By Lindsay Peyton

Bill Hirt does not plan to win the election on Tuesday, Nov. 7. 

He is honest and open about why he is actually running for the office of King County Executive against Dow Constantine. 

He simply wants to draw attention to his fight against light rail. 

“It’s just another step in more than nine years of trying to stop East Link,” he said.

The battle began in 2008 – when Hirt said he came to realization that Sound Transit’s claims about the eastside extension of the light rail were, in his words, “sheer fantasy.”

“I soon recognized that Sound Transit’s decision to route light rail though the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel prevented light rail in Seattle from ever having the capacity needed to reduce congestion,” he said. 

According to Hirt, the route limited capacity to 8,880 riders per hour. 

“Whatever riders the extensions attract along I-5 will reduce current transit ridership,” he said. “Their increased operating cost with no increase in capacity is a recipe for a financial black hole from fare-box revenue shortfall.”

Hirt has run for public office six times – all to raise awareness of his stance on the issue. 

He said this and past candidacies were his “attempts to use the Voters’ Pamphlet to attract attention to my concerns.” 

“They’re my way to make a difference by alerting the area about what to expect and that it didn’t have to happen,” Hirt said. 

He admitted that it’s unlikely that he will be able to prevent the East Link – since the project is moving forward and he does not believe that he’ll win the election. 

Hirt said the King County Executive has power to stop this development. He wants to expose incompetence in the plan – and offer his suggestions about what could be done to reduce congestion. 

Hirt keeps his blog http://stopeastlinknow.blogspot.com well-stocked with articles about the issue. 

He said his last elected position was senior class president in 1957 in Armstrong, Iowa. He received his master’s degree in engineering at Iowa State University and then worked for Boeing for 36 years. 

Hirt and his wife moved to their current home in Bellevue in 1967, where they raised two daughters.

After retiring in 1998, Hirt and his wife traveled throughout Europe and the U.S.  

He enjoys playing bridge and golf, spending time with his grandchildren – and encouraging east side residents to call their legislators. 

For more information about East Link, visit www.soundtransit.org/eastlink.