Tell The City Council You Want Monorail
The usual well-funded monorail opponents are giving one last try to stop us from building a new monorail in Seattle. The last step is for the Seattle City Council to approve the use of city streets for monorail tracks. It is crucial that you let your voice be heard and tell the City Council that we've voted 4 times for monorail and you want it built. more...
We Must Build The Monorail
There are times where communities face critical tests: do they build for the future, or retreat to the past. This is one of those times for the citizens of Seattle. more...
Monorail MVET Growth Analysis
The SMP says the monorail tax will grow at 6.1% per year. The mayor has a more pessimistic view of his economic policy and says it will be 5% per year. We've got the details on the actual difference between the two.
Help Build the Monorail Message
We'll be publishing some print-your-own flyers and brochures here on the site. Help out by adding your suggestions to the comments in this thread. more...
We Must Build The Monorail
There are times where communities face critical tests: do they build for the future, or retreat to the past. This is one of those times for the citizens of Seattle. more...
Mayor and City Council Defy Will of the Voters
Once again the denizens of Seattle City Hall are trying to kill the monorail. more...
Equity Office's Anti-Monorail Activity Causes Employee to Resign
There's a triumvirate of wealthy property owners downtown that are bankrolling the anti-monorail campaign. One employee has had enough of her employer's questionable ethics and has resigned her job. more...
More Endorsements for the Monorail
The campaign to save the monorail from greedy landlords and corporations continues to rack up endorsements. The anti-monorail campaign is stuck at 0. more ...
WAMU Hit Hard By Boycott
Last week's protest against Washington Mutual's anti-monorail activities was a huge success, resulting in the removal of twice 10 times as much money from the bank than what they've spent to fund lies about the monorail. more ...
Boycott WAMU
Although the anti-monorail campaign is late as usual with their public disclosure filing, reliable sources indicate that Washington Mutual has donated $85,000 to the effort to permanently ban the construction of a monorail in Seattle. It's time to boycott WAMU. more...
Monorail Grassroots At Work
The monorail has won 3 elections due to the combination of a great, common sense idea and the dedicated efforts of ordinary, inspired, grassroots volunteers. See how they're back at work this campaign season. more ...
Get a Break From High Gas Prices
Analysts say that the age of cheap oil is over. If that is the case, why would we approve an initiative that will ban the construction of rapid, electrically powered monorail anywhere in the city? more ....
Anti-Monorail Campaign Breaks Copyright
The anti-monorail forces have made another ethically questionable, if not downright illegal move. Their recently launched television commercials feature video that was stolen from a monorail supporter's website. more ...
WAMU Turns To The Dark Side
A buildthemonorail.com exclusive: It appears that another billion dollar downtown business has turned against Seattle and the monorail. more...
Anti-Monorail Campaign Gets Extreme Makeover
In the last several weeks this website has cataloged the distortions, outright lies, and right-wing agenda of the wealthy forces working against the monorail. It looks like that may have had an effect. more...
More Ethics Problems for Monorail Opponents
The anti-monorail campaign has been characterized by two things: distortions of the facts and deceit about who is actually behind their efforts. buildthemonorail.com has filed an official ethics complaint that alleges further illegal activity. more...
Monorail Winning the Endorsement Race
A surprising thing is happening so far in the campaign to save the monorail from right wing extremists. Many of the groups that opposed the monorail in 2002 are now supporting it in 2004. more...
Are Monorail Opponents Simply Anti-Transit?
Monorail opponents say that they oppose the monorail because of their distaste for taxes and elevators. Is it possible that they're also opposed to all forms of mass transit? There's some interesting new data that could answer that question. more ...
Another Recall Lie Exposed
The Seattle Times recently quoted Tim Wulf as saying that his involvement started with his registration of their website domain last year. A simple internet search has revealed that it was actually registered by the chairman of the King County Libertarian party. more...
The Truth About Selig
The monorail opposition is almost entirely funded by a single wealthy property owner. Who is Martin Selig and why does he hate the monorail? more...
Pro-monorail Campaign Launched - Funding, Volunteers Needed
The official pro-monorail campaign has started up to defend the Seattle Monorail from its attackers. It's crucial that you send them any funds you can to run the campaign and any time you can give to help win in November. more ...
What would I-83 do?
Curious about what the anti-monorail initiative would actually do? Get the facts here. more...
Don't Let Tim Eyman Style Anti-Tax Politics Kill The Monorail
Do monorail recall leaders really represent Seattle? Or are they in fact nothing more than local versions of Tim Eyman? more...
I-83 Is An Illegal Initiative
Why vote for something that will only be thrown out after the election due to it's blatant illegality? more...
Monorail Opponents Lie about "Grassroots" Campaign, Fined by Ethics Commission
Remember back in the summer when the monorail opponents such as Liv Finne were collecting signatures and claiming the work was done by their "grassroots volunteers"? Turns out it was a huge deception campaign. more...
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Don't Let Tim Eyman Style Anti-Tax Politics Kill The Monorail
Seattle has a proud history of caring about the envirionment and supporting civic programs and projects that improve the city and the lives of the people who live in it. This is shown in our repeated support for transit, housing, and education initiatives. We can also be proud to say that we've avoided the kind of rabid anti-tax sentiment that has paralyzed many other portions of the state, consistently voting against the destructive initiatives proposed by Tim Eyman.
While monorail opponents try to say that they're campaigning against monorail columns and elevators in stations, the most frequent set of criticisms attack the tax that supports the monorail. Here's some specifics:
• Monorail opposition founder Tim Wulf has made the dubious comparison between his group and our nation's founders, described as
• The Stranger reported the following from monorail recall member Patricia Stambor:
editors note: A quote by Ms. Stambor was been removed after additional context was provided
• Hummer driving board member Fred Kettlewell has expressed dissatisfaction with the $1,280 he must pay in taxes to license his gas guzzler.
• Many of the recall campaigns strongest supporters are the increasingly rare Seattle republicans. Also, Martin Selig, who bought all of the recall committee's signatures, has given $28,250 in campaign contributions to national republican candidates in recent years, including thousands to the campaign of President Bush.
• According to the Seattle Times, former monorail recall treasurer Liv Finne lobbed false accusations about the monorail changing the rules for the monorail tax after the 2002 election. As is typical with the monorail opposition's less than truthful statements, she "backed off that statement under questioning".
• Cary Thomas, the webmaster of the anti-monorail campaign's website, is chairman of the King County Libertarian Party and promotes several extreme right-wing causes on his personal website.
It's understandable that a group of Humvee-driving elitists would be out of touch with how badly Seattle needs a rapid-transit monorail system to connect our neighborhoods and speed people through downtown. If you run into them on the streets, ask them when was the last time that they tried to get to work on a slow, standing-room-only Metro bus.
Obviously the recall campaign is united about one issue: reactionary anti-tax sentiment. When it comes time to vote in November, consider whether it will help Seattle to hand a victory to our local Tim Eyman wannabes and George Bush supporters.
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Free political advice
by Stefan Sharkansky on 9/20/04 |
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| You'll be more persuasiave if you argue why Seattle actually needs a Monorail than if you simply engage in ad hominem attacks against those who disagree with you. Calling people "Eymanesque" when they want their tax dollars to be used wisely and not foolishly; and using the label "Republican" as if it were a slur will not endear you to those whom you might otherwise convince. | |
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Character Matters
by bscottid on 9/20/04 |
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This website has gone to great lengths to show why monorail is good for Seattle. However, when the opposition's less self-centered arguments fall flat on their face, I think it's important to consider who these people are. What motivates them to spend so much time and money launching distortion-filled attacks on the Seattle monorail? A close examination of the recall committee members and their donors shows that they aren't looking out for the good of Seattle - they are only looking out for themselves and are motivated by the same i've-got-mine philosophy that Tim Eyman has used to systematically attack the state and local governments throughout Washington. The politics of the monorail opposition is completely out of step with the citizens of Seattle. If any of them ran for elected office in the city they would be laughed off of the ballot. Their brainchild I-83 should be no different. |
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RE: Free political advice
by truthsquad on 9/20/04 |
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| Note that Mr. Sharkansky is the author of the blog that was linked above in which he labels monorail supporters as "lame ass weasels". Certainly high-minded public discourse from our Republican monorail haters. | ||
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Sorry
by StefanS on 9/20/04 |
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I did not write "lame ass weasels". I wrote "lame-ass weasels" with a hyphen! Yes, I use humor, satire and irony to make my points. You might not be amused, but then again hard-core ideologues seldom are. Bear in mind that only 22% of Seattle's registered voters affirmatively voted FOR the sacred Monorail in Nov. 2002. Eking out a narrow victory on sparse turnout is not the same thing as enduring political legitimacy. Those of us who oppose the Monorail are defending the interests of the 78% of Seattle's voters who didn't want the Monorail badly enough to bother to vote for it. Sorry. |
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We've Approved It Three Times
by bscottid on 9/21/04 |
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The fact is that we've approved the monorail in 3 separate grass-roots votes. None of the three were bought and paid for by a single downtown special interest. Each was pushed by normal Seattle citizens who want a fast, convenient, reliable, and environmentally friendly way to move around the city. The vote in November will be the fourth, but this one will be about more than monorail. It will be about whether we can actually ever get anything done in this city without a constant stream of lawsuits and special interest initiatives from far right-wing NIMBY obstructionists. The details of the people that make up the monorail opposition campaign proves that they're only in it for their own selfish interests and to carry the water for Martin Selig. |
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RE: Sorry
by angry liberal on 9/28/04 |
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Repugnant Republicans want to spend our tax dollars wisely. We now have the technology. Only tax those of us that want good schools for our children, roads to drive on and yes monorails to perform what it is they do. Repubnant Repugnicans will be set up with Microchips in their Hummer-SUV's and billed by the mile for usage of our public roads and bridges. Also when their children use our public schools we can bill them what that costs. And on and on. I think Microsoft can make a killing on that software which of course they will need to buy to make it all work for them. By the by, I will probably need to cut my defense dollars to about 25% of what they are now. And yes all my corporate welfare will need to be cut bare bones. And by the way I am not paying for anything related in anyway to Martin Selig's career advancement or Tim Eyman's. I am going to put an initiative on the ballot to turn the Harbor Island shipping port into a national park once we reclaim the land. Angry Liberal of West Seattle |
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Recall leaves the Monorail MVET in place
by Chris Stefan on 10/8/04 |
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I find it very interesting that the recall supporters are relying on anti-tax sentiment and anger over the Monorail MVET for much of their public support. Passing the recall in no way will repeal the MVET tax nor will it prevent the tax from being collected. Since the tax has already been passed you can bet that there will be any number of projects and agencies lining up to tap into this pool of money. Indeed several recall backers as well as several of Sound Transit's supporters have already proposed using the Monorail MVET to fund Sound Transit's light rail project. In particular as a partial source of funding for the downtown to northgate portion of the project. I will note that for a similar length system (roughly 14 miles in the initial currently funded phase) the Monorail costs less per mile than Sound Transit's light rail line, will take less time to build, and provides a usable transit solution to neighborhoods that are currently plauged with slow bus service. (Rainer Valley is served by several fast and frequent Metro routes, while West Seattle and Ballard have several routes serving them, the service is mostly slow and infrequent) |
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