SB 5803 isn't a recipe for progress

One of our occasional contributors, Richard Borkowski, had a letter published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today responding to Joel Connelly's recent column endorsing a bill that would rewire transportation governance in Puget Sound:

Joel Connelly's column about the necessity for yet another Olympia-created transportation agency seems to be a bit out of touch with reality. Like state Sen. Ed Murray and Attorney General Rob McKenna, Connelly has a continuing grudge match with Sound Transit that is completely out of sync with the residents of the region.

The assumption made by cell-phone executive John Stanton is that voters in Puget Sound are too simple-minded to know who is in charge of transportation. Doing transportation in a multi-county region is a lot different from being at the head of a cell-phone company. There isn't one person in charge and there never will be. Isn't there a spare transportation expert who could have been consulted to advise how to make changes to our transportation agencies?

The only train wreck that will be created is if Olympia puts another transportation agency on the tracks before the November election. One of the strongest recommendations that representatives from Vancouver, B.C., and San Diego made was to aggressively engage the public. Unfortunately, Connelly thinks of that as propaganda.

Most people would call it transparent government. It's largely why agencies such as Tranlink and Sound Transit enjoy high public ratings. Namely, they realize that they serve the public, not the other way around.

Richard Borkowski
Seattle

While we appreciate Joel's perspective and agree with him on a wide range of issues, we don't share his enthusiasm for this bill. A forced reorganization is not going to improve regional transportation planning - it's going to disrupt it. Many proponents of this governance plan say we can't afford to wait. But a shakeup like this is a recipe for more problems, delays, and setbacks.

Senator Ed Murray and others are correct in pointing out that an increase in integration and coordination would result in more action and less process. But the legislation they've come up with is a step in the wrong direction.