"Seattle has more urgent and basic needs."

That was the anti-monorail judgment of the Seattle Times' editorial board. Luckily for Seattle, it appears voters in the city saw things a bit differently. At presstime, the monorail plan is still moving toward approval--despite the Seattle Times.

The Times urged a "no" vote on the monorail because the plan posed a threat to "regional" transportation needs, regional transportation solutions, and regionalism in general. "Regionalism," of course, is a fancy way of saying "what's good for the suburbs."

All but one of the Times editorial board members have addresses in the suburbs, which is why this alleged Seattle daily is more concerned about the needs of the "region" (read: the suburbs) that wraps around the city like a donut than it is about the needs of the region's center: Seattle.

Seattle shouldn't apologize for focusing on city problems, or for crafting our own solutions and taxing ourselves to pay for them. A real rapid transit system inside the city is a transportation solution that Seattle voters support and are willing to pay for. It won't, however, do anything to help speed up the commutes of the management at the Suburban--er, Seattle Times.