The entire eastside would benefit if the Building a Better
Bellevue organization leading the fight for those living along the light rail
route into Bellevue would chose to “litigate” to stop East Link rather than attempt
to “mitigate” its impact on the area. The 3/16/13 post “BBB Should Appeal Judge’s East Link
Decision” explains why the judge’s inexplicable decision to reject their suit should
be easy to reverse on appeal. A
successful appeal would seem to leave Sound Transit with the option of a tunnel
along the current route or dropping light rail in favor of cross-lake bus rapid
transit (BRT)
The whole reason for the “trench” vs. “at grade” debate is
an attempt by the Bellevue City Council to reduce their portion for the $320
million downtown tunnel Sound Transit claims was not included in the
Proposition 1 budget. What’s
absurd is apparently ST didn’t recognize the unacceptable devastating affects associated
with the constructing and subsequent operation of a light rail system in the
Bellevue business district. (The
BCC still hasn’t explained where they will get the funds needed for their
“share” of the cost due to this ST incompetence). The agreement to pay extra for the tunnel is
particularly egregious since eastside sales tax revenue already provide more
than enough funds to pay for any route or tunnel. ST recent decision they had sufficient funds to tunnel the
entire length of the Northgate extension just adds to the insult.
Even if the BBB does convince the BCC and subsequently ST to
go with the “trench” those living along the route will be faced with years of
disruption from its construction. Also
there’s no guarantee they still won’t not be exposed to
high noise or vibration when service begins. The other seemingly ignored issue is what happens to
development in the Bel-Red area.
The BCC has apparently already agreed to allow ST to despoil a major part
of the area with their maintenance facility. What are their plans to “mitigate” light rail
noise/vibration issues in the area?
Again, a successful appeal by BBB has a far greater chance
of success of ending the devastating impact of East Link along the route than
any efforts at mitigation. Forcing
ST to tunnel would minimize the adverse affects along the route into
Bellevue. Convincing them to
switch to BRT would do much more.
It wound eliminate the need for Bellevue to come up with nearly $200 million
for a tunnel and maintain Bel-Red as an attractive area for future development. It would also benefit the entire
east side if, along with the minimal funds needed for BRT, the rest of the $2.8
billion East Link funds could be used to eliminate the need for tolls to fund
the 520 Bridge and fund other eastside improvements.
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