Belltown Messenger

In case you've missed it, the Puget Sound is turning red. Waves of red ink are lapping our shores. From the Seattle Monorail project to the Seattle Public Schools and even to the Seattle SuperSonics! It almost seems that any group or agency with Seattle in its' title is doomed. Why does all of this seem to happen to us in this city? Or more importantly how can we get out of some of these jams?

I am a monorail supporter. I really really really like the idea of the monorail. I've ridden other monorails and I've liked all of them, from Vancouver to Disneyland. But the decisions the monorail board have made thus far are making me really really really nervous about the future of the project. First they only have one bidder for the project, which seems to fly in the face of common sense. Then it was revealed that the project's initial bid was $200 million dollars above what they promised. Now the board is trying to persuade the legislature to allow them to issue 40 year bonds as opposed to the normal 20 to 30 year bonds, doing this will balloon the final cost. All of this has made me very nervous about their ability to get this project built. But this doesn't mean that we shouldn't go ahead, but it does mean the Monorail Board will have to be really really really vigilant in protecting us from a WPPSS style fleecing. I sure hope they can get it done.

The Seattle School District is also going through a major finical crisis. Which is more dangerous for the city. After all if the monorail isn't built, that would be a stupid waste of money, but it wouldn't ruin Seattle's future, the same can't be said for the schools. One proposal that has been bounced around is to let the City take over the management of the schools. My question is how would that make the situation any better? Let the city do city business and let the schools sort out their problems. I doubt the City has the expertise or resources to fix the problems in the schools anyway. The main problem is demographic, the number of school aged children in the city is declining while expenses rise. If the city wants to help the schools, they need to work on policies that make the city more attractive for families.

Even my beloved Seattle Sonics are apparently losing money hand over fist. Some of the rumors I keep hearing are that some are pushing for a new sports arena for the Supes or an extension of the stadium tax to renovate Key Arena. That is not going to happen period. I think we've learned our lesson in this city about sports stadiums and how they sap resources from other areas. The Sonics have lost money lately, but I'll predict that if they continue to win, then that tide of red ink will wash away. People spend money to see sports teams if they win, not because of the stadium.

Basically our budget problem boils down to this: priorities. This city, hell this country, has been spending ourselves into ruin. We have three options. Either we raise taxes, limit spending, or some combination of the two. That's it. That is all we can do. So we have to look at where we are spending our money in this city. New opera halls and spiffy sports venues are nice, but is that what we should be spending our limited resources on? Aren't schools and transit more important? Is that too strange a concept?