Note: This project was cancelled by popular vote in the election of 8 November 2005.
SUDDEN DEATH: THE VOTERS SAY “NO!” (9 November 2005) — In yesterday’s election, the voters of Seattle defeated Propostion 1 almost 2 to 1. This propostition would have authorized construction of a shortened Green Line. Defeat of the propostion means that no monorail will be built and the Seattle Monorail Project must shut down.
MONORAIL BOARD VOTES TO PLACE SHORTER LINE ON BALLOT (23 September 2005) — This afternoon, after the Seattle City Council voted to refuse to grant permits for the monorail to operate in city streets, the Seattle Monorail Project board proposed a shortened Green Line. This proposal will be placed on the ballot in the general election on 8 November. The shortened line would be from the Alaska Street station in West Seattle to the Dravus Street station in the Interbay district. The other parts of the Green Line, from Alaska Street Station to the Morgan Street Station and from Dravus Street to N.W. 85th Street, would be presented to the voters later when adequate financing is available.
MAYOR REJECTS NEW PLAN (16 September 2005) — This afternoon the mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, announced that he can not accept the new financing plan put forth on 14 September. Mayor Nickels said that his staff met with Monorail Project officials and went over the plans. The mayor’s staff said that the plan is too risky — that if revenue falls short of expectations the Monorail Project will not be able to meet future obligations.
The mayor is cancelling the agreement that grants permission for the monorail to use city streets and requesting the city council to place an advisory measure on the November ballot asking voters their preferences for the monorail. Mayor Nickels is also urging the Monorail board to place their own measure on the ballot.
For the full text of Mayor Nickel’s statement, click here.
MONORAIL AGENCY ADOPTS NEW PLAN (15 September 2005) — The Seattle Monorail Propject has announced a new plan that it claims is a viable solution to the current financial crisis. The plan would cut financing to 39 years and cost considerably less than the previously rejected plan. The new plan would not require a new public election. Under this plan there would be no rebid, but rather the agency would negotitate futher with Cascadia Monorail Company to find ways to cut costs.
An important unknown is whether or not the mayor of Seattle will accept the new plan as a viable one. He had set today (15 September) as a deadline for the Project to come up with a viable plan. The mayor wanted a plan that would be subject to a public vote in November, with choices of shortening the length of the project, new taxes to pay for the entire 14-mile line, or to cancel the project. The new plan does not include any of these options desired by the mayor.
INDEPENDENT REVIEWERS REPORT TO SMP BOARD (7 September 2005) — This evening four independent reviewers of the Green Line Project reported its findings and recommendations to the board of the Seattle Monorail Project. Their findings indicate that finance costs can be reduced from $9 billion to around $7 billion, and the mazimum bond term length can be reduced from 50 years to 39 years. Click here for details.
GREEN LINE UPDATE: MASS CONFUSION! (16 August 2005) — . The SMP is working to come up with a way to salvage the floundering Green Line project. The mayor of Seattle has given an ultimatum to come up with a solution by September 15th. Opponents are trying to kill the project. Supporters are rallying to save the project. The five main alternatives being set forth seem to be: 1) Vote to raise more taxes, 2) Shorten the monorail line, 3) Devise a new financing plan, 4) Build the line in stages, and 5) kill the project altogether.NEW WEB SITE TRYING TO SALVAGE THE MONORAIL PROJECT (14 August 2005) — A citizen by the name of Christian Gloddy has established a web site in an effort to raise support to save the monorail project. He named his website www.2045Seattle.org because he is worried about what will happen in 2045 if the monorail isn't built.
MALAYSIAN MONORAIL BUILDER EXPRESSES INTEREST IN GREEN LINE (4 August 2005) — The company that built the Kuala Lumper, Malaysia, monorail, MTrans, has contacted the Seattle Monorail Project to express an interest in building the Green Line if the project is put out for rebidding.
CASCADIA MONORAIL COUNTERS DSA DRAWINGS WITH ITS OWN (14 July 2005) — Responding to complaints of the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) earlier this week, Cascadia Monorail Company released its own drawings of the proposed Green Line in Downtown Seattle. The Cascadia renderings show a more attractive structure than those produced by the DSA. Click here for more.GREEN LINE BATTLE CONTINUES (13 July 2005) — The controversy and confusion over the future of the Green Line monorail project continues unabated. There has been sharply increased opposition to the project since financial figures were released in June. To thrust yourself into the midst of the media activity, click here!
DOWNTOWN LEADERS OBJECT TO MONORAIL BULK (12 July 2005) — The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) had architects create renditions of the proposed monorail through Downtown Seattle, based on specifications in the proposed contract. Based on the bulk of the structure indicated in the drawing, the DSA has denounced the design and does not want it Downtown. Click here for more.
SMP DIRECTOR AND BOARD CHAIRMAN RESIGN (4 July 2005) — Today the Executive Director of the Seattle Monorail Project, Joel Horn, and Monorail Board Chair, Tom Weeks, both resigned.
SEATTLE MONORAIL PROJECT ABANDONS FINANCE PLAN (30 June 2005) — Today the governing board of the Seattle Monorail Project bowed to strong public pressure and agreed to abandon its plan for issuing bonds over about a fifty-year period at a total interest expense of over $9 billion. The high-cost long-term financing scheme was a solution to the revenue problem created when tax revenues came in about 30% less than anticated. It is not yet know what steps will be taken next in order to continue with the Green Line monorail project.
PROJECT AND SMP THREATENED BY OUTCRY OVER COST (30 June 2005) — Growing opposition to the cost of financing the Green Line project now includes calls to completely cancel the project and to disband the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority (better known as the Seattle Monorail Project, or SMP). The Seattle City Council must approve the project financing before it will grant permits to build the monorail, and most council members now indicate they will vote against approval. There is now strong pressure from various sources for the SMP to kill the financing plan.
TEAM MONORAIL SEEKS REBID (30 June 2005) — Team Monorail, a contractor consortium that would use Bombardier trains, and which pulled out of the bidding last August, now seeks an opportunity to rebid on the Green Line project as opposition grows against the proposed contract with Cascadia Monorail Company, which would use Hitachi trains.
OPPOSITION GROWS OVER FINANCING PLAN (29 June 2005) — There has been a rising outcry against the costs of the Green Line project since it was revealed on 20 June that it is estimated the cost would be about $2.1 billion and bond interest over 48 years would total over $9 bilion, for a total of over $11 billion. The Seattle Monorail Project defends the plan, saying that much of the interest expense is far in the future and the actual cost in 2005 dollars is much less. Criticism is coming from citizens, politicians, media, businessmen, and members of the Seattle City Council, among others.
CONTRACT DETAILS ANNOUNCED: (20 June 2005) — The Seattle Monorail Project this evening announced the details of the agreement reached with Cascadia Monorail Company to design, build, operate, and maintain the 14-mile Green Line. The line would postpone two stations until later, stations would be of an open-air design, there would be fewer trains to start, and, due to tax revenue being 30% less than projected, financing would be accomplished through a mix of bonds over almost fifty years with an estimated total interest cost of about $9 billion.
MONORAIL CONTRACT AGREEMENT REACHED: (3 June 2005) — Today the Seattle Monorail Project announced that agreement has been reached with Cascadia Monorail on the contract for designing, building, operating, and maintaining the 14-mile-long Green Line monorail project. The new schedule is to open the Green Line on December 1, 2005. Details will be announced in about two weeks, followed by a period of public comment before final approval. Click here for details from the SMP web site.
CASCADIA ISSUES BONDED PROPOSAL FOR GREEN LINE: (April 6, 2005): —
Cascadia Monorail, the sole bidder for the Green Line project, has issued what is known as a “bonded proposal”, meaning that they guarantee that they will build the Green Line if a final proposal is accepted by the Seattle Monorail Project. There are still some details to work out and it is estimated it will take another two or three months before a final proposal is submitted for approval.
SMP spokespersons say that negotiation are taking longer than expected, but it is not unusual considering the size and complexity of the project. The issuance of the bonded proposal indicates that negotiations have reached a point where most major issues have been resolved and there are only less significant details to work out and study.
The Green Line was scheduled to open in Summer of 2009, however it was also expected that construction would begin in the fall of 2004. There is now speculation that the actual opening will be delayed.
Negotiations are still being held in secret until the the final proposal issued, therefore many project details are still unknown to the public.
MONORAIL TAX EXTENSION PROPOSAL DIES: (March 15, 2005) —
A bill that would have extended the monorail tax to new cars died in committee in the Washington State Legislature. Representative Ed Murray said that there was not enough interest in the bill for the House Transportion Committee to submit it in time to the full legislature for consideration.
POLITICIANS SEEK EXTENSION OF MONORAIL TAX TO NEW CARS: (March 2, 2005) —
A bill has been submitted in the Washington State legislature that would apply the Monorail motor vehicle excise tax to new cars.
RUMORS REPORT BID $200 MILLION OVER TARGET: (March 2, 2005) —
Although negotiations with Cascadia Monorail continue in secret, rumors are spreading that the bid is coming in $200 million more than what the Seattle Monorail Project anticipated.
TEAM MONORAIL SEEKS CONSIDERATION: (March 2, 2005) —
A few weeks ago Team Monorail, which dropped out of the bidding in August 2004, requested reconsideration for the contract to design, build, operate, and maintain the Green Line.
The Team Monorail consortium, which includes Bombardier as the train supplier, had withdrawn its bid because of problems shortly before the bid submission deadline. They now claim to be ready to submit a bid which will include several good design features.
The Seattle Monorail Project reported that for now they must comply with their plan to continue with their negotiations with the only team to submit a bid, Cascadia Monorail, and it would be improper to accept a new bid now. However if the negotiations with Cascadia are unsuccessful, then they may request new bids.
More information about the Team Monorail design is available at their web site. You can also check out my opinions about the Team Monorail request to submit a bid.
MONORAIL CONSTRUCTION DELAYED BY NEGOTIATIONS: (December 15, 2004) —
A recent announcement by the Seattle Monorail Project reports that construction of the new Green Line monorail will be delayed until early 2005 because negotations are taking longer than expected. Negotations with the Cascadia Monorail consortia of contractors were delayed because the contractors were reluctant to negotiate until after the election on Initiative 85. That initiative would have stopped construction of the monorail.
SEATTLE VEHICLES TO GET A MONORAIL TAB (23 November 2004)
Beginning in February 2005, Seattle residents that own vehicles will get a new annual license plate tab when they renew their motor vehicle registration. The new tabs, available only to vehicle owners residing in Seattle, feature a stylized monorail.
According to the Seattle Monorail Project, the change was worked out in cooperation with the state Department of Licensing, to show Seattle residents’ support for the new Green Line. A secondary benefit is that it will make it easier for law enforcement officers to spot tax-evaders.
According to the law, Seattle residents pay a motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) of 1.4% of the value of their vehicle every year when they renew their vehicle license in order to fund the Green Line monorail. Some Seattle residents have evaded the tax by illegally using an address outside the city limits. With a special monorail tab for Seattle residents, the absence of the monorail tab would tend to indicate tax evasion.
RECALL INITIATIVE DEFEATED (2 November 2004)
In today’s general election, Seattle voters rejected the “Recall the Monorail” initiative by about 63% of the votes. This means that the project to build the Green Line can continue.
The Seattle Monorail Project is currently in confidential negotiations with Cascadia Monorail Company to work out details of the contract. Design details and costs will be announced once an agreement is reached, unless there is failure to reach a suitable agreement within the price limit set by law.
APPEALS COURT PUTS RECALL INITIATIVE ON BALLOT (September 13, 2004)
A Washington State appeals court has ruled that Initiative 83, the “Recall the Monorail” initiative, should appear on the November ballot.
The judges did not rule on the legality of the initiative. They said that it would take some time to study the legality of the issue, but it would not be fair to miss the deadline later this week to place the issue on the ballot pending a decision of legality of the issues involved.
The result is that in the November 2 election, citizens of Seattle will be able to vote on whether or not to stop the monorail project, unless there is a court decision before then that the issue is illegal. Even if the issue passes in the election, there is a high risk that it will later be determined illegal. A lower court judge found that the iniative violates two state laws (see August 13 item below).
JUDGE RULES THAT MONORAIL RECALL INITIATIVE IS ILLEGAL (August 13, 2004)
King County Superior Court judge Steven Gonzalez ruled today that Initiative 83 is illegal. The initiative calls for prohibiting the Seattle City Council from permitting construction of the monorail in city streets or on other city property, and the issue would have appeared on the ballot in the November election.
The judge declared that the initiative violates two different state laws, the Growth Management Act and the legislation authorizing the Seattle Monorail Project. Both laws include specific procedures for revotes and initiative 83 does not follow those procedures.
ONE CONTRACTOR TEAM WITHDRAWS FROM COMPETITION (August 6, 2004)
Team Monorail, one of the two teams of contractors competing for the Green Line monorail project, has withdrawn from the competition and will not submit a bid.
The Team Monorail consortium, which would have used Bombardier trains, reported that it was unable to rebuild its team after some members of the team withdrew from the team this past Spring.
Now there is only one team left, Cascadia Monorail Company, which plans to use Hitachi trains.
OPENING RESCHEDULED TO SUMMER 2009 (July 15, 2004)
The Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) has voted in favor of delaying the opening of the Green Line until 2009, probably in the Summer.
For the past two years the SMP has been counting down the days until a planned opening of December 15, 2007 for a short section of the line, with the entire line to open in 2009.
A number of experts, including representatives of the two consortia of firms that will bid on the Project, have been recommending that it would be better to wait and open the entire line at once. They insisted that opening a portion of the line early would interfere with construction of the rest of the line, would complicate testing, would increase costs by tens of millions of dollars, and would delay the completion of the line.
CITY COUNCIL TO REVIEW MONORAIL FINANCES (July 8, 2004)
One of the conditions of the new Transitway Agreement for the monorail is that there shall be an independent study of the Monorail Project’s finances, and the City Council will review the study to make sure that the financial planning for the Project is sufficiently sound that there is little risk that the Project can not be built successfully. This review is required before the City Council can grant final approval to the Project.
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES MONORAIL AGREEMENT (July 6, 2004)
Today the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a Transitway Agreement between the City and the Seattle Monorail Project (SMP). The agreement permits the SMP to use city streets and property for construction of the Green Line monorail, and the SMP agrees to a number of restrictions and conditions.
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES GREEN LINE ALIGNMENT (June 14, 2004)
In an 8-1 vote the Seattle City Council adopted plans for the alignment of the Green Line — essentially agreeing on the exact location of the monorail guideway through the city.
The next step in the process is a “Transit Way Agreement” (TWA) that would define the conditions under which the monorail can use city streets and other city property. It is expected that a vote on the TWA will come in a few weeks.
SMP FINALIZES GREEN LINE ROUTE (March 29, 2004)
The Seattle Monorail Project has made a final decision on the route of the Green Line. The next step in the process is discussion and approval by the Seattle City Council.
Many more details of Green Line progress are available from The Seattle Monorail Project web site.
