A man leaned on his elbows at the Seattle Monorail Project board of directors' conference table and urged the board members to divide the Green Line into two $800 million halves which would cut interest payments significantly.

First build the monorail from Seattle Center to West Seattle, the man suggested. That section could be producing fare revenue while the rest of the guideway and stations are built from Seattle Center to Ballard.

At its meeting last week, the monorail board of directors invited members of the public to suggest what to do about the monorail project, which hit a political rockslide a few weeks ago when it came out that the $1.5 billion project was really going to cost $11 billion and take a half-century to pay off.

People offered all kinds of advice.

A West Seattle man pointed out that the monorail line will run "side by side" with the Sound Transit light-rail line "from Westlake to Lander Street."

For now at least, leave downtown to light rail, he suggested. Focus on building the monorail in two sections, one from Lander Street to West Seattle, and the other from Seattle Center to Ballard. The downtown portion of the monorail could be built later, he said.

Some people called for an end to the monorail project.

One man proclaimed the 14-mile system dead. He then played recordings from 2002 of Tom Weeks, former chairman of the monorail board, guaranteeing to either build all 14 miles and 19 stations of the Green Line or build nothing at all.

Another told the board there are two options: either put the monorail up for a fifth approving vote or disband the project now. He implied lawsuits could be filed to force dissolution of the project if the board doesn't pull the plug.

Revenue from the car-tab tax increased 5.5 percent in June, said Jonathan Buchter, the Monorail Project's director of finance. That followed a 4.9 percent increase in May and a 6.1 percent gain in April.

However the number of new cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles sold in Seattle dropped 7.4 percent, indicating people are buying more used cars, Buchter said. Currently the average depreciated value of a car in the city is $9,300.

Many people urged the board to seek sources of revenue beyond the car-tab tax.

One man recommended the city charge an annual $1 fee on all employee parking spaces in Seattle to help pay for the monorail. Add $1 to the fees charged in the city's pay parking lots to collect some revenue from nonresidents.

Someone else suggested the monorail charge an extra $1 when monorail passengers get on or off the station nearest to Safeco and Qwest fields.

He also advised the Monorail Project to sell copies of its poster to make money.

"I'd pay $20 for a monorail poster," he told the board of directors.

Perhaps the city of Seattle could collect a new parking fee on behalf of the monorail, a woman suggested.

The Fluor Corp., which is a big part of Cascadia Monorail Co., is a Fortune 500 company which took in $9.4 billion in revenue last year. A few people suggested approaching the corporation to see if it would be willing to negotiate an agreement to reduce costs.

There were suggestions that Team Monorail be brought back into the bidding process. Team Monorail was a competing consortium of private companies that had been preparing to submit a bid on the Green Line but withdrew without entering a bid.

Marth Christiansen urged the board of directors to look closely at the current monorail plan.

"There's something there that Team Monorail choked on," he said. "You need to figure out what that is."

One man told the Monorail Board it committed a public-relations blunder by offering "too much candor" about the cost of the project.

But another man advised them to be more open about the project.

"The public can handle the truth," he told the board.

One man at the meeting suggested eliminating the stations at either end of the Green Line.

The Monorail Project could establish a "local improvement district," where businesses and residents near the monorail would pay a fee as the beneficiaries of being near the Green Line.

How about setting up "transportation districts," where businesses would pay a specified amount per square foot of commercial space, another person offered.

Earlier during the meeting, the board voted to lay off 20 of the Monorail Project's 67 employees and nine of its 19 full-time consultants.

Acting executive director Tom Horkan said the reduction-in-force was a cost-cutting measure.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.