@1 True. We will need to get really good stereos in our cars if McGinn gets elected, so we can still be part of the music scene in Seattle.

+! @ More Pie. It's a HUGE failure to not recognize how important the tunnel is to the arts--especially given the vast number of arts groups clustered downtown.

Must The Stranger blindly side with everything McGinn puts out there? I'm an artist, and I've read both platforms. A few things make me side more with Mallahan, including his support of arts spaces as distinct business which need to be supported -- so they can keep their doors open -- rather than buried by regulations.

@3: with no offramps or onramps to/from those downtown arts (OSP, SAM and Benaroya are all I can think of in downtown proper; unless you mean the occasional Moore show and the (ha) Market Theatre...), how exactly would the tunnel plan serve the ARTS? An express tube past the waterfront serves art how?
In any case, VAST may be overstating it. The VAST number of arts groups (dance, theatre x 4, opera, shakespeare, sculptures, Vera) are arguably in lower Queen Anne [Cap Hill, quiet, you], which (if you argue it's served at all) is served by a part of 99 that's already OUTSIDE the TUNNEL/VIADUCT zone. Most access is to/from broad, denny, western and mercer, not 99.

@1; yeah, cause the RTE 5 to the zoo is sooo inconvenient from downtown now...

Not sure what a trip to the zoo has to do with ARTS though. That was weird. PSC?? Imax isn't the kind of 'art' The Stranger is thinking about. The Aquarium?? Perhaps you mean EDUCATION or peripherally, CULTURE? Even then, what does a tunnel (or even the current viaduct for that matter) have to do with the ARTS?

Honestly though, the organizations you list would probably prefer visitors who take care of the environment (by not driving everywhere); you and your SUV aren't exactly the ideal target market if you can't figure out how to park at Pacific Place (or home) and take the #5. More likely, you're the kind of ass who thinks these places are de facto daycare.

Please cite data proving that non-tunnel, non-earthquake-hazard plans for highway 99 = snarled traffic forever??? Better yet, just run a live surprise test: let's close 99 one day and see what happens..., hmm? I bet , just bet, people ...what's the word.... adapt!
With proper planning, like light and one-way street coordination, they'd do better than that.

I'm a surface option person myself: Ms Moon's plans were the best yet. Besides, that's a plan that has real live examples, in actual cities, of success (SF) as opposed to tunnels of never-before-attempted scale and siting (Boston).