News

Five to Four

by Josh Feit

Thanks to this week's corporate issue, I'm free to do respectable journalism, the kind the biased Stranger typically prohibits.

Excellent. This means I have less work this week. In the tradition of objective corporate journalism, rather than sorting through documents, crunching numbers, and doing lots of interviews to get to the bottom of a typical "he said, she said" story, I get to be balanced and let the reader decide. For example, should the OED renegotiate an amortized debt ratio rezone based on a annualized percent nexus between CPI and short-interest Net Asset Value?

Seattle City Council Member Judy Nicastro says, "It's dynamite policy! It will create more affordable housing."

Council Member Heidi Willis disagrees. "Low-income ratepayers should be held harmless! This risky policy jeopardizes that goal."

Stumped? Me too.

Oh, I know you're busy (job, school, family, bills), and you don't have a lot of time to make sense of the conflicting claims in every news story; and I know, in contrast, I have a whole week to study an issue and help you navigate local politics. Hell, I'm even paid to figure out what's going on. But hey, I wouldn't want to prejudice your opinion.

For this week's column, here's an "objective" story on another recent dust-up--the fray between King County Council Member Dwight Pelz and King County Council Member Rob McKenna.

Last week, light rail critic McKenna released a poll saying that a majority of voters support alternatives to light rail (like the monorail), and want a new vote on Sound Transit's light rail plan.

Here are some of the poll's findings: 68 percent support voting on a plan, while just 19 percent want the public to stick with the new shorter route; 48 percent prefer monorail, versus 39 percent for light rail; 56 percent are less likely to support light rail when they hear it will run at street level at an average speed of 20 mph.

"The point this study makes," says McKenna, "is that when given a choice, more voters prefer investing regional transportation dollars in a new monorail system...."

Pelz, a light rail advocate, denounced the poll as "fraudulent." Pelz believes the poll used false information. According to Pelz, the poll implies that monorail will relieve congestion, but Pelz insists monorail will not relieve congestion; the poll claims light rail will cost more than monorail, but according to Pelz, the monorail will be as expensive as light rail; and Sound Transit does not agree that light rail will average 20 mph.

Confused? Is Pelz talking out his ass? Is McKenna? I'd like to help you sift through all this, but then I'd be accused of writing biased journalism. So, I'll just leave you aloft in this Ping-Pong match. Bye now.

josh@thestranger.com