Why I’m a Perennial Losing Candidate

The May 19th, Seattle Times BI page article, “Hundreds file to run in local elections” referring to me as a “candidate renowned for losing campaigns” and “perennial candidate and Sound Transit foe Bill Hirt” was no surprise.  There would have never been any need for me to ever file as a candidate if the Times had not ignored countless emails detailing why Sound Transit Prop 1 light rail extensions would never reduce congestion. 

Their failure to do so was a major reason I created my blog http://stopeastlinknow.blogspot.com detailing the problems and filed as a candidate for 48^th District Representative in 2012 to attract viewers.  Doing so also gave me the opportunity to use the candidate interview to present my concerns directly to the Seattle Times editorial board.  “Unfortunately” that interview was “cut short” when I insisted the Times and the 48^th district residents should be more concerned about East Link problems than with the McCleary school funding issue.

This year’s candidacy is the 8^th time I’ve filed, again with no desire to win,  but with the more than 500 posts attracting more than 130,000 views without a single substantial rebuttal.  Many posts have detailed why East Link is only the most egregious example of Prop 1 extensions that will inevitably be regarded as some of the biggest boondoggles in public transit history.   Yet the Times continues to ignore the blog, abiding if not abetting Sound Transit incompetency, and refusing to even interview me. 

Sound Transit’s decision to route Prop 1 extensions through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT)  limits transit capacity to a fraction of what’s needed to reduce congestion.  They compound that problem by using light rail to replace bus routes into the city apparently not recognizing the area’s congestion is not due to too many buses.  (Replacing bus routes does nothing to increase the 10% of commuters who use transit, or reduce the 85% who commute via SOV or carpool. (per PSRC 2015 Stuck in Traffic Report) ) They also ignore the reality those transferring from buses to light rail will, at least during peak commute, limit access for current riders. 

Even the Times in a 4/03/16 editorial recognized light rail limitations, urging Sound Transit  consider additional bus service for ST3.  Later an 11/04/16 article conceded ST3 would not reduce congestion.  Yet they continue a decade of refusing to make auditing Sound Transit one of their top-ten priorities for the legislature.   Their solution for congestion, imposing tolls, only increases commuters costs unless they have access to a reliable transit alternative. 

Again the Times has conceded light rail wouldn’t reduce congestion and the need for additional bus transit capacity.   Yet they’ve abided Sound Transit's decade of spending billions on light rail extensions that won’t reduce congestion and neglecting to increase annual bus revenue hours that would. 

Those billions, however, are only a down payment for Sound Transit CEO Rogoff’s 2019 budget plan to spend  $96 billion between 2017 and 2041 implementing ST3 extensions.  Not only does the budget continue to provide no increase in bus transit ridership, Rogoff's light-rail-ridership claims are delusional, dwarfing any rational light rail capacity.  Yet the Times raised no objections when he was given a new three-year contract with a hefty raise.

King County’s 6^th District has already paid a heavy price for the Times failure to recognize East Link debacle.   For years, surveys have shown Bellevue residents considered congestion their biggest concern with  67%, nearly 4 times the 17% concerned with high home prices, listing it as their top concern in latest survey.  

Ten years ago Sound Transit could have added the 4^th lanes to the I-90 Bridge outer roadways for non-transit HOV and implemented 2-way BRT on the center roadway.  Doing so would have provided 10 times light rail capacity, dwarfing likely future I-90 transit needs, at 1/10^th East Link's cost.  It would have also avoided the need to close center roadway to vehicles or to devastate the route through Bellevue.

Instead the Times abides Sound Transit plan to use East Link’s limited capacity to replace all I-90 bus routes, halving current transit capacity, ending transit access for many commuters, and adding to ever increasing I-90 Bridge outer roadway congestion.   Not much “reward” for the hundreds if not thousands 6th district residents have paid and will continue to pay annually for as long as the Sound Transit Board wants.  

The bottom line is the Seattle Times has already abided a decade of Sound Transit incompetence.  They've failed to recognize using Prop 1 extension's limited capacity to replace bus routes will do nothing to reduce I-5 and I-90 congestion.  The previous post detailed how the Times had also abided WSDOT plans for 2-HOT lanes on I-405 that will increase congestion on GP lanes and fail to provide 45 mph for many of those who pay for HOT.  

Both reflect the Seattle Times inability to recognize the only way to reduce congestion is to provide commuters with access to reliable bus transit capacity.  Until that happens 6th District residents, like all those in Sound Transit service area, will only see increasing congestion for commuters and years of high taxes for residents.  The billions already wasted are only a precursor for  billions more wasted constructing light rail extensions and more wasted on increased extension operation costs.  

Again, this campaign, like my previous 7 has never been about winning.  It's to point out the Seattle Times failure to inform area about why congestion keeps increasing and what can be done to reduce it.  Until that happens I will continue to be a “perennial candidate renowned for losing campaigns”.  The sooner the better for everyone.