July 27, 2005
Kudos to Ed Murray

Rep. Ed Murray, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee is setting an example that every elected official should follow. Murray is quoted in today's Times article "Sound Transit to vote on dropping First Hill"

"If they kill First Hill, I'm off the train," said Murray, a longtime Sound Transit backer who chairs the state House Transportation Committee. Murray said he would travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby against federal grants Sound Transit needs to build the northern extension.
Kudos to Murray for again drawing attention to the pointlessness of Sound Transit. Obviously Murray wouldn't be threatening to lobby against Sound Transit if it were a generally worthwhile project. He apparently thinks its worthwhile only if it happens to add a station in his district that would serve a particular customer base. But Sound Transit offers little value to the community at large and if only every other public official whose constituents pay for Sound Transit even though it doesn't benefit them were to lobby against Sound Transit, we could kill the thing in no time and save us all a lot of money.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 27, 2005 09:49 AM | Email This
Comments
1. Sounds good to me! Hey, I pay for this joke of a project and I'll get no benefit, either!

If the Feds want to know where they can cut some baaaad pork, X marks the spot right on top of Sound Transit.

Posted by: Michele on July 27, 2005 09:55 AM
2. I see in the paper today it apparently is not likely to go to SeaTac now that Southwest is thinking about moving to Boeing Field.

What a fiasco! A chunk of rail that apparently goes no where, carries no one, and costs billions.

Posted by: Larry on July 27, 2005 10:44 AM
3. Sound Transit is this generations WSPPS

Posted by: amused by liberal fools on July 27, 2005 11:05 AM
4. My kudos go to Nick Licata, who, despite being a generally liberal member of the city council, had the guts a couple of days ago to cast the lone dissenting vote against the first hill station, on the grounds that the regional benefit of building the station falls far short of the mind numbing cost. Murray's actions may allude to the pointlessness of the line, but he is no friend of sensible people who want sensible transportation solutions.

Posted by: srogers on July 27, 2005 11:14 AM
5. Remember the $700 toilet seats and $400 hammers that had some railing against the military and how stupid they were, and how the contractors were theives?

How is a 2 billion dollar choo-choo to serve perhaps 1,000 people not just as bad or worse?

By the time they put the choo-choo in my area (to compensate for the taxes I'm paying) I'll probably be retired and have little need for it.

Posted by: SouthernRoots on July 27, 2005 12:02 PM
6. Hey, how about that $230 million dollar rental car facility! (according to the article quoted by Michele). $230 million dollar rental car facility? That can't be right. Why should a parking lot and a tilt-up garage/car wash cost so much?

Posted by: Artie on July 27, 2005 04:53 PM
7. The lunacy of this blog is laughable. You are championing someone who is insisting we dig a big hole under a neighborhood that has great transit service already (compared to many areas in King County), at a great risk. Then when Sound Transit does dig into a pit of sand and cost overruns you will cry out that the agency can't manage capital projects. The right used to be consistent in their extreme ideology. Now they make no sense at all.

Posted by: xcx on July 27, 2005 10:40 PM
8. What's the matter, xcx? A little too much nuance for ya? Maybe you could get Howeird Dean to 'splain it to ya....


(Talk about making no sense ;'}

Posted by: alphabet soup on July 28, 2005 05:38 PM
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