The council has been contemplating either gutting the initiative or overturning it outright. The ETC would have 24 months to draft the proposal, and then the plan would automatically be submitted to the voters to approve or reject. Stockmeyer has lived in Seattle since 1992, and went doorbelling for the light rail plan in 1996. Sherwin has lived on North Capitol Hill all his life, and has been active in Seattle politics for two decades. In '96, I was out ringing doorbells for the light rail proposal, but I can see now that it won't work.
Light rail brings all the expense of building a commuter rail system, but none of the advantages.
It's in traffic, at street grade, and can't go at high speeds, or have eight-car trains. Tom Carr, who heads the Elevated Transportation Company, says he supports the new monorail initiative out of desperation. In a way, a new initiative is a step back. But it may be the only way to convince the city council that voters were serious about the monorail in the first place. The ETC's job is to get this system built, and the original monorail initiative required the ETC to seek out private funding first.