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Friday, June 30, 2006
Waterfront Streetcar: Smell something?
There's a troubling scent about the latest waterfront streetcar line. It's not quite a stink yet, but something definitely smells.
The vintage George Benson Waterfront Streetcar line has become a landmark in Seattle, and when it was shut down to accommodate the Seattle Art Museum's sculpture park, politicians promised it would be back.
SAM's park couldn't co-exist with the streetcar's maintenance barn just north of the intersection of Alaskan Way and Broad Street. Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims made headlines with news they'd saved the streetcar by striking a deal with a condominium developer to incorporate a maintenance facility into a new building in historic Pioneer Square.
But now the developer, Greg Smith, says he may not be able to swing the deal. He blames the City Council for being too slow to grant what seems a reasonable height variance that Smith says he needs for the streetcar facility. Councilman Peter Steinbrueck counters Smith hasn't produced plans and models in a timely manner.
And not so far in the background, Nickels is working on his South Lake Union streetcar line and Councilman Richard Conlin is dreaming of a shiny new citywide streetcar network.
Surely our elected officials wouldn't be so foolish or disingenuous as to allow the city or the county (which operates the waterfront line) to abandon an existing, pedestrian-friendly, business-friendly transit system for mere hopes of a new system. Or would they?
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