When the unacceptable $11 billion monorail finance plan came to light, The Stranger called for a revote. So, why are we so upset with Nickels? Isn’t he just calling for a revote too?

Well, we called for a revote on the finance plan. Nickels has basically put I-83 back on the ballot, calling for a revote on the monorail itself. We don’t support that, and do not support calling for a revote as the mayor has framed it: Denouncing the actual scope of the plan (this from a guy who recently supported scrapping the planned light rail station at First Hill) and announcing that the City has withdrawn its support. That’s like taking the wheels off a car and then asking someone if they want to buy it.

Rather, we support, as we wrote on June 30, a revote asking for a new finance plan to support elevated rapid transit.

Nickels has taken a political bet, siding with I-83, anti-monorail crowd. We’ll see how that goes for him and Tim Ceis and Ron Sims and Martin Selig.