Monorail Costs Less

Is there any way of knowing which public mass transit system--Sound Transit or the monorail--is more cost-effective? Happily, yes. According to a September study conducted for the Downtown Seattle Association by ECONorthwest, a major regional economic consulting firm, "The monorail alternative is roughly five times less expensive than light rail and commuter rail" per mile traveled by each passenger. The monorail costs $5.10 per rider, while the same figure for light rail is almost $21. And looking at the cost per each new transit rider--essentially a measure of the cost of getting a car off the road--the monorail also crushes light rail ($22.50 vs. $71.10). SANDEEP KAUSHIK


Salary Fat at City Hall

It's budget season at city hall again--the time of year that Capitol Hill's pesky Republican activist Alan Deright becomes incredibly germane.

The city, facing a $60 million deficit, needs to find budget fat in order to fend off pending cuts in health and human services. Well, Deright (who seems to spend plenty of time doing public record requests about city employee salaries) has turned up a doozy that should provide guidance on how the city can save dough--and social services.

Deright discovered that 1,567 city employees earn more than $70,000 a year; that's 2.5 times as many folks as four years ago, and the number grew by more than a third in the last year.

Deright also sent an e-mail to city council members, listing the 100-plus municipal employees making more than $100,000 a year. The list included Seattle City Light chief Gary Zarker, library head Deborah L. Jacobs, and parks chief Ken Bounds. JOSH FEIT


Seattle Lenders Discriminate

According to a national study released October 2 by ACORN, an advocacy group for low- and middle-income homeowners, black Seattleites are getting the shaft when it comes to home mortgage loans. Overall, a local African American applicant is more than twice as likely to be denied a conventional mortgage loan than a white person earning the same income. Blacks earning more than $86,640 were turned down 2.63 times more than similar-earning whites; at moderate income levels, blacks were denied 1.72 times more often; and at low incomes, they were denied 1.87 times as often. Such discrimination drives many minorities into the clutches of high-interest sub-prime mortgage lenders, who are coming under increasing fire for their predatory practices. SANDEEP KAUSHIK