I think I've had enough, he said with a sigh...

I don't know if anyone wanted a monorail for Seattle more than I did. I am a big fan of mass transit -- the masser the better -- in the first place, and monorails are just totally cool in the second place. I always felt that Seattle had cheated itself by not doing a real monorail in '63, the way that Vancouver, BC did in '87. I was happy to hear that a monorail initiative was growing in Seattle a few years back.

When I came back to Seattle after my sojourn to SW and then Eastern Washington, I did not blink or complain a bit when the car tabs for my Metro cost more than twice the "mandated" thirty bucks. The money was going to the monorail! Cool - let's get 'er built!

Great pal JJ was expressing hesitancy over the project, and she had some standing, since a station was going in right between her balcony and Elliott Bay. I supported the plan even in the face of her quality of life and property values concerns.

Well, I just can't do it anymore. The whole project seems to be sinking under its own weight. I don't know if it's political wrangling, or incompetence of the SMP board or staff, or bad karma, or what, but I think it's time to turn Mother's picture to the wall, cut our losses, and get out of this.

The Seattle Times reported that we may see a monorail by the end of 2010 - and that we are going to be paying for it until at least 2050. The current construction costs are estimated to be $2.1 billion, despite the $1.75 billion cap on the project from the voters.

But it gets worse. According to yesterday's Seattle P-I:

This week it was revealed it will cost more than $11 billion to pay for the 14-mile monorail Green Line project and the debt to finance it. That's more than three times what Sound Transit will pay for construction and debt service for its 14-mile light rail line from downtown Seattle to Tukwila.

That is to say, because so much of the project has to be financed, the actual costs to the taxpayers will be $11 billion. $785 million per mile.

(The Weekly has an article by Rick Anderson breaking it all down.)

So, all I can say is I have had enough. As much as I have tried to support this project, it just keeps getting worse and worse. I am going to contact the mayor and the city council, as well as SMP, and let them know that I think they should pull the plug.

It would have been so cool, though.