Guess all that anti-light-rail money that's been poured into the Bellevue City Council races over the last few years didn't buy much in the end—especially after voters this month implicitly supported the idea of light rail to the Eastside (yet again) by rejecting Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman's light-rail-derailing Initiative 1125.
Yesterday the Bellevue City Council, perhaps seeing that the debate was over just about everywhere except its chambers, voted 7-0 to approve a light rail route through downtown Bellevue (and onward toward Redmond) that involves a short tunnel under the city. Now that that's out of the way, the next step is more planning, construction, and then expected opening in 2023.
This, for better and for worse, is what democracy looks like.
