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1

Finally Erica posts something I agree with. Attagirl!

Posted by ivan | February 23, 2007 11:39 AM
2

Don't forget his endorsement of the AZ gay marriage ban (notwithstanding its failure, which by my understanding owed a lot to the initiative's breadth, and Arizona's large contingent of widower shack-ups).

Posted by Nat | February 23, 2007 12:07 PM
3

Sounds like a deadender to me. Hope you're doing well, Ivan.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 23, 2007 12:11 PM
4

The ridiculous part is that the people he's so desparately courting wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole if he ran with Jesus as his VP. The rural fundie crowd still sees him as a centrist 'maverick,' no matter what he does. So now he's just screwing himself in everyone else's eyes.

Posted by Levislade | February 23, 2007 12:22 PM
5

I don't share his politics, but let's not claim that he opposed light rail at every opportunity. If I recall, he and Maggie Fimia were the only King County Council members who bothered to raise justified questions about the habitual cost overruns and unkept promises from Sound Transit

Endorsing McCain is a whole different subject.

Posted by Slip Mahoney | February 23, 2007 12:23 PM
6

And let's not forget McCain's shameful capitulation to Bush over the detainee treatment issue on which McCain was pretending to draw lines in the sand for a while, or his having voted for the Military Commissions Act.

Posted by Nat | February 23, 2007 12:27 PM
7

Say what you will about McKenna endorsing McCain (and let's face it, every Republican making noises about running on 2008 is a repulsive asshole) he was right about Sound Transit. The backers of Sound Transit have misstated the costs and benefits of light rail and commuter rail at every opportunity. There are only two reasons that can account for this, lying or incompetence (or some combination of the two). McKenna was the only person on the Sound Transit Board I saw asking hard questions about the costs and benefits of this system.


Let's look at Sound Transit's record. Light rail went over budget and won't start running until 2009, at which point it will have done nothing except displace commuters from existing bus lines, which does nothing for congestion. Sounder rail is over budget, serves at most a handful of passengers, has an incremental cost of 30 dollars per passenger trip and basically does nothing more than allow white suburbanites to commute in comfort from their mega-mansions in Kent to jobs in downtown Seattle at the expense of urban Seattle residents (I guess sprawl is OK as long as we use railroads to get to work). ST buses do nothing that Metro, Pierce Transit and Community Transit couldn't have done or weren't already doing. Sound Transit is the Enron of public projects, the people who backed it and who continue to back it are tools just as credulous as any McCain supporter who believes in the Straight Talk Express.


Posted by wile_e_quixote | February 23, 2007 12:27 PM
8

Good civic projects are worth the money, period. The Sydney Opera House was almost killed for being over budget. We can afford to do it, and we should do it, and people who stand in the way should be run over.

Posted by Fnarf | February 23, 2007 12:38 PM
9

...by a light rail train.

Posted by keshmeshi | February 23, 2007 12:50 PM
10

Wow ECB- you and I agree!

Fnarf: Sydney Opera House was almost killed twice- once when it was built, and the second time when they've had to do the refurb. And I agree- they're always over budget and usually more than worth it in the long run.

Was the NY subway expensive? You bet. But look what it's gonna coat now to do just a single new line in Manhattan- and they're still doing it because it will be there from now until well into the future. Some people forget that infrastructure doesn't just benefit us today. It's there for future generations as well (although they need to maintain and improve it)

Posted by Dave Coffman | February 23, 2007 2:47 PM
11

Maggie was only representing the interests of her district - from their viewpoint, BRT is the answer to everything, because nothing else is useful to them.

But Rob ... well, don't get me started.

I'll be glad when the votes counted without do-overs.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 23, 2007 3:24 PM
12

Ahhhhhhh..... WALNUTS!

Posted by Giffy | February 23, 2007 5:07 PM
13

McCain was once a maverick and it's possible that he's cynically telling the hard right core (who control the GOP nomination process) what they want in order to get the nomination, just to go back to being himself once he gets what he needs (enough delagates to ensure his nomination) - after all, if he gets the nomination and actually wins election to the presidency, he won't have to worry much about being renominated in 2012 - but i don't trust someone who is going down so hard on the religious right either.

Posted by Matt from Denver | February 23, 2007 9:06 PM
14

-McKenna was the only person on the Sound Transit Board I saw asking hard questions about the costs and benefits of this system. -

No he wasn't. McKenna was just doing Kemper Freeman's bidding to kill light rail, while feigning support for monorail and bus "rapid" transit along the way to pretend like he wasn't totally anti-transit. McKenna wore a number of regional hats, including oversight of the 405 and 520 projects. Both went way way way over original project cost estimates, including a single interchange at 405 and 167, which was something like 400% over initial estimates. Did McKenna make a peep about his favorite roads projects? Hell no. It really takes a certain clueless anti-rail ideologue to continue defending these freeway goons.

-Let's look at Sound Transit's record. Light rail went over budget and won't start running until 2009,-

Thanks, in part, to McKenna participating in anti-transit groups like CETA who threw several frivolous lawsuits in ST's path, supported Eyman ititiatives which cut ST funding. McKenna also personally lobbied conservative anti-transit forces in DC (via Jennifer Dunn) to kill Sound Transit's federal grant. You can't have it both ways, wile_e_quixote. Sorry.

-at which point it will have done nothing except displace commuters from existing bus lines, which does nothing for congestion.-

Same lame arguments used in every other city before light rail was built, wile_e. Too bad it's not true. ECB's excellent distpatch from Denver included stats which prove you are simply mouthing anti-transit talking points.

-Sounder rail is over budget, serves at most a handful of passengers, has an incremental cost of 30 dollars per passenger trip and basically does nothing more than allow white suburbanites to commute in comfort from their mega-mansions in Kent to jobs in downtown Seattle at the expense of urban Seattle residents-

First of all, Kent is a lot more diverse and blue collar than most of Seattle. Second, those people used to have to drive to their jobs in Seattle. And if nobody is riding it, why do they keep having to add train cars http://www.soundtransit.org/x1194.xml , as well as two new trips this year alone? Educate yourself, wile_e. You're using outdated arguments.

-(I guess sprawl is OK as long as we use railroads to get to work). ST buses do nothing that Metro, Pierce Transit and Community Transit couldn't have done or weren't already doing. -

Wrong again. I take an ST bus to and from work at least 3 days a week, and they are limited stop, traveling mostly on HOV lanes. It's a totally different service than local bus routes. If you got out of your car for once, you might figure that out, wile_e_quixote.

McKenna is a weasel, through and through. He lies through his teeth to get different segments of the population (like wile_e_quixote) to believe he's an independent, moderate "maverick." If people like wile_e_quixote bothered to look beyond the surface of some of these issues, they would see the real Rob McKenna. Luckily, people like ECB are out there doing just that.

Posted by Benjamin | February 25, 2007 4:13 PM
15

Wile_e_quixote: you live in Burien and complain about sprawl and people who choose to live in Kent? Tell us how that works??

Posted by Benjamin | February 25, 2007 4:18 PM

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