&@ can't we have cruise ships that look sleekly nautical and sea-worthy -- rather than hulks that resemble floating wedding cakes or maritime monuments to Wal-Mart?)
  
• You read the blog (but you didn't comment on it!). You've begged for the update (but you begged in silence!). Ok, folks, I hear you! You asked for it! Here it is: Tomorrow the painter finally finishes his labors and leaves me alone -- alone and in peace, in my own house! A mere 32 days after he began, I'll actually be able to walk across a room without stepping into a paint bucket or slipping on a tarp. I'll be able to come home and not have to be pleasant to a trespasser. Friends and family, who have stood steadfastly beside me in spirit (but not in person), whilst I bore up bravely beneath this yoke of oppression are now welcome, nay begged, to visit me this summer. Free food, free drink and -- for reasonably sized groups -- free beds. In return, you need only utter to me those magic words: "Oh man, it looks wonderful! What an improvement!"
  
• I was a moot court judge at the University of Washington law school last night. Participants were all first year students (1L's in law school jargon). Students are getting brighter, more articulate, and more poised every year. The future of the profession will be in good hands. I only hope their idealism will always match their professional skills.
  
• Seattle Art Museum reopened its downtown venue a week ago. It has expanded from the small rather peculiar post-modern building that Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi conned Seattle into building 15 years ago, and now flows into an adjacent portion of a just completed 16-story, sleekly-designed glass tower. At present, the museum occupies only the first four floors of the new addition, with WaMu renting the floors above. Eventually, the museum will grow into occupation of the first 12 stories of the building. It seems kind of a peculiar urban facility, unlike the more horizontally designed museums in most cities. We shall see how it all works out. The signature piece as you enter is a group of automobiles (real ones), suspended from the ceiling, apparently exploding off into all directions.
  
• And speaking of SAM, the museum's sculpture park opened earlier this year. Large outdoor pieces of, well, art (think 25 foot high typewriter erasers), are scattered across a beautiful stretch of brand new parkland, built from scratch on former industrial wasteland, and extending all the way down to the water. Views of Puget Sound and the Olympics are fantastic. SAM has reconstructed a small stretch of primordial beach on the waterfront, bringing in sand and driftwood and boulders -- a place that kids love. The park is built over and around a main city arterial (Elliott Avenue) and the northbound mainline tracks, heavily used by Amtrak and Burlington Northern. Surprisingly, it all works. It all pulls together. It's all wonderful. I love it!

And that's how it is, briefly, in the Northwest Corner. Good night ... and good luck.

May in Seattle: Drunk with Joy

Springtime in Seattle. The winter wasn’t all that wet, really, or all that cold. But for many months now, it’s been sufficiently wet, and – for its now being May, for god’s sake – insufficiently warm.

But today, they say, we’ll reach 70 degrees. Outside, packs of kids wander through downtown in shorts and shirt sleeves (but why aren’t they in school?). The sky is blue, the sun is warm, and -- even downtown -- the air is fresh with scent of flowers and sea tang. Seagulls hover in the breeze, crying out their urgent sea calls, frantic to describe foreign ports they've known. Or they stalk about the sidewalks like sharp-eyed, pompous, gray-and-white-garbed attorneys, exuding self-importance. Even the panhandlers seem mellowed out, smiling as you pass by without leaving them a penny.

Being alive today seems most excellent, and well worth the long winter wait.

We moved into new offices about three weeks ago. Not everything about our new digs seems better – for example, we dropped down from the 12th floor in our old building to the 5th floor here. But the view! I look out over Elliott Bay, and beyond, out into the Sound, watching the green and white Washington State ferries moving in and out of their piers, their paths crossing each other, coming and going, in the bay. I’m hypnotized, hard put to focus on my computer screen and stacks of papers.

Beyond the Sound loom the white peaks of the Olympics, reminding me of summer trails as yet un-hiked, and mountain goats, and rocky ridges unexplored. Of millions of small animal forms emerging from hibernation, of tens of millions of their youngsters, tasting with delight their first spring in the Olympics.

Back to work. Work for an afternoon, looking forward to a long, warm evening ahead. Even thoughts of pushing a lawn mower around the yard now feel sensual and life-affirming – allowing me to unite myself in labor with Nature’s spring gift of abundant and exuberant growth.

Springtime in Seattle. Nowhere else on earth I’d rather be.