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This photo, which is by jhenryrose and from the pool of Stranger images, returns me to my growing love for light rail:
…It is the most important addition to Seattle since the Central Library. Indeed, for this city, this decade finds much of its value in the arrival of the library and light rail. I worship both.
Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory... More by Charles Mudede
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You realize there was a library before, right?
Rousseau was right about you, Charles.
“The Library” is a monument only to itself. It’s not integrated with the rest of Seattle and is especially not integrated with the human scale space around it. Charles, please throw off the chains of your ‘Coolhouse’ worship so you can enjoy the lightness of the rail, unimpeded.
I wonder what Derrickito is eating right now.
oh hi there! i haven’t eaten anything yet today, but im on my way to get a burrito from the redmond taco truck in a couple minutes.
i assure you all, it will be delightful!
I was hoping for chicken-fried fries…
Uncanny.
How did you manage to take that photo with all the throngs of people on the station? And did you airbrush the passengers from the windows to give it that eerie empty feel?
Every time you declare something “the most important” as if it is up to you to decide these things, I cringe. Just sharing.
Denver: 5 light rail lines (1 more under construction)
Los Angeles: 3 light rail lines, 2 subways (1 more under construction)
Portland: 4 light rail lines (1 more under construction)
San Diego: 3 light rail lines
San Francisco: 6 light rail lines
San Jose: 3 light rail lines (2 more under construction)
Salt Lake City: 2 light rail lines (4 more under construction)
Vancouver BC: 3 elevated light rail lines (1 more under construction)
Seattle: 1 light rail line, to be completed in 2023.
Yay Seattle!
But one important difference between light rail and the library: bums can’t ride the rails for free…
If it’s publicly funded and its existence is arguable at best, Mudede latches onto it. I predict a future post on how cool the replacement 520 floating bridge is.
@10, better late than never. That aside, you’re wrong–
Seattle: 1 light rail line open, 1 more under construction, the 3 more fully funded and being designed. All FIVE done by 2023.
#14: Line extensions don’t count… One of those “lines” (University Link) has two stations. Portland has 84 stations in their 4 lines. We have 15, building 3 more, and have 18 more approved by 2023. Still less than half of what Portland has operational today, plus they have better streetcars and commuter rail. I’m not saying it’s not good that we started, but we need to catch up in a major way, fast.
The Central Library sucks. It’s ugly and non-functional. Why does everyone like it? Just because we foolishly paid a fortune for it?
I am sometimes overtaken with the urge to belch loudly in the middle of the new central library. Doing so once usually gets me a talking-to by a patron or librarian. Doing so twice got me quietly escorted out of the library. I tried to explain that I was trying to make full use of the space, but they weren’t interested.