Tim Rasmussen is running for Seattle City Council.
Mr. Rasmussen
I’m for you 99%. There is one exception on the long list of approval items that I don’t agree with at all.
The Alaskan Way Viaduct does not need to be replaced, it needs to go.
No matter what the cost, between $4 and $7 billion dollars, it will not do the job. There are many reasons against the replacement of the Viaduct and only one for replacement.
The only reason for replacement is to move traffic from south Seattle to north Seattle.
Let’s look at the reasons against.
1.) Where is the money coming from? I support the monorail tax. I will not support any more taxes for transportation that will not alleviate the SR520/I-5, Mercer I/C and NW45/I-5 I/C. The five cent gas tax is already being spent twice.
2.) The traffic on the Viaduct is now backing up from the Aurora Bridge; a vehicle friendly solution will only make it worse.
3.) The traffic going into SODO will also result in the same situation.
4.) When the Viaduct was built in 1953, the Seattle waterfront was not much to look at or to be found in after dark. Now there are thousands of expensive homes in the neighborhood. What was once a parking lot is now a condominium or apartment building and the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture park.
5.) The cruise ships and tourists on the waterfront are now much more of an economic advantage than cars driving by Seattle.
6.) What Seattle should have is people coming to town and shopping, not just driving on by.
7.) The environmental impacts of the current Viaduct are outrageous. Noise, dirt and traffic pollution are at an intolerable level. Trucks exiting onto Western Avenue and traveling up Elliot Avenue are just the icing on the cake of pollution.
8.) The Spokane Street Viaduct is in just as much in need of repair as the Alaskan Way Viaduct. As well as the I-5/Spokane St. I/C.
9.) Removal of the Viaduct will put thousands of passengers into the Monorail.
10.) Removal of the Viaduct will remove the eyesore and mend Seattle back to the waterfront.
You have my vote it’s just that I will be working to stop the Viaduct replacement.
In San Francisco the 1989 earthquake did what the city couldn't do on its own. The demolition of the freeway became a popular lunchtime activity. The Embarcadero came down. Just imagine the beauty that will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Go to the Embarcadero web site and take a look.
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