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From the Jul 4 – Jul 10, 2002 issue

Conlin's Monorail Con

Elevated Transportation Company Says Richard Conlin Is Pushing Monorail Off-Track

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On August 5, the Elevated Transportation Company's (ETC) monorail plan will be submitted to the Seattle City Council, so the council can put it on the November ballot.

Sounds simple, right? It was, until late last week. The ETC says council transportation chair Richard Conlin, who sponsored an ordinance that killed the original ETC in July 2000, threw a few wrenches into the monorail's gears that might hamper the ETC's campaign.

First, Conlin announced that he'd like to solicit more public comment after the ETC's official comment period ends on July 22. That has the ETC miffed, since they've asked for input from the beginning, over a year ago. Plus, they say, Conlin was planning a public forum stacked with anti-monorail folks until they called him on it.

Stranger Personals

"I don't understand what Mr. Conlin is seeking, and why he is somehow unsatisfied with the tremendous amount of outreach done by the ETC," said ETC board member Cindi Laws. "I think he's out in extreme left field."

Secondly, Conlin doesn't want the council to vote on the plan until September (just before the deadline for placing things on the ballot).

"The [Initiative 53] language is pretty doggone clear," says ETC chair Tom Weeks. "Once the ETC submits the plan, it's the council's job to submit it to the voters. We believe [the plan] should be placed on the ballot expeditiously, so the public has more time to review it." Putting the plan on the ballot sooner also helps the monorail folks raise money and conduct an aggressive campaign.

Conlin says he's "bemused" by the ETC's reaction to his proposals. Voting on the ETC's plan in September--as opposed to August--was always the council's assumption, he says. (Conlin might want to check that assumption with Nick Licata, Judy Nicastro, and Heidi Wills.) Plus, Conlin says it's the council's responsibility to take a close look at the plan before they put it on the ballot.

"For us to simply rubber-stamp what they've done--especially a billion-and-a-half-dollar project--would be silly," Conlin explains.

Silly or not, the ETC is lobbying other council members to vote on the plan in August. "We're trying to get other council members to follow the letter of the law," Weeks says.