Seattle Press on Line - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Feb 28, 2002 -- Monorails Don't Jog

Dear Editor:

Tara Peattie reported that routing the monorail from 5th Ave to 4th Ave is "an easy jog" [A Valentine for Sound Transit", February 14]. Excuse me? It simply is not possible for 2 large cement beams to make "an easy jog."

At the ETC design workshops, the engineers explained that the only spot even suggested to make the turn from 5th Ave to 4th Ave is at Westlake Park. Or rather over Westlake Park. The cement beamway would run right over what is left of Westlake Park. In addition, the former Nordstrom building and the newly renovated Seaboard building would need to be removed since it takes about a block to make this turn with a monorail.

Contrary to being "an easy jog," this threading of the beamway over Westlake Park is both a taking of open space as well as an engineering impossibility in the current environment. The idea of taking this limited free space is reminiscent of the highway planners viewing the Arboretum as the perfect spot for the R. H. Thompson Expressway. Some monorail supporters and ETC Board members view the Seattle Center in the same way--too much open space just begging to have a cement beamway running past the International Fountain or the Children's Theater.

People for Modern Transit has always supported monorail in specialized applications, such as people movers at airports or large venues. However, no city in the world has ever constructed a pervasive transit backbone based upon monorail technology. The key question to be answered is whether Seattle is a trailblazer of new technology or simply the last city to discover that it's neither as cheap or easy as it looks?

Richard Borkowski
President, People For Modern Transit

Pierce Provides Valuable Service

Deborah Pierce:

Thank you for your informative article in the February 14 edition of the The Seattle Press ("Who is Watching You?"). Disseminating such information performs an important social service.

David D. Horowitz

Mitchell for President

To the Editor:

[re: "Democracy and Civic Trust," February 14 issue] What a stirring statement of civic values! Let's run Sandy Mitchell for office. At least we'd have someone with a conscience in office...

Charlie Williams

Teens' Real Enemy

To the Editor:

While I was watching the Super Bowl on Sunday I was shocked to see Philip Morris's appalling anti-smoking advertisements. Their message was that the enemy in the war against smoking is the friend's of young people; youth are not the enemy here. Philip Morris is the multi-million dollar company that has spent years perfecting their marketing strategy to appeal to children all over the world. Their Marlboro Man advertisement has made Marlboro the #1 cigarette brand among US teens. This rebellious and independent American cowboy image and Philip Morris, the corporation that designed him, are the enemy and NOT the 3,000 new young cigarette customers the industry succeeds in hooking every day.

Katie Miele

Only the Intelligent Need Apply

Dear Editor

An intelligent, responsible electorate is essential to maintain a free, prosperous and humane society--free because intelligent people vote intelligently--prosperous because of their greater productivity. Those incapable of understanding what keeps men free, vote foolishly, lose their freedom, and make tyrants their oppressors.

Tyranny fears an intelligent electorate and supports whatever dumbs down the people they would exploit. They insist that intelligence is not hereditary--and that humans are exceptions to the Mendelian laws of heredity. However intelligence IS inherited and we have a responsibility to pass it on to future generation because, as a wise old Chinese proverb says "The flowers of all our tomorrows are in the seeds of today."

Freedom requires that intelligent and responsible people have more offspring--and that immigration should be restricted to intelligent, responsible immigrants (regardless of ethnicity).

Robert Wassman

Wallingford's Planning Process

Letter to the Editor,

Members of the Wallingford Community Council Board wish to clarify some points in your recent article regarding planning in Wallingford ["South Wallingford Committee Talks About Secession", February 14]. The Wallingford Neighborhood Plan was created by Team Wallingford, which was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Community Council. The southern part of the neighborhood was proportionately represented in the planning groups and on the Steering Committee, which was chaired by a neighbor who lives in the south part of the neighborhood.

The plan addressed many issues and utilized the available budget and resources as directed by the Steering Committee. The city discouraged rezoning and the plan did not address this for any part of the neighborhood. At the time of adoption, I and others argued that we needed specific direction relating to the areas with industrial zoning and the lack of an open space element in the plan. The city council agreed and gave direction to Weaving Wallingford (an entity created by the Plan) to follow through on these points. Weaving passed the responsibility to the WCC.

Three years ago WCC solicited people to begin this effort. However residents were unable to form a leadership team to drive the project. In September 2001, three new building projects were proposed along Northlake Way and North 34th Street. The WCC determined that we needed to specifically involve residents from the immediate area in planning for the future and helping to guide our comments on the new developments.

Over 50 people attended our initial visioning meeting in October. We felt we needed more involvement from the southern residents and subsequently mailed to and leafleted by hand every resident and business south of 40th for our January 19th meeting, which was attended by over 110 people. Over 30 people (most from south of 40th) signed up for specific committees and are currently meeting several times a month to work out alterative recommendations. Their recommendations will be discussed in public meetings in March and April. All meetings are open to the public. We are also soliciting comments and suggestions by mail and e-mail at council@wallingford.org.

Finally, in spite of explaining the point three times to your reporter, I am not the president of the WCC. That position, as I explained, is in the capable hands of Barbara Reine.

Gregory Hill
Wallingford Community Council Board member

Adam Richter responds:

The incorrect references to Weaving Wallingford and the president of the Wallingford Community Council were oversights on my part.

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