The Alaskan Way Viaduct Solution: Seattle is the definition of stupid

[Peripateticshutin]

Originally Posted by jinj

Do you know the completion date for light rail? 20XX, you can guess that last two years, I'm guessing 2030.

I'd read 2023 -- but give our take 1-2 decades as a margin of error, right.

[mitsuturbo]

Originally Posted by tankratt

Who do you think grows your wheat for your bread, grows hops for your micro beer, grows hay for your beef. I could go on but I guess you think all that S*** just shows up on your store shelf. East of the Cascades keeps this state civil.

And if the metro area residents weren't buying it.. what sort of economy would there be out east?

[malarkey]

Originally Posted by jinj

Seattle residents sure do like coming here to perform their illegal dumping, yes, thanks for that.

No, that's your redneck neighbors. They know you'll blame it on city-folk. LOL

[jinj]

Originally Posted by malarkey

No, that's your redneck neighbors. They know you'll blame it on city-folk. LOL

Nooo, those guys just leave it in their back yards.

Drive up around Lake Walker, I have seen one house where the pile of trash bags is taller then their house.

[tankratt]

Originally Posted by mitsuturbo

And if the metro area residents weren't buying it.. what sort of economy would there be out east?

The economy would be fine in our area, we grow food, if you want to eat you have to buy food. The small amount of farmers left on the west side of the cascades cant produce enough for you "metros" so dont act like you are doing us favors, your not.

[seattlenextyear]

Yay! Let's all go back to subsistence farming! Division of labor is for suckers.

[danco]

Personally I like the view From the viaduct, and as far as aesthetics it kinda
blends in with the old waterfront buildings, piers, cranes, railways and
cargo boxes. It gives Seattle a blue collar vibe it should be proud of.
I am. In regards to Mega *****'s plan for a tunnel, it smacks of developer
kickbacks. Maybe she knows Blagojevich.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

I just think that the whole transportation funding is inefficient and the planning is hare-brain and knee-jerk. I remember back when the earthqauke hit and 520 bridge was all messed up, engineers from the San Francisco BART system came up (on their own dime, no less!) to help the city planners put in a viable under-lake rail system like they have in SF Bay. That system would have increased capacity and decreased commuting time... somehow their carefully detailed plan (based on real life data in a real city that is similar to ours) got dropped behind a desk or something. I want to know why I have to pay an extra 3.5% sales tax for MTA, another few cents on my gasoline, an ADDITIONAL $2 each way for bus fare and still be on the bus longer than it would take me to drive myself with traffic all messed up from endless road construction? Nothing is adding up here...

I've lived in several big cities and they all have their traffic problems, but I can honestly say that Seattle takes the cake. Good Lord save us, but even the totally bizarre Metro rail and bus system in DC is more efficient than any of the craziness our planners keep putting forth. Seems to me they aren't trying to fix the problem, just get more money in taxes while they promise to fix the problem! Shame on us for approving these initiatives without a proper plan and schedule first!

[MissingAll4Seasons]

And to continue my rant a little more....

Considering that a rather large portion of employees in this area work in IT or other computerized office jobs where face-to-face is not required... and we have a really good high-speed telecommunications network already in place in the city and the majority of outlying areas... why in the @%$#^%$ aren't we TELECOMMUTING?!?!?! Really, that would cut down on traffic by at least 40% wouldn't it? They wouldn't even need to solve the traffic problem then, would they?! Geez, think of all the money businesses could save by not paying office overhead... even if they did pay for all their employees to have high-speed internet, a laptop, a fax machine and a phone!!

AARRRGGG!!! That's not even counting all the money and time we'd save on commuting. Or reducing the vehicle emissions and pollution. Seems like a win-win-win-win situation to me! If Seattle wants to think of itself as "progressive", "liberal", "innovative" and "green" it really needs to put its money where it's mouth is. [/end rant]

[akmbd166]

Couldnt find a discussion on this subject, so thought Id throw it out there...
AKMblog (http://akmblog.org/viaduct.htm - broken link)
...thoughts ?