Methinks Thou Dost Protest Too Much

Earlier this week, a statewide initiative to stop Sound Transit's light rail project was filed with the secretary of state. In hushed excitement, just a few hours after the initiative was filed, a close friend called to tell me the big news. I don't, however, share my friend's excitement.

For reasons that are both insane (I believe Sound Transit is part of a Democratic establishment conspiracy) and sane (Sound Transit's light rail line, annoyingly, travels at grade), I've been writing articles and editorials denouncing the U-District [sic] to Sea-Tac [sic] project for five years now. (If you haven't heard, the route has been shrunk by a third.) But my anti-light-rail cohort's "big news" just plain bothered me.

The initiative, filed by West Seattle neighborhood activist John Dodd, asks voters statewide to approve a local revote on all changes that have been made to Sound Transit's plan.

While I supported I-776, a 2002 statewide initiative aimed at offing light rail, that one made sense because it dealt with a statewide issue--car tabs. This effort--a statewide referendum on a local issue--is decidedly unfair.

The fact is, while I certainly haven't become a fan of Sound Transit, I'm no longer interested in stopping it. And begrudgingly, I'd actually like to see the thing built. Opponents of Sound Transit and light rail have fought an honest and dogged battle against the project for several years now. I've supported that fight (cheers Rob McKenna), and I'm proud of some of the stories I've filed that broke news of Sound Transit's trickery. But after a string of convincing setbacks for light rail opponents--watching King County resoundingly defeat anti-light-rail initiative I-776 in 2002; watching Sound Transit get its federal funding last year; and finally, losing a state supreme court case earlier this year that argued the 14-mile line betrayed the will of the voters--I think it's time for Sound Transit opposition to hang it up and work with the agency to help build part of a badly needed public transit system in Seattle. I, for one, am pro-public-transit, and I'm willing to put aside my specific differences with Sound Transit now that the anti-light-rail case has largely been overruled.

The fact is, while Sound Transit critics have tried to argue that light rail has ruined political careers of its diehard supporters, I'd argue the opposite. While pro-Sound Transit politicians, like one-time King County Council Member and now Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, are still very much in the game, relentless Sound Transit critics, like one-time King County Council Member and now Shoreline City Council Member Maggi Fimia, are mired in their hostility toward Sound Transit.

At the beginning of 2004, I suggested that Sound Transit critics were teetering in the 14th minute of their proverbial 15 minutes of fame. Sayonaras, of course, include dramatic death throes. This last-minute, desperate ploy seems just that.

josh@thestranger.com