I love getting emails like this one from Denis Agar:
I’m taking a Sustainable Transportation Master’s program at the University of Washington, to supplement my Planning undergrad and so far it’s fantastic.
Last week, in a lecture, our professor Alon Bassok linked to a Youtube video from the late 1960s titled “Which way to 1985?” It’s a 28-minute ad for a referendum on the very first rapid transit lines in Seattle. It gives airtime to both sides of the debate, but the message of the video is unmistakeably “Vote yes”.
This referendum failed, and the $900 million in federal funds earmarked for this project went to Atlanta instead. One can only imagine what Seattle would be like today had it built rapid transit 30+ years ago instead of just 5 years ago.
There are too many gems to mention, but here are some highlights:
- A vision-less planner from Redmond describing his city as residential (now known worldwide as Microsoft HQ)
- The square-headed military-like leader of the opposition
- The professors from UW that are decidedly against rapid transit expansion
- The No side holding up Vancouver as a city that has successfully developed without rapid transit, by keeping a healthy residential population in the downtown core.
- The yes side’s response claiming that mixing uses isn’t important, that Vancouver “is congested to the hilt”, and that they need rapid transit desperately! (starts at minute 2:30ish of Part 2)
Part 1:
Part 2:
It’s a long watch, but I think you’ll get a kick out of it!
.
Without question, the Forward Thrust referendum was a major turning point for Seattle – and a tragic one at that. At Denis says: “One can only imagine what Seattle would be like today had it built rapid transit 30+ years ago instead of just 5 years ago.”
Well, for one thing: it would be richer. The billions it will have to pour into developing a serviceable rapid transit system for the region will be many times more than what it could have had for a fraction of that. But more importantly, it would be a city less car-dependent and more truly regional.
Seattle will be stunned if Vancouver votes against the referendum.
