Comments

1
Looked at that place when we rode out there. Seemed like it could be worth trying. Nice to have that confirmed. I'll have to give it a try next time. With luck perhaps the new station will help its business moving forward....
2

Thx for the reference
I'll try it so long as there is good parking
3
@2, yes indeed. Why take the train directly there when you can drive your car.
4
Good to know about the isolated-deli sambusas.

Gee... I wonder if there's anywhere in town that has lots and lots of delicious East African food. Perhaps within a "district" that is relatively "central", geographically speaking. Perhaps located within the largest swath of consistently-high population density in the state, and with myriad destinations and innumerable land uses within a radius of a few contiguously-built-up miles -- you know, the requisite ingredients for every successful example of mass transportation in the universe.

I wonder when that place will be less than 40 minutes from anywhere by public transportation!
5
Stranger readers will never travel to Angle Lake, they might encounter people with radically different beliefs.
6
For East African food, do seek out Kabsa House on Lake City Way--the goat rice and lamb shanks are incredible. Great people, too.
7
@4 I understand the snark about our rail lines missing dense, minority neighborhoods. But which neighborhood are you referring to?
8
Lovely review--this is top Mudede
9
@7: I am alluding to "The Central District", which, thanks the irrationality of Seattle transit planning, continues to be 20-30 minutes by public transit from either downtown or from any other present or future rapid transit stop, and which reliably takes more than an hour to reach by transit from most of urbanized Seattle.
10
The Bull Pen had a fire? I have many fond memories of it, back in the day. I do hope it recovers.

d.p. dear, from your rather ham-handed description (except for the crafty "central" reference) I assumed you meant the University District. If you think the CD has "lots and lots of delicious East African food", while Sea-Tac just has "isolated-deli sambusas", I suspect you haven't been to either neighborhood in quite some time.

But nice try!!!
11
I am well aware that many East Africans and much East African cuisine are to be found in SeaTac, my dear Ms. Vel-DuRay, as well as in many other parts of the city and region.

What is not found near Angle Lake, unfortunately, is a dense concentration of anything (people, businesses, structures of any sort) that would yield the critical mass of proximate activity necessary to sustainably support Charles' beloved trains to nowhere.

To support whatever nebulous point he is trying to make, Charles is spending 25-40 minutes on the train -- repeatedly -- and venturing a significant distance from his more proximate daily activities. And all he is finding is this single set-back deli and convenience mart, with an enclosed kitchen that happens to punch above weight. He expects us to find this eye-opening and inspiring. But he can find no evidence that this remote station is helping this deli (or anyone else) in any significant way.

But we can in fact determine, objectively, that it is not useful, because the cumulative ridership at Angle Lake is abysmal even by Puget standards, and what few people do pass through there are entirely dependent on a parking structure whose utility as an access point won't even survive the next extension.

At the same time, a quick search suggests that a minimum of seven restaurants serving Ethiopian food alone (never mind the neighboring cuisines) remain south of Madison, north of Little Saigon, and west of Madrona and Leschi. These places share the neighborhood with many hundreds of other small businesses, and with residents of a variety of classes and ethnicities, and at a consistently high residential density (in the form of "missing middle" housing) over a three-dimensional swath of urbanity that has no match anywhere in Washington State.

But which ST1, ST2, and ST3 combined -- at a cumulative cost of $75 billion -- would save not a single soul a single second in accessing or leaving.

That's not just unwise/unhealthy transportation planning. It is a travesty.
12
Why don't you eat goat, Charles? It's a delicious meat. Please don't tell me you think of goats as pets but cattle as food.
13
@12 -- He is from Zimbabwe. He knows about goat as food. Or is it goats as food (he probably knows that as well).
14
"she gave me one of those smiles that are an expression of fake interest"- as does anyone that has the misfortune to interact with you, chuckles.

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