[Transit] SLU station controversy - weighing in?

Fri Jun 9 16:36:50 PDT 2023

Thanks so much for drafting this, Peter! Looks really good to me too. I just pasted it in a google doc <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nAlbia9ig097SBF2YKV4ZrSUkOOAjoja6hfMfcjhc7E/edit?usp=sharing> in case that’s a convenient way for folks to leave comments and suggestions. Everyone, can you review by next Tuesday so that we can bring this to the MM next Thursday for approval?

> On Jun 7, 2023, at 8:35 PM, Dave Schuldt <dave.schuldt at me.com> wrote:
> 
> Looks good to me.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jun 7, 2023, at 3:07 PM, Peter Campbell <odell.campbell at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Hi all, 
>> 
>> Here is a draft to get us started. No worries if it isn't useful. I probably don't have the capacity for revisions, so putting this here for others to cut up / make shorter more concise / change as you all will :). 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Transit Riders Union
>> P.O. Box 20723
>> Seattle, WA 98102
>> 
>> Board of Directors
>> Sound Transit 
>> 401 S. Jackson St.
>> Seattle, WA 98104
>> 
>> 
>> Dear Board Chair Constantine and Members of the Board: 
>> 
>> We write as the General Membership of the Transit Riders Union to urge the Sound Transit Board move ahead with the Denny Westlake (DT-1) preferred alternative for Ballard Link construction.  
>> 
>> As Doug Trumm reported in The Urbanist on June 1, the DT-1 alternative "continues to rank highest" among the four options under consideration when it comes to "rider performance and risk."  In his written statement to the May 25 meeting, Mayor Harrell also underscores the Harrison Street station's "projected...high ridership and...critical connection to many bus routes." 
>> 
>> We cannot overstate the importance of the ridership and route connection represented by a station sited at Harrison Street. This station—as the Board well knows—will provide a vital connection between Link riders and the Aurora bus corridor. Proposals to further delay Ballard Link construction in order to examine the Shifted West or other alternatives are rooted in short-term thinking that risks permanent damage to Seattle's future as a fully accessible, mass-transit city. We share Trumm's puzzlement as to how such an outcome can be consistent with the public decarbonization commitments made by Amazon and other South Lake Union opponents to the DT-1 site.
>> 
>> Mayor Harrell suggests further study of the Shifted West alternative without abandoning the idea of a station sited on Harrison Street. However, while the Board has not completed a full assessment of rider performance for the "Shifted West" alternative discussed at your May 25 meeting, we already know that the Shifted West alternative is incompatible with current plans to site a station at Harrison Street with transfers to the Aurora Corridor.
>> 
>> Further, as King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci stated at your May 25 meeting, it is increasingly apparent that the continued delays required to assess additional proposals for preferred alternatives are incompatible with completing the Ballard Link project within a reasonable timeframe. 
>> 
>> "Rider performance and risk" should be the core priority of this Board. This Board has already been presented with a clear path forward to a Ballard Link extension that most efficiently balances the impacts of construction and the benefits of reducing emissions and economic insecurity through increased transit ridership. 
>> 
>> The Transit Riders Union strongly urges the Board to stay true to its stated commitments to the people of Seattle and King County and move forward on this project with no further delay.      
>> 
>> Sincerely, 
>> 
>> [    ]
>> 
>> The Transit Riders Union is a democratic organization of more than [MEMBER #s] working and poor people committed to preserving, expanding, and improving the public transportation system in Seattle and beyond so that every human being has access to safe, affordable, and reliable public transit. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Tue, Jun 6, 2023 at 11:26 AM Peter Campbell <odell.campbell at gmail.com <mailto:odell.campbell at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> Hi all, 
>>> 
>>> I can draft at least a skeleton statement and will post it here.
>>> 
>>> Peter 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Teamsters Local 763
>>> SPEEA IFPTE Local 2001
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Jun 6, 2023 at 10:44 AM Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org <mailto:katie at transitriders.org>> wrote:
>>>> Hi All,
>>>> 
>>>> Blake Trask from CM Balducci’s office called me to ask whether TRU is planning to weigh in on the SLU station siting controversy that Doug wrote about here <https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/06/01/harrell-advances-new-denny-station-options-that-could-delay-ballard-link/>. It sounds like they think it could be helpful— at least giving Balducci some backing to continue the fight to preserve plans for a station at Harrison St. with transfers to the Aurora corridor. Two ways we could weight in:
>>>> 
>>>> Write a letter to the board. Anyone want to draft something? I could run it by the GC and/or we could bring it to next Thursday’s MM.
>>>> 
>>>> Testify at upcoming board meetings. There’s a System Expansion Committee Meeting this Thursday, June 8th at 1:30pm. And the full board meeting later this month on Thursday, June 22nd at 1:30pm. Anyone want to testify? To do so on behalf of TRU we should make an official decision first, so the 22nd may be better timing, though if anyone wants to testify this Thursday I could try to rush a GC decision.
>>>> 
>>>> Thoughts?
>>>> 
>>>> - Katie
>>>> 
>>>> Katie Wilson
>>>> General Secretary
>>>> Transit Riders Union
>>>> https://transitriders.org <https://transitriders.org/>
>>>> 206-781-7204
>>>> 
>>>> The Transit Riders Union is a democratic organization of working and poor people, including students, seniors, and people with disabilities, taking control over our own lives, and building up the power we need to change society for the good of humanity and of the planet. We will fight to preserve, expand, and improve the public transportation system in Seattle and beyond, so that every human being has access to safe, affordable, and reliable public transit.
>>>> 
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>>>> Transit at transitriders.org <mailto:Transit at transitriders.org>
>>>> http://lists.transitriders.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/transit
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