Bellevue Council Should Drop East Main Station

The July 19 Bellevue Reporter article “City takes steps toward transit oriented development” typifies a decade of Bellevue Council malfeasance; wrong doing or misconduct especially by public official.  There would have been no East Link without Bellevue council abetment.  This blog started because the council ignored three years of personal appearances and emails objecting to their support for East Link.  

They detailed how East Link benefits in the 2008 ST DEIS were shear fantasy and urged the council to disallow the permits Sound Transit needed.   That East Link’s half of Central Link routed through the DSTT would never have the transit capacity needed to reduce I-90 Bridge congestion.   That East Links confiscation of the I-90 Bridge center roadway precluded two-way BRT that would have had ten times light rail capacity at I/10^th the cost.  That the FHWA concluded the bridge center roadway was still needed for vehicles with the added outer roadway lanes.  Thus it was only a question of when commuters will face gridlock on the outer bridge roadways.

Posts on the blog detailed how the council rewrote the land use code, allowing Sound Transit to devastate the route into Bellevue.  Rather than forcing Sound Transit to tunnel into the city, as they did to Northgate, they paid them extra  to tunnel under the city.  They allowed Sound Transit to make a mockery of environmental law claiming light rail noise would have no impact on Mercer Slough Park despite agreeing to spend millions protecting property across a major roadway.    

The council allowed Sound Transit to ignore a Memorandum of Understanding to provide replacement parking when they closed down the South Bellevue and Overlake P&R lots for East Link, ending access to transit for many.   They supported Sound Transit 3 despite the fact its passage resulted in residents forced to pay hundreds if not thousands for Prop 1 extensions that will do nothing to reduce area congestion.  Clearly Bellevue council support has already played a major role in enabling an East Link light rail system that should have never been allowed to confiscate the I-90 Bridge center roadway or devastate the route into Bellevue.  

The council describes the East Main area “transit oriented development” as a way “to take advantage of the new transportation system”.  It will provide the area with “the vision to promote redesigned streets and open spaces that create a pedestrian oriented streetscape”.   The reality is the East Main Station was likely at the behest of the Bellevue council.  Very few commuters live within walking distance of the station.  It makes little sense to spend millions for a P&R when very few commuters will endure the hassle of driving there to get on a light rail train to Seattle.


Very few of Sound Transits East Link riders will live within walking distance of the light rail stations.  They've estimated  40,000 of the projected 50,000 will come from their Integrated Transit System plan to replace all cross-lake bus routes.  Yet even Sound Transit was likely reluctant to spend millions adding another stop with so little access.   The Bellevue council’s East Main area transit oriented development reflects a commitment to boost boardings at the station.   Presumably resulting in Sound Transit predicting 2500 daily boardings at the East Main station.

The article reports, “The council was very much on board with really recreating this neighborhood and taking advantage in the public investment in light rail”. They’ve apparently adopted a comprehensive plan to use the land use code to force the Red Lion Hotel, Hilton Hotel, the Bellevue Club, Radiant Logistics, Citadel Church, and Savers to relocate. 

It’s not clear how they could use the land use code to force businesses to move to allow residential development, or how much they expect to spend to force them to move.  Also, how many light rail riders do they expect to attract with the  “residential development envisioned for the area”?   The council attempts to boost support claiming  “affordable housing is part of the councils vision”.

The bottom line is the Bellevue residents have already had their city devastated by light rail.  Their taxes have increased by hundreds if not thousands to fund a light rail extensions they'll rarely if ever use.  Now they’ll be forced to fund a transit oriented development converting a thriving business district into “a residential development, with redesigned streets and open spaces that create a pedestrian oriented streetscape”.  

It’s time the Bellevue Council showed a little concern for their constituents.  Tell Sound Transit to drop East Main station.