Opponents file initiative to ban monorail

Monorail Recall organizers filed an initiative with the city clerk's office that would ban construction of the project on city streets and other city property.

Backers hope to have the proposed Initiative 82 cleared by the City Attorney's Office and complete gathering 25,000 signatures by June 30. They need 18,000 to get their proposal considered by the City Council or placed on an election ballot.

The City Clerk and City Attorney's Office each have five days to approve the form of the petitions and write a ballot title. City Attorney Tom Carr, once active in pro-monorail campaigns, said there's no rule against him helping write the title, though he'd likely assign the work to someone else and approve it.

At a news conference, the opponents said the system now being proposed by the Seattle Monorail Project isn't the same one voters narrowly approved in 2002.

They said it now contains four miles of single-rail guideway, whereas voters were promised a double-rail system, and are proposing large, "massive" support columns and street-shadowing switches despite a prediction that the system would be "slender" 21st-century system.

"The voters of Seattle have been misled," said Tim Wulf, chairman of the recall committee. "Upon examining the changes from the time we voted to the product of today, it is evident that we are the victims of bait and switch."

A member of a monorail-advocate group disputed the opponents contentions, saying not as much was promised about the system as opponents say.

City Council members have been reviewing the 14-mile monorail proposal since early this year. The separate project board approved the current alignment in late March. The corridor would connect West Seattle to Ballard and Crown Hill via downtown, mostly on Second and Fifth Avenues.

The leadership of the group includes West Seattle resident Wulf as chairman and treasurer Liv Finne. They estimate that since their formation they've gathered the names and addresses of about 1,000 interested people. Finne said the group has more than 120 volunteers ready to circulate petitions.

They'll have to gather the needed signatures within six months. If they do, it will be considered by the council, which can pass it or put it to a citywide vote.

If approved, the measure, as currently drafted, would prohibit use of city streets and city property for the new system -- including the Seattle Center, which the monorail agency has proposed to cross north of the International Fountain.

The recall group initially hoped to gather 50,000 signatures in 90 days to bring about a revote on the project, but one organizer said that proved too difficult. Peter Sherwin, one of the early backers of a monorail system and now working for another group backing it, said it is "premature" for the opposition group to conclude that the system will be different.

"We're still waiting for the bidding teams to come back with their bids," he said, and each team can bid a combination of single- and double-track systems -- or even double track if they think it's financially doable.

"I don't think its fair to say we're not getting what we voted for," Sherwin said. "We certainly don't know that now."

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