WABN Op-Ed: The Short Answer Is NO

THE MEETING – 10 APRIL, 2014 – WABN Construction Update

Some people had a meeting just the other night,

at the Queen City Yacht Club with a WSDOT invite.

WSDOT’s people paid a visit, their panel fronted the room

to inform us about WABN which would be happening soon.

A mayor’s office representative sat far in the back

and waved when introduced but never said jack.

People from distant neighborhoods were plentiful there

and a man from Roanoke was the meeting’s acting chair.

The chairman was polite with well-prepared questions

all carefully worded to avoid any hint of contention.

The chair’s polite questions were vaguely answered by WSDOT

and those ambiguous answers caused the audience to get hot.

Many folks were just there because they were curious

while a few of our neighbors almost sounded furious.

When the time came to give the audience their turn,

the hands flew in the air – they were starting to burn!

THE DISCUSSION

The first public comment came from Madison Park.

A man stood and said this WSDOT plan is too stark.

He had tried working that plan for now seventeen years;

seems this WSDOT fiasco had nearly brought him to tears.

Then the audience helped him out with loud applause and cheers!

Though most of the speakers were cool and polite,

the audience mood was hardly contrite.

Both S DOT and WS DOT did their own traffic studies

but, our analysis has shown their results are too muddy.

So intentionally focused at just the traffic ‘on-shore’,

they’ve ignored the real reasons that the neighbors deplore,

reasons that keep the neighbors from getting to the store.

Then a man from Montlake stood and pointed out the fatal flaws

in WSDOT’s traffic study, to more loud audience applause.

That study’s missed out the Arboretum’s five thousand cars;

WSDOT didn’t answer  – perhaps the cars are on Mars.

Next a lady from Laurelhurst complained about the long time

driving from her home neighborhood waiting in traffic lines,

all the way through Montlake full of traffic lights and stop signs,

she said her trip downtown in minutes takes about forty-nine.

A second man from Montlake stood up, then he rambled,

though his thoughts were pertinent they were a bit scrambled.

When the chair finally asked is there a question in there,

man two paused – but before sitting back in his chair –

he held up the evening handout, WSDOT’s March newsletter,

and asked ‘Why is this intentionally misleading information in there’?

What was in that newsletter that excited the man so?

It was this one simple question to be answered yes or no:

Will there be traffic impacts when WABN lets go?

And to their own question, WSDOT’s short answer was no.

More audience applause then helped Montlake man two to his chair.

THE REAL PROBLEM

University Village keeps adding more and more parking,

and at the car-intense U dub only the huskies are barking.

As for the drawbridge that flies open for just one solitary boat,

stopping hundreds of cars from crossing our own Montlake moat,

fixing that outdated maritime law is our neighbor’s big hope.

It’s a big Montlake deal to which all our politicians say nope.

THE ENDING

WS DOT responded weakly to most questions from the audience,

as though they would have preferred to just sit there in silence.

When their talking points got repetitive people started looking bored

and before too much longer we all headed for the door

So, did the neighborhood appreciate WSDOT’s evening PR show?

If I could speak for the neighbors, I’d say the short answer was NO!

By: ArtArchitect