Comments on No Debate

Here's a question I have... why is Mercer a one-way street out of Seattle Center in the first place? The divider at the SR99 underpass infers that it once was a two way street and was reconfigured to go one-way. Anyone willing to enlighten me?

Because it hasn't been in the papers for a while, here's a reminder of a more skeptical perspective on this project:

http://www.seattle.gov/council/licata/up_185.htm

Gomez - not sure, maybe something to do with the misguide Bay Freeway proposal? Mr. X, I bet you know...

Gomez,

My guess is that was done in order to clear traffic out after Seattle Center events, but Mercer has been a one-way street for decades. The Bay Freeway was going to be an elevated road btwn Seattle Center and I-5, and the City bought property along Mercer/Valley for the project in the early 1960's that they sold to Paul Allen a few years ago.

The big negative (aside from the staggering cost and marginal to nonexistent traffic benefits) of redoing Mercer is that it will actually increase the time it takes to get from Seattle Center to I-5 over doing absolutely nothing.

But Paul Allen gets a pretty boulevard for his building frontage, which pretty much defines the public interest as far as Hallivulcan and the Nickels MalAdministration is concerned....

This "panel" is a joke, and Allied Arts ought to be ashamed of themselves.

It'll be an interesting test of ECB and the PWC's "disincentives for driving" principles, which focus on using a reduction in capacity to encourage alternative transport methods.

Oh, and if you want just one good reason to vote no on the City Transportation levy, the Mayor crying poverty and trying to raise property taxes to fund basic services, while at the same time spending literally millions to push a new Allen-friendly Mercer Boulevard ought to do it. Talk about misplaced priorities...

Gomez,

I'd be happy to enlighten you. The word you're looking for is "imply", not "infer".

Winner? Paul Allen, hands down.

Loser? Seattle taxpayers, hands down.

Slight winner? People who live in Queen Anne, South Lake Union and work on the Eastside - or the reverse commute.

I'd rather have the Pacific Interchange quite frankly and to heck with the other two (Mercer/Tunnel).

Oh, and I forgot to include Bill and Melinda Gates - since they'll be on that commute to the Gates Foundation too.

LOL no, #6 posting as my Forums tag. There's no other reason for a concrete divider to bisect a street other than to separate two different rights of way (you also see this eastbound on the I-90 Mt Baker tunnel), thus it INFERS that the street, when originally built, was once two-way.

Nah Will, Bill and Melinda will just heli or tele commute to work...

Actually, to split hairs, Gomez infers that Mercer was a two-way street because the presence of a concrete divider implies that it originally was.

Semantic discussion aside, the fact that the Council is even entertaining the idea of wasting this kind of money after making a policy decision to live w/Mercer as is and sell the land gives a lot of ammo to people who think they're feckless, undisciplined, and just plain dumb.

Gomez,

Ouch. Dude, there are plenty of other ways to demonstrate your generally low intelligence, but repeating this same mistake as a reply to having the mistake pointed out in the first place is blurring the lines between stupidity and comic genius.

LOL Merriam. Love your dictionary, hear it's a bestseller.