Whatever you may think of Sec'y McDonald's leadership of WSDOT, his six years on Sound Transit's board have been amazing. We've all benefited from his leadership skills on the local level. I’m just sad he won’t be there with us to celebrate our victory in November.

Well, I'm glad he's sticking around because he's fun at parties.

McDonald's a great guy, definitely fun at parties, and if I put the recent viaduct episode out of my head completely, I think he's done a good job leading WSDOT and making it more efficient. However, David Dye has got to go! He exemplifies the road-building-or-bust culture at that agency.

I haven't always agreed with his philosophy, but I've really been impressed by his competence. I'm no fan of WSDOT's emphasis on roads, but at least they have become much more innovative at doing the road building well. (It's unclear how quickly you can change the culture at such a large agency in any case.)

The ferry system is also doing much better than it was pre-McDonald.

I hope Gregoire will now find someone with his leadership skills who will move the agency from a Dept of Roads to a true Dept of Transportation. While some may be skeptical that would be her goal, it isn't just Seattle that's looking for a variety of transportation solutions.

True, that roads r us thing is not going to fly in the Global Warming Conscious Century.

Had a heated discussion with a certain Councilmember about that at the KCDems on Tuesday night. The politicos are about 3 years behind the voting public as it stands.

Will @ 5 - Was she blonde and from South King County?

Secretary MacDonald didn't resign voluntarily, he was fired. By the way, maybe you don't see Crosscut very often. There's an interesting article there about the Viaduct replacement negotiations entitled Viaduct Redux.

I'm hoping he runs either for mayor of Seattle or governor. He'd be a vast improvement over the current occupants of either of those offices.

A clue as to what you will find in the Crosscut article:

The old term is tunnel. The new term is 'trench with a lid.' Sure sounds like a tunnel to me, though. This rephrasing is sometimes called 'spin.'

With all that money behind the tunnel and the mayor, and the mayor in on the negotiations, you didn't really think the tunnel was going to go away, did you?

There is a good reason for the rechristening of the project. (Excuse my verb.) The governor will probably get on board with the new concept, since it is no longer a 'tunnel' - and it will be much easier for her to support this with Mr MacDonald out of the way. Seems she got on the wrong side of some local big labor hotshots, and they have conviced her to mend her ways. This is her repentance.

One last piece of advice: Don't take every press release at face value. Firings happen on Friday afternoon all the time, camouflaged as resignations. This weekend is the opening of fishing season. Almost nobody reads the news in the afternoon on the way out of town. The real story even slipped by you.

To quote one of Sherman Alexie's books, during a visit to a tribal elder:

'Dig deep. Puppy on bottom.'

More details? Check out this soundoff at the P-I:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/soundoff/comment.asp?articleID=313577

The new tunnel. Coming soon, to a waterfront near you ...

Have a nice day.

And, the Crosscut article:

http://www.crosscut.com/alaskan-way-viaduct/2128/

I suggest you add Crosscut to your 'friends of Slog.' It's a new version of the 1980's Weekly. I think you'll get along ok with them. No competition with Personals, either.

Ciao!

Regarding post 8, I'm forgetting my grammar in my old age. 'Rechristening' is a noun and the first direct object, I think. My middle school English teachers are cringing.

One of Secretary MacDonald's best moves: advancing the discussion of tolling. That may also have led to his demise, as the Governor is so cautious on the topic.

Railfan and #1: was that a sacrastic post? The Governor asked him not to vote on the ST2 modal choice for the East corridor. The ST2 decision making process was odd at best. The remainder of the ST board voted down the study of several bus-related ramps on the limited access highways that he asked to be studied. What November victory? RTID and ST2 are a pair of chained albatross. the frightful thing: they might pass.

For Whom The Slog Tolls ...

The PRIMARY proponent of tolling has been the state Treasurer, Mike Murphy. Unlike the Secretary of Transportation, the Treasurer is elected, and completely free of any influence of the governor. By contrast, the Secretary of Transportation works at the pleasure of the governor.

There is a good reason for the Treasurer to be independent. S/he is directly responsible for maintaining the state's financial condition, which is vital when it is time to sell bonds to finance major projects. THERE MUST NOT BE ANY POLITICAL MEDDLING IN THIS OFFICE!

State Treasurer Michael Murphy is retiring at the end of his term next year. In a recent interview in the Daily Olympian, he offered some thoughts about his office and its functions. In case you are interested, the link is here:

http://www.theolympian.com/124/story/66990.html

The tolling decision will be based on funding decisions, which are decided by the lege. The Secretary can lobby for certain outcomes, but he plays no other direct role in this process, and certainly cannot be legitimately blamed for the presence or absence of tolls.

The subject of tolls is frequently raised when our (falsely-perceived) high gas tax comes up for discussion. For better or worse, there will probably be more tolls coming soon, to a highway near you. Get used to the idea.

Regarding post 10 ...

Object of the preposition maybe? Is that close to the correct answer?

A free meal at Taco del Mar to the first poster to successfully diagram this sentence:

'There is a good reason for the rechristening of the project.'

Seriously.

The image currently in my crystal ball:

The mayor and his cronies will produce a repackaged 'tunnel' proposal to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, named the 'lidded trench' or something similar. The governor and newly-named Secretary of Transportation will back this proposal enthusiastically. And we will watch another political firefight in our fair city over the coming months.

Election season these next few years might be really exciting for a change.

Speaking of elections ...

Oh, yes. Shortly after the 2008 general election, tolls will be imposed on the 520 and I-90 bridges. The (guinea pig) users of the newly-tolled Tacoma Narrows Bridge will have worked the bugs out of the new electronic tolling system. That system will then be ready for prime time on Lake Washington, with all the electeds safely at their desks.

Remember, you read it here first.

Have a nice day.

Hello everyone, wanna be part of some kind of community, possible here? anyone here?