I’ve once again decided to file as
a candidate, this time for the 48th District’s Senate position. I do so because I believe residents in our district deserve
better than what they’re getting from their legislators, their city councils, and
the WSDOT. As with my previous 6
candidacies, I have no expectation or desire to win, but hope to use the Voters’
Pamphlet to attract viewers to this blog detailing why they and the entire
east side should demand "more" from those responsible. I
do so as an “Independent”, again not wanting to win, because both parties are
complicit in what’s happening to our area.
The district’s legislators have, if not
actively supported, enabled a Sound Transit East Link light rail extension
that will forever limit the I-90 Bridge center roadway capacity to a fraction
of what’s needed to meet east side cross-lake transit requirements. They could have demanded an audit that
would’ve quickly concluded Sound Transit failed to comply with RCW 81.104.100 requiring
they consider two-way bus only lanes on the center roadway as the “low cost”
alternative.
As a result Sound Transit is spending
billions on an East Link light rail extension that will devastate the route
into Bellevue and increase, not decrease, cross-lake congestion. Instead they could have added 50
buses an hour, providing East Link transit capacity for a fraction of the
cost. The additional bus service,
along with existing routes, could’ve been facilitated by converting I-90 Bridge
center roadway into two-way, bus-only lanes with growth capacity far exceeding future
public transit needs.
Sound Transit intends to use East
Link to replace existing cross-lake bus routes, apparently not recognizing
reducing the number of buses on the HOV lane will do little to reduce I-90
congestion. They refuse to add the
parking and increased bus service needed to provide I-90 corridor commuters
with the option of additional public transit. As a result
Sound Transit daily ridership across I-90 Bridge from Bellevue and Issaquah into and out of Seattle has
only increased from 11,870 to 13, 440 between 2012 and 2017 4th quarters.
Rather than dealing with these
obvious problems 48th District legislators helped enable Sound
Transit ask for and receive authorization to further increase their taxes with
ST3. Most district commuters
wanting access to light rail will be limited to two light rail stations far
from where they live. Residents will be forced to pay hundreds
if not thousands of additional dollars annually, with nearly all of it going to
extend Central Link to Everett and Tacoma.
The 48th District has
also been poorly served by their city councils. Bellevue and Redmond city councils could have
disallowed the permits Sound Transit needed for East Link. Instead they’ve actively promoted East
Link. Bellevue allowed Sound
Transit to make a mockery of federal environmental law claiming East Link noise
would have no impact on Mercer Slough Park despite conceding the need to spend
millions shielding properties hundreds of feet away and across a major roadway. Meanwhile Sound Transit’s
Bel-Red extension plans include very little if any noise abatement features.
They allowed Sound Transit to
ignore a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) committing them to provide alternate
parking and bus routes needed with closure of South Bellevue and Overlake
P&Rs . Sound Transit could have expanded their
far more centrally locating existing maintenance facility in south
Seattle. Instead the
Bellevue council allowed them to locate their Operation Maintenance Facility (OMF) in our district. Apparently believing Sound Transit
claim it will attract “Transit Oriented Development” (TOD); purportedly adding “1.1 million square feet of housing, office, and retail
space.”
The OMF is scheduled to “come online” in 2020. Presumably soon afterwards, many if not
most of what will eventually become more than 200 light rail cars will be “cleaned
every night and regularly pulled out of service to perform routine maintenance”
at the facility. It’s “doubtful”
those living adjacent to the facility or along the route through Bellevue will
appreciate the idea of more than fifty 3 and 4-car trains trundling into the
area after midnight and leaving before 5:00 am.
On a completely different agenda,
the Bellevue council is currently in the process of deciding where in our district
to locate a homeless shelter without explaining how they intend to keep it from
attracting more homeless to our area or from being a “relief valve” for Seattle’s
homeless. (Especially since the whole country now knows about Seattle's plans for funding homeless support.) They’ve also
provided few details for how they intend to occupy shelter residents during the
day.
Meanwhile the Redmond City Council
has also been a consistent supporter of East Link and ST3 funding. While their commuters will have “first
access” to East Link’s limited capacity in the morning they’ll find their
return trips will be a “struggle” with all the I-90 corridor commuters
attempting to find access to its limited capacity. They could be far better served with BRT service
across SR 520 than East Link’s multi-stop route through Bellevue and across
I-90. Yet Sound Transit refuses to
provide added parking and bus routes along 520. Again demonstrated by their ST 545, weekday ridership between
Redmond and Seattle only increasing from 7480 in 4th 2012 4th
quarter to 8361 in 2017, despite the large increase in commuters.
The Redmond council, in February,
also cheered Microsoft’s plans to expand their Redmond campus, adding 8000 more
to their 47,000 employees. Yet all the major north/south roads in
the district already have long lines of vehicles for much of the day, mostly Microsoft
employees. The Redmond City
Council surely has an obligation to residents to use the building permit
process to limit campus parking.
Require Microsoft provide off-campus parking with access to increased “Connector”
bus service and dramatically expand its current van routes from where employees
live to Redmond campus. The
off-campus parking would likely be less expensive and buses and vans could
include ability to use Wi-Fi during commute.
48th District commuters
using I-405 also deserve better than what they’re getting from WSDOT's implementing HOT on two of the five lanes between Bothell and Bellevue. During peak commute residents have a choice between heavy congestion on GP lanes or paying $10 HOT fees and still
face slow traffic. The WSDOT
doesn’t recognize the basic premise of HOT is to raise rates to whatever is
required to limit the number of vehicles per hour to what’s required to meet
the target velocity; e.g. 2000 for 45 mph. The other HOT advantage is it assures public transit
buses have access to fast reliable routes to their destination.
During peak commute, the
congestion from the WSDOT decision to limit GP traffic to three lanes results in more drivers
willing to pay the $10 limit than what the two HOT lanes can accommodate and
still achieve the 45 mph.
The WSDOT proposed solution is to increase the fees on the two HOT
lanes. Their avarice doesn’t allow
them to consider raising fees on just one HOT lane to what’s required to
achieve the 45 mph and allow GP use of the 2nd lane. Especially since the additional
GP lane would reduce congestion and the incentive to use HOT, resulting in
lower fees and less revenue.
48th District commuters could also
benefit from HOT if Sound Transit added thousands of parking stalls with
access to added bus routes along I-405 to take advantage of the reliable route
times. Instead Sound Transit’s
tepid approach to BRT is to add 400 new parking stalls along the entire
38 mile route by 2024. Whatever BRT service they do add will, during peak commute, face HOT
lane congestion from WSDOT limiting GP to three lanes from Bothell to Bellevue
and even worse for their plans to limit GP to two lanes from Bellevue to Renton.
Again the bottom line is 48th
District residents and the entire area should demand more from their legislators, city councils, and WSDOT.
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