There is an answer to Dan's rhetorical question. In short, conservative suburbanites resent paying taxes that go toward any kind of what they view as "assistance." And rail is one such program they perceive as such.

Nobody ever said conservatism was rational, other than irrational conservatives.

@2 nailed it. You only need to look at the non-affordable development created around Seattle's light rail stations (often with City funding and planning) to see that one class benefits over another. You can also look at the increased policing, and note that fare enforcement only happens outside of downtown, keeping unwanted populations in check and in their place.

And fuck the transit cops who murdered Oscar Perez-Giron.

I love living near Kent Station and the heavy rail Sounder.

I wish they'd run more trains than the six (each way) they do now.

Just yesterday I spoke with the Seattle Symphony subscription office who were trying to get me to resign. I said the main reason I quit was the long bus ride back at night on the 150. If Sounder ran at night I would gladly take the train in at 5:30pm, spend some money on dinner in Seattle, and head back out, swiftly, at say 10:30pm.

In STB I have stated I would go out on a limb that if an ST3+ bill were presented that accelerated the expansion of Sounder and LINK to the entire Puget Sound region, and this were the only thing in the proposal, nearly all people here would be willing to fund it (assuming there was oversight so the Seattle crooks didn't steal the money for a bunch of downtown tunnels).

#4 cont'd

Although I should be grateful, because LINK will be in Kent at Angle Lake next year and they have arranged for about 1000 free parking spaces!

Build more of these kinds of stations and Kent Stations and people will willingly pay taxes!

I'd love to get the opinions of my friends who are getting priced out of their apartments near the upcoming Roosevelt station due to huge rent increases. I'm sure they would be happier...if they had the money to stay. I agree there's a class element involved.

Why don't they like having it? real simple: NIMBY Not in my back yard. They want it but not by where THEY live.

@1 +1. And another answer to Dan: you're mixing up two different sorts of "suburbs" and two sorts of fixed-rail transit.

Minneapolis METRO light rail $2.25 fare rush hour, $1.75 after. Frequent service, suburban stations newer and nicer or in downtown areas with foot traffic and cafes nearby.

"Rail" = Amtrak or distant commuter lines in the exurbs, $10 or $20 or more a ticket, half hour or hourly, long waits if you miss a train, stations usually old and in the worst parts of town (in USA).

Suburbanites who live in areas without light rail visualize the worst side of rail in the USA when you say "rail" or "public transit." Same with bus: they think poor people waiting in the rain for a bus that comes once every two hours (which is what suburban public bus is in many parts of the USA).

@3 That's a whole lot of stupid packed into one comment. I'm guessing you don't get off of capitol hill much. If you did, you would see that the Columbia Station is smack dab in the middle of Rainier Vista, a mixed income housing development. Tons of low income housing and organizations, including mercy house and refugee womens alliance, run down the MLK corridor between Columbia and Mt. Baker Stations.

If you took the time to climb out of whatever echo chamber that you call a news source, you would also know that low income is also planned for the Mt. Baker station. I believe that Jorve Roofing is being purchased by an organization that runs low income housing up on Cap Hill.

Thirdy, Oscar Perez whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is pulled a gun on the transit cop and rightly deserved to be shot down like a dog in the street.

I know you think you are a hep progressive anarcho whatever, but you just come across as sounding very young and very stoopid.

@1 That's what I thought but you said it better. In fact, the same thing can be said for everything from education to healthcare. They don't see the big picture, only their selfish prejudices.

I'd be interested in seeing how they accounted for different factors in that. I think liberals tend to be more likely to move near light rail and in my experience liberals tend to already be happier people. As others have mentioned owning a home with higher and more stable property values also leads to life satisfaction. Of course add to that the fact that you don't have to deal with traffic as much and you potentially save money on gas and car ownership and you've got a lot of reason to be happy.

" I think liberals tend to be more likely to move near light rail and in my experience liberals tend to already be happier people."

But Seattleblues is so unfailingly cheerful!

Hasn't suburban opposition to transit always been about not giving "those people" easy access to privileged suburban communities?

Google "MARTA Slang"

kemper freeman is not "so many suburbanites". he's one old asshole.

@ 15, yeah, but his views on mass transit are shared by suburbanites everywhere.

@14 is what I came to say. They're afraid of the brown "hordes" they fear are poised to descend upon their burbs.

@14, @17 That's pretty much my experience with overwhelmingly-white, suburban Suffolk County, NY, where I grew up.

In the 1950's, the post-War boom and Robert Moses kicked off an anti-NYC flight to the suburbs of people escaping the crowding, dirt, and diversity. To this day, they and their successors reject every single thing associated with urban life, and especially mass transit, which they only associate with people too poor to afford cars.

I, on the other hand, rejected suburbia and moved into the City at my first opportunity. My parents refused to visit, to even set foot in the city. Now, it's just my father living, on his own, still in the same house and driving, but we still have to visit him.

I can't believe the property taxes he pays for the privilege of living in the suburban wasteland, even with the senior discounts. Meanwhile, our living costs in Brooklyn are so much lower that it's a financial cinch to keep a car, damnable parking problems and all.

I learned with interest on Rachel Maddow's show last night that the Suffolk County PD is one of the police departments forced into comprehensive settlements with the Department of Justice to end discriminatory policing practices. The complaint doesn't surprise me in the least, and I'm quite pleased to see action being taken.

@9 that's in the south end, sure. So far it's been like a different story around the North Link stations. That could change, and I hope it does, but for now, it's not looking good for low and moderate income folks.

@19 I grew up in Lindenhurst and had the opposite experience. Besides the obvious rush hour commute, most people I knew used the LIRR regularly. But then again I was on the Babylon line which will get you anywhere you want to go on the south shore.

Now if you were talking about the buses, I would agree completely.

@20 Fair enough. But it kind of irks me when people forget the city extends south of Safeco Field.

We need to stop subsidizing car parking at all levels, especially suburban Hide & Rides in Seattle streets that use parking we Seattle taxpayers paid for.

@25 you appear to be having another stroke.

And anyone who rents will be displaced, so they don't get counted in the numbers in terms of "unhappy", do they?

It's self selection. The ones that don't like it, and therefore would be unhappiest, tend to leave. That would be ok, but it can be at tremendous cost to them if they are homeowners (a.k.a. property tax payers).

so, I'll be DOUBLE HAPPY when they eventually finish the streetcar a block away from me in the ID? woohoo.

Just because no one else seems to have said it (I checked the comment thread): CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION. There's nothing in this study design to indicate that the light rail access CAUSED the satisfaction. The opposite may be true: satisfied people like living near light rail. Or, a third factor could be related both to satisfaction and light rail access (like income). Or, it could be a quirk of randomness, and not mean anything at all.

These comments about the suburbs are pretty ignorant. I don't live in the suburbs currently, but I'm from there. How rich is Everett? How white are Renton and Kent? There are rich white neighborhoods in the suburbs, sure, but that's hardly the whole story. Life in the suburbs is often harder. People are stuck between very inadequate bus service, walking long distances, or trying to pay for a car. The idea of rich white people being afraid of brown city people invading their space via light-rail rings very false to me.

Is there anywhere whiter in the world than the North half of Seattle? Is there?