The transportation problems that the No! 695 bunch are wailing about are BOGUS! The truth is that urban planners and SmartGrowth types intentionally CREATE congestion. Randy O'Toole if the Thoreau Institute (TI) in Oregon is an environmentalist, forestry consultant, and the founder of TI, who says that traffic congestion is being created by SmartGrowth. You can find his papers, writings, etc. at www.TI.org. Thoreau's website contains a wealth of material; check it out!

Rachel Hawkridge, Candidate Kirkland City Council, Pos. 6 www.members.tripod.com/HawkCamp

-- Rachel H (RaeHawkrij@alt.net), September 24, 1999

Answers

Rachel- This is hardly news. See the thread: Metro King County Congestion: It's by design.

Or just go to the MetroKC smartgrowth site and see the plans and the benchmark indicators they follow. One openly laments the fact that congestion is not yet bad enough to force people to relocate. See below:

Key Observations Indicator #41 Percent of residents who commute one-way within 30 minutes.  About 79% of Puget Sound commuters travel less than thirty minutes to or from work.  Because commute times have not yet reached extremes, residential location will not be greatly affected by transportation conditions. Indicator #42 Transit trips per person.  Transit ridership has fluctuated over the last ten years, with per capita ridership reaching a high in 1989, and a low in 1994. It increased again from 1994 to 1997, but leveled off in 1998.  Transit ridership for 1998 was 48.2 trips per person.

http://www.metrokc.gov/exec/orpp/agr/agr99/ch2-99.pdf

Welcome to the party!

The Craigster

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), September 24, 1999.