Editor's Note: This letter was sent to Gov. Christine Gregoire with a copy to this newspaper.
We represent businesses in Seattle that will be most directly affected by any replacement project for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. We understand that current plans call for you to make a decision concerning the viaduct by the end of December and that a sense of urgency surrounds this issue.
Although the Ballard News-Tribune has opposed the tunnel option for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, we strongly believe it is the best choice. We are now down to two options to replace the aging and dangerous Viaduct - a new elevated highway or a cut-and-cover tunnel. Last month the City Council emphatically selected the tunnel option as well as opposed the elevated option. And the governor will announce her decision at the end of this month.
However, the issue is not just about replacing this single transportation infrastructure.
Governor Gregoire's recent trade mission to South Korea and Taiwan should remind us all that economic freedom and personal freedom are inseparable.
Just compare North and South Korea.
North Korea is a grim, closed Communist dictatorship. No private enterprise is allowed and there is no free flow of information. While the government focuses on military spending and nuclear weapons, the nation's industrial sector and infrastructure have been neglected for decades and are virtually beyond repair.
We aren't sure whether we should be laughing or crying at the latest bit of research that tells us that it will cost our economy $2 billion a year while the Alaskan Way Viaduct is closed and being rebuilt or replaced.
That cost will come because people can't get downtown to eat, shop and even to work - at least in an efficient manner.
The study, paid for by businesses and some non-profits, says the cost to the retail core will be about $768 million a year.
Last night at home we had a singularly unsavory experience which on one hand I wish never happened, but on another I'm glad did happen because it was an excellent learning experience for Paige - Alexei being too young to understand or care.
We received a visitor at our front door, who turned out to be representing the Democratic National Party trying to get out the vote next month.
He unsuspectingly went into his monologue, and we kindly listened for a while, but then Sherry interrupted him and said, "Thank you for your time, but we're conservatives."
Well this
Businesses and community groups in Ballard are criticizing Seattle and Washington State Departments of Transportation for failing to adequately evaluate economic risks from what could be as many as 10 years of traffic headaches building an Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement.
Formal letters from the Ballard District Council, Seattle Marine Business Coalition and Ballard Interbay Northend Manufacturing Industrial Center, among others, contend that until such an assessment is completed, political leaders will not be making an informed choice about what replacement scenario for the aging v
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray joined Sound Transit and Port of Seattle officials on Sept. 22 to break ground for a light rail extension directly to Sea-Tac International Airport and major airport roadway improvements.
"Extending light rail service to the airport will give travelers fast and reliable service to and from downtown Seattle," said Murray.
"Sound Transit Link light rail projects are helping connect communities, reduce congestion, increase mobility, and grow our economy.
Calling illegal immigration "rampant," U.S. Rep. Adam Smith told Burien Lions Club members last week the first step toward solving this problem is to get "better control of our borders."
Smith, a Democrat whose 9th Congressional District includes Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac and part of Burien, said he is "not necessarily opposed to a fence" along the United States' border with Mexico.
Ten to 20 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S.
When a legislator gets into trouble with his constituents, he or she may find a problem that some voters are demanding a new law to solve.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction ...
