Seattle Press on Line - Wonkish ETC Board Disdains Voters

There From Here

Wonkish ETC Board Disdains Voters

By Tara Peattie

May 23, 2002 -- The Elevated Transportation Company, the volunteer appointed body that will come up with the city monorail plan for the November ballot, has in most ways acted in exemplary, politically correct fashion. It gives every opportunity for public input on monorail routing. It sends staff and volunteer "monorail ambassadors" around to every community group who'll listen. It pays attention, feels your pain when you are dismayed that monorail may run past a bedroom window, and has found ways to change routes and accommodate. It has taken extra steps to ensure the cost estimates are on target. But at the last board meeting, it pulled a fast one that shows that the ETC doesn't trust Seattle voters, and doesn't want to be a democratic body.

Besides the monorail plan, the ETC must also come up with the type of governing group that will succeed it if the monorail vote is "yes." The charter (Initiative 53, passed in 2000) says that this new body, which will be called the Seattle Popular Transit Authority, must be accountable to the people of Seattle, and suggests the board be elected. Yet the only option the ETC boardmembers brought to the last meeting is an all-appointed board, to be picked by (guess who?) themselves, with one extra member appointed by the Mayor and one by the City Council. With no alternatives and no prior invitation to public discussion, the ETC planned to vote on what to put in the draft at that meeting. One of I-53's authors, Cleveland Stockmeyer, got wind of it, and rightly found the plan doesn't pass the smell test.

Stockmeyer and a small contingent of Democrat and Green political activists proposed alternative plans for a governing body with some elected members. It could have seven members elected by school district, plus one member appointed by the mayor and one by the City Council. Or, there could be five appointed members and four members elected from new districts divided by quadrant of the city. In any case, some members of the new body should be elected.

If we vote to build monorail, the monorail board will have lots of power. It will control what's currently estimated at $1.2 billion for the 14-mile "green line" from Ballard-Crown Hill to West Seattle. In the future, it will be in charge of planning and building other monorail lines, guided by ETC's map crisscrossed with multi-colored lines for future extensions, which will mean spending millions more. It will be a new municipal government with broad powers more like the Port of Seattle or King County Metro, which are elected, than like our Public Development Authorities (PDAs), like Pike Place Market, which are largely appointed.

The ETC's written recommendation for an appointed board reasoned that "elected" would create "a separate political fiefdom... An appointed board would be more focused on... building the monorail, therefore more efficient and less distracted by election politics."

It's not at all clear how a self-appointed board would avoid creating a separate political fiefdom. And, having some elected members, far from being a "distraction" to building monorail, may instead focus candidates on the needs of those who they would serve, create accountability, and a better monorail system.

Including directly elected members that represent specific parts of the city ensures two things:

* The needs of all constituencies are examined and heard now and in the future--regardless of if they get monorail in the first phase or later phases, or instead get better bus service.

* That the board can operate on a par with other agencies, and negotiate on behalf of those who elected them. Elected officials, unlike appointees, are not in hock to whoever appointed them or to other engineers and bond agents, but to voters.

The current ETC board is proposing a self-appointed SPTA board, not for self-gain, (their proposal is for a volunteer board), but because the board consists mostly of policy wonks with few political skills, who believe in technocracy and seem to feel that elections will be a waste of valuable time.

Donald King, ETC boardmember and president of DK Architects, said that he supports an appointed board because an elected board would be more costly and may detract from the focus of building monorail: "I don't think an elected board will necessarily afford more of a sense of control to voters than appointed." He says he supports written guidelines of accountability and maybe the ability to recall through initiative, plus opportunity for the public to suggest candidates during the selection process.

All well and good, but I'm not so sure the suggestion box should replace the ballot box, nor that power to recall is going to garner much enthusiasm.

Even former populist Dick Falkenbury, the ETC boardmember and former taxi driver who ran Initiative 41 with Grant Cogswell, wants an appointed board because "the monorail process has been at odds with elected officials all along. Every bit of work has been done by an appointed board, with almost unanimous opposition from elected officials."

He forgets: In the political calculus of those other elected officials, monorail was a non-issue. This is about whom the "monorail" board will be accountable to.

Says Cleveland Stockmeyer, "The board is afraid that if there are elections, boobs, charlatans, flakes and the overly ambitious will be swept into office. This has always been the argument against democracy."

This is not just about getting it built--there will be politics too. The desires of Seattle groups like neighborhoods, small businesses, and labor are hardly "distractions." It seems reasonable to have some elected board members. The all-appointed ETC did nothing to save itself when the City Council did not support it, and eventually dissolved it, following I-41. Some government agencies, including WSDOT, still think monorail is a joke.

While the recent poll by Monorail Yes shows overwhelming support for the project, a less accountable board could provide fuel for opposition. While many otherwise reasonable people consider that politicians are destined for the same circle of hell as lawyers and used car salesmen, we still need 'em. We cannot afford an all-wonk board.

Tara Peattie is a surly troll who lives under I-5 at Northgate. She can be reached at peattie@drizzle.com.

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