Seattle Subways response to the Seattle Times latest anti-light rail editorial.
Seattle Subway's response to the Seattle Times' latest anti-light rail editorial. seattle subway

After yet another anti-Sound Transit 3 editorial from Seattle's the suburbs' newspaper of record, the transit advocates at Seattle Subway have a simple response: Think paying for a transformational expansion of light rail is too expensive? Consider killing your Seattle Times subscription.

ST3 is the $54 billion package on your November ballot that would double light rail in the Puget Sound region. It will cost the average regional taxpayer $14 per month. The Times' website currently lists subscriptions ranging from $14 to $35 a month.


The Times hasn't yet officially said its readers should vote "no" on the ballot measure, but has been beating the anti-ST3 drum on its opinion pages for a while. On Friday, the Times Editorial Board called the small city of Newcastle's opposition to ST3 "refreshing." Leaders there don't believe the package provides enough benefit and worry it will make voters less likely to approve other taxes in the future. (The editorial came complete with the illustration the board uses nearly every time it complains about ST3: a light rail train driving over tracks in the shape of dollar signs.)


Personally, I'll be keeping my Times subscription—the work the paper's reporters do despite the idiocy on the opinion page is too important—but it's a great burn from the transit group and a graphic worth keeping handy for your friends who complain that ST3 is too expensive.