206 Spotlight: Seattle's One Track Mind

Both cars of the Seattle Center Monorail system collided with each other Saturday night, jamming the two cars together for what officials say could be days.

Putting the words 'Seattle' and 'Monorail' together has become something like putting the word "Bush" with words like "Iraq", "Kyoto" or "Solvency". While the mile-long stretch of elevated rail generated slack-jawed 'oohs' and 'ahhs' when it opened at the 1962 World's Fair, my recent trips aboard the Monorail generated more bumps, rattles, and ominous premonitions. Actually, those premonitions were already served by a variety of incidents, notably one during the 2004 Memorial Day weekend, when one of the trains conveniently caught fire right outside the studios of KOMO 4, Seattle's ABC affiliate.

That mishap shut down the entire system (ie. both trains) for about a month. The Monorail is neither part of King County Metro or Sound Transit, but the route does serve as a major tourist corridor, connecting Seattle Center attractions (like Key Arena) to Westlake Center (Seattle's major downtown mall), Pike Place Market, and the Waterfront.

This page asserts that the perpetual mechanical failures of the 43 year-old system (as well as massive cost overruns) were on the minds of a number of Seattle voters when they went to the polls two weeks ago, and in a vote that Vancouver's RAV opponents could only dream of, voted by a 2 to 1 margin against an expanded monorail system. I'm not sure if it's nostalgia, groupthink, or City councilors in serious need of some Lego, but people in their right minds don't drop serious coin on a monorail when ground has already been broken on a Light Rail Transit system for the area.

If anyone in the 206 sees Greg Nickels or anyone else hanging around Macy's asking Santa for a train set, let this page know. Santa, or Bill Bennett (I can't remember) gave the 604 a big monorail 20 years ago, and it's been nothing but trouble since.