SLUT -- Streetcar's unfortunate acronym seems here to stay

(Editor's note: This story has been changed since it was first published. Jerry Johnson was originally misidentified in a photo caption.)

There's a story going around South Lake Union, but a spokeswoman for Vulcan, Paul Allen's development company, says it's just an urban legend.

That aside, the story that the neighborhood's streetcar line now under construction was called the South Lake Union Trolley until the powers that be realized the unfortunate acronym -- SLUT -- seems here to stay.

Officially, it's now the South Lake Union Streetcar. But the trolley name already has caught on, and in the old Cascade neighborhood in South Lake Union, they're waiting for the SLUT.

At the Kapow! Coffee house on Harrison Street, they're selling T-shirts that read "Ride the SLUT."

"We're welcoming the SLUT into the neighborhood," said Jerry Johnson, 29, a part-time barista. Johnson said the T-shirts were done just for fun, but they seem to have tapped into something: The first 100 sold out in days and now orders for the next 100 are under way.

Behind the ribbing is a little resentment about the changes some residents feel have been pushed on them.

"There was a meeting with representatives from the city several years ago," Johnson recalled. "They asked us what we could do for you. Most people raised their hands and said 'affordable housing,' " he said. "Then the people from the city huddled together -- 'whisper, whisper, whisper,' -- and they said, 'How about a trolley?' "

With the tracks laid and the Westlake to South Lake Union streetcar on schedule to start running in December -- no specific date yet -- there's resignation.

"What's done is done," says Don Clifton of the decision to build the $50.5 million line.

The neighborhood even has lost its name, they said.

In its sales brochures, project developer Vulcan calls the neighborhood the Cascade and refers to South Lake Union as a broader area bordered by Interstate 5, the Denny Park area, the lake and the Denny Triangle. But outside the neighborhood, it's rarely ever called the Cascade anymore, going instead by ubiquitous South Lake Union.

So, "We learned how fun it is to change the name of things," Clifton said of the streetcar's nickname.

On Wednesday, the neighborhood was filled, as it has been for months, with the clutter of construction from new buildings and the laying of the streetcar's tracks.

Some areas remain blocked during construction.

"It's not so bad," said 32-year-old Jennifer Cea, a student at the nearby Cortiva Institute massage school who was in line at Kapow! "It's more irritating, turning a corner and running into a detour."

The shirts are funny, she said, but she wouldn't wear one. "I'm a mother," she explained.

		Andy Rogers / P-I
	Jerry Johnson, foreground, and Don Clifton model the "Ride the S.L.U.T." T-shirts they created to poke fun at the original acronym of the South Lake Union Streetcar. The shirts are sold at the Kapow! coffee shop in the neighborhood.

The construction in the area was more than just inconvenient earlier this month. On Sept. 7, a dump truck from one of the construction projects in the area hit two bicyclists at Fuhrman Avenue East and Eastlake Avenue East, killing one of them.

"I love it," Clifton said of the construction noise. "I was getting too much sleep before."

"I especially like the dust and the big holes in the ground," Johnson said. "But we can't wait to have the SLUT."

Seattle transportation spokesman Gregg Hirakawa and Vulcan spokeswoman Kym Allen say the name "streetcar" wasn't selected to avoid the provocative acronym. Trolley seemed vintage, whereas streetcar sounded more modern, Hirakawa said.

		Scott Eklund / P-I
	Seattle transportation worker Josh Stepherson, right, peeks at the trolley car moments after it was delivered Monday.

And the streetcars -- the first of which will be unveiled Tuesday -- had the support of 45 businesses that agreed to tax themselves to cover about half the cost, he said.

Indeed, what the SLUT shirts poke fun at depends on the wearer.

For Tom Long, 36, and Michael Giovannoni, 19, who were at the Kapow! during a break from massage lessons, the shirts are a way to mock the years Seattle, a city that's supposedly progressive and environmental, has spent in gridlock while building mass transit.

"Judging by what other cities of our size have, we're way behind," Long said.