American Dream

Cost overruns have led to the resignations of the Seattle Monorail Project executive director and board chair on July 4. Monorail proponents continue to say that the line, whose total cost including interest is fast approaching a billion dollars a mile, must be built no matter what the cost. But opponents hope that shaky finances will lead to the abandonment of the project.

The project's board presented a financial plan that called for repayment of bonds over as much as seventy years. This would bring total repayment costs to as much as $11 billion. This plan caused such controversy that the monorail seemed to be in jeopardy, so the projects leaders decided to resign in hopes that this would deflect the debate. The remaining members of the board are now considering asking the voters for more taxes.

However, Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly argues that it is "time to pull the plug on the monorail." He says that even liberal voters are becoming resistant to new taxes and resentful of the "tax-and-spend crowd." But Seattle voted for the monorail even after their light-rail plan experienced huge cost overruns. Will they ever learn their lesson?