Odd that this image is supposed to convince us that the monorail is bad

Here's the story.

The mono-phobes are back out baying at the moon. Odd that they would think this image so convincing. Yes, there is a big object in the middle of the street. So? Cities are by definition filled with large objects. So what if we have another one? In itself, that's to be expected. Would I rather the monorail be invisible? Sure. I'd also rather have anti-gravity shoes. Every means of transport has impacts. An above-ground monorail has them. So do diesel buses at grade. I guess you could argue that trains-in-tunnels don't have any impacts but that's not an option in Seattle as we are simply not going to spend the money -- and I don't think the underground riding experience is a particularly attractive one compared to being able to see.

Take a look at the whole slideshow and judge for yourself.

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As you may not know, the Seattle Monorail is having troubles meeting its budget. It's twenty percent above where it should be. Now that's not good, but the anti-monorail people (a substantial minority of the population but still a minority albeit a well-connected one) are seizing upon a mere twenty percent over-budget to call -- and this from people who have hardly ever done anything which might verify their own ability to be productive, such as reporters -- to bring in the adults. It's an odd refrain. As if the adults (like GW Bush) who are in charge in virtually any level of government or major institution can command such blanket respect. It's such a strange way to disagree with people, more fitting of a five-year old for whom the biggest insult would be to say "You are a baby!"

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Let's just hope that the monorail opposition continues to be as ineffectual and bereft of perception in politics as it obviously is in choice of imagery.

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Btw, what really unfortunate is that the monorail opposition -- by its singularly dense and flatulent stance, lacking any real substance -- has left no one to offer solid criticism of the monorail plan. There are no opponents with -- to my ears and I have heard them all whine on -- any credibility. That's unfortunate. The monorail -- like any project large or small -- will be improved by criticism. The problem is that the mono-phobes -- many of whom are actually talented people in their own narrow area -- have no ability politically or psychologically to credibly criticize the specific proposal at hand because there is no monorail project which could possibly satisfy them. They lost the public votes (all four of them!) but like the energizer bunny they just keep doing the same old thing.

Comments

[Jon Stahl]

Well said, David. The Monorail's "nattering nabobs of negativity" are really starting to piss me off, too.

[Jesse McCann]

I agree. One of the many common complaints aired during the monorail recall campaign was that the monorail would "cast a shadow and block out the sun." Generally, opaque objects cast shadows!

Right now the financing for the monorail is the major problem. I don't understand why they didn't solicit money from governmental agencies. It's not THAT expensive a project compared to the Alaskan tunnel to nowhere, which is receiving a ton of support.

[Ed Schniederman]

Well, a billion bucks here, a billion bucks there, $11 billion . . . eventually it adds up to real money that'll take 50-70 years to pay off.

Still, fighting straw men is more fun, they don't fight back.

Why don't you ask Peter Sherwin what he thinks?