As a lifelong bike commuter, I am not going to complain abut delaying some new bike lanes in order to make sure that some bridges stay up. Yes, the Feds SHOULD be paying for some of this infrastructure, but they are not and it does not appear that they will. Everyone in a city bisected and surrounded by water depends on bridges. Even someone who never ever gets in a car depends on them to move buses and other stuff (i.e., your groceries) around. And I don't think that the issue here is "painting the Fremont Bridge another shade of blue," but making sure that it stays up and operable. Independent of how anyone feels about cars, my bike commute would get a hell of a lot longer without the bridge.

"No plan" is the SCC's bread-and-butter!
Wasn't it Pederson who proposed forgoing upcoming raises for city employees in a budget meeting last week? It would save tens of millions of dollars but of course the idea was met with crickets by the rest of council.

Those damn streetcars are worse than worthless, and pouring good money after bad to add a 'Connector' is a horrible investment. The city should use this years operating funds for the SLUT and First Hill ines to scrap them, and permanently cancel the 'Connector.'

Why are we subsidizing fossil fuel infrastructure?

If you need it that much, replace the Magnolia Bridge with a bike span and there's your cash.

It’s easy to be an urbanist/anti-car when you work from home as a single in Capitol Hill. Try raising a family as a working class parent in West Seattle. Many immigrant families and low wage workers in lower rent West Seattle. Bridges serve everyone, don’t let the ideology of our only so-called “Conservative” CM cloud your judgement.

Ooo, I have an idea! Have they considered defunding the police? That amount is less than the overtime budget for SPD - which, with most of SPD residing outside the city, is money leaving the city instead of being invested in it.

Also, literally, if we just cut the car-oriented fossil fuel infrastructure budget and replace it with increased bike and pedestrian lanes, we could actually carry 20 times the number of Seattle citizens than the suburban-oriented car infrastructure. Maybe add a lane or two for transit and vanpools. Net effect: budget reduction but capacity increase.

It really is unfair that we ask the government to prioritize spending because there are limited resources. It's not like anyone else ever has to do that.

@4: Because we still need it until the green new deal infrastructure is in place.

@6 Sounds sensible.

Most of the Seattle City Council are good, sensible people. There are two people who I wish weren't there: Sawant and Pedersen. Sawant is a demagogue, and Pedersen is a putz.

This is nothing new for Pedersen. He loves cars, and hates transit. I realize that sounds like the typical extremist bullshit, but go through his history and try and find examples where he helped transit riders, bikers or pedestrians. OK, while doing that, I'll mention a few items:

1) He opposed ST3. I opposed ST3, so I actually give him some slack. But you would have to be very generous to assume that he opposed it for the same reason I did (ST3 spent way too much on very expensive, suburban light rail projects).

2) He opposed Move Seattle. Here is where we part ways, rather abruptly. Move Seattle was a very cost effective way to improve transit, biking and walking in this city. It hasn't lived up to its promised, but that is because Kubly and Murray were liars, and underestimated the costs. I would still vote for it as half a loaf is better than none; Pedersen would not.

3) He reduced funding for transit in the current levy that will likely pass overwhelmingly. Buses will run less often, and people will save 0.05% on their sales tax. Thank Pedersen when you save a nickel on that $100 purchase, but your bus only runs every half hour (and your favorite bus driver got laid off).

4) He wants proposed bike lanes on Eastlake to be replaced by parking. I rarely use my bike. But if you know anything about biking, you know that Eastlake is an essential corridor for biking. But Alex wants parking instead.

Then there is this bullshit. Yes, Alex, we need to spend more on maintenance. But you are an idiot or a demagogue if you think that we need to spend more NOW. We can spend that money two years from now. If SDOT says we need to spend the money now, then we will find the money (just like we will find the money for the West Seattle bridge). But sidewalk and bike paths tend to get put off, because of politicians like you. Fuck Pedersen.

Oh, and then there is the streetcar. The streetcar is stupid. It has always been stupid. When the editor of a local transit blog writes an editorial like this: https://seattletransitblog.com/2014/07/29/streetcars-a-momentary-lapse-of-reason/, you know they are stupid.

The extension is stupid. I've written more than one editorial about why it is stupid, and should not happen: https://seattletransitblog.com/2018/09/03/mobility-alternatives-to-the-ccc/, https://seattletransitblog.com/2017/10/19/replace-ccc-better-bus-service/.

But the streetcars exist. This is not about an expansion, this about running the streetcars we have. It is still the most frequent transit route on Broadway. Metro isn't going to run the 60 more often, just because we stop running the streetcar. The 60 is also a lot more expensive to run. A reduction in service hurts people who are just trying to get from one end of Broadway to the other. It hurts people who are transferring from buses or the light rail to get to First Hill. This is more important than ever, as soon Link will finally connect to the U-District (and Roosevelt, and Northgate). If you cripple the streetcar, there will be more people who just abandon transit, and drive. That doesn't seem to bother Pedersen, but it bothers me. Fuck Pedersen.