Afternoon Jolt: McGinn and Rasmussen Will Debate at Cola Tunnel Forum

Score! Well done. Esp. getting Ed Murray. This is lovely news.

Awesome getting proponents and opponents together. But for moderation, if you’re going to have Erica, then you really should nab a pro-tunnel person, as well, the whole keeping it fair and the like.

Too funny.

This is great. Good work.

What is a tunnel “skeptic”?

Are these people actually against the tunnel, or are they going to listen and then at the end say “oooh, I see…of course we need a tunnel!”

How about some pro- Surface Street people?

And how about some “Do Nothing” advocates (the Bailo Plan: 20 Orange Traffic Cones).

Well this is all messed if I’m agreeing with John Bailo.

How about inviting Campbell, an elevated proponent.
We all know McGinn is giving us the Surface treatment.

It is simply not enough to be against something.

How about rebuild people, retrofit people, do nothing people, light rail only, transit only, etc., too? Because if it’s not the tunnel, it’s not necessarily a surface option.

The rebuild people got 43% of the vote, the retrofit people didn’t support the rebuild, that’s probably 50% of Seattle. That 50% is most definitely *not* invited.

Though when Elizabeth Campbell is the best option, well, uh…I suppose the least the sponsors could do is give some truth in advertising by calling McGinn & Co. “surface supporters.” No one calls Campbell a “tunnel skeptic.” They call her an “elevated supporter.”

Well I remember somebody (maybe Erica) ask McGinn at one of the media availability sessions if he supported a new elevated replacement. He said, point blank, “no”.
No Tunnel
No Elevated
Campaigned on the Surface option…
Yes, I think it would be fair to call McGinn a surface supporter, but not all of the people saying no to the tunnel.
So, an elevated proponent should be on the panel.

(note to self: you have watched too much seattlechannel online, less politics, more booze)

Shouldn’t there be an earthquake-option person?

You’re on the right track, but I’ve tried the “more booze” option and can say it only leads to more Seattle Channel and more PubliCola.

It’s a never-ending cycle that can only be overcome by more trees and trails. Although I haven’t tried that just yet, because a few more comments have surfaced. Give me a minute to respond or ignore.

Letting it fall in an earthquake is cost effective. But we can’t discuss it for fear of setting up a death panel debate, e.g., it will only kill 300 people and as they’re choosing that risk by going on the viaduct, you discount their lives 80% then you add in the saving in time from using most of the $4 billion for transit, now, it gets too macabre.

But yes, we’re so poor now doing nothing will often be the best solution, not to mention the only one we achieve in fact.

If you’re truly worried about earthquakes? Spend part of this $4 billion on neighborhood clinics so after the big one, when you can’t even crawl to I 5 99 through the rubble, and can’t get to harborview, at least someone in your neighborhood has some morhpine, splints, venitlators, a generator for a mash unit, etc.

That will save whole lot more lives than the 300 lost cause they were on or under the viaduct when it came down. EVERYTHING will come down.

Get a list of all doctors and nurses in your neighborhood. MAke sure somehow has it. Set up a manual means of messaging. After the earthquake, have your area leaders survey house to house, open up the morphine at the local aid station you’ve set up, and use the $4 billion to set up aid stations all over town.

I’ll volunteer to be the local morphine station.

We really need to get this set up before the big one, and I want to help in any way I can. We need realistic drills. We need to stockpile.

And we need to test, test, test.

Why in the world would Rasmussen agree to this? Has he not seen O’Brien and McGinn destroy their opponents time and time again in forums like this? Wow, this is going to be a bloodbath.

I want to see Murray do his patented McGinn-Get-A-Grip-Girl routine, myself. Sadly, the effect Publicola’s aiming at here is not to whip up another circus, but to see if close moderation and a more balanced atmosphere can make this a night of light rather than just righteousness and heat.

Nice job, guys! How did you all get Boss Conlin to approve this?

I like this. This has the potential to provide a much fairer forum than the glorified roast/mob the Stranger invited tunnel representatives to attend.

Cool.

RE: still lining up a place…

Any chance that place will be north of Downtown?

Within the Campbell camp from an unimpeachable source I’ve learned that alongside pro-viaduct sentiment there is support for the cut/cover tunnel. It’s a replacement option which retains the Western/Elliott ramps in Lower Belltown, the most important access for managing traffic overall and the loss of which is detrimental to viaduct supporters.

The deep bore tunnel displaces too much traffic through residential Queen Anne and pedestrian-oriented commercial districts along Mercer, Denny Way, Broad Street, Alaskan Way, etc, bringing terrible environmental impacts and public hazards.

Losing the Seneca/Columbia access ramps will improve traffic-clogged 1st Ave and reduce traffic on dangerously steep sidestreets leading to those ramps. Losing the Battery Street Tunnel access to Lower Belltown can be managed, though retaining this access is possible.

Instead of a moderator, how about a three-person panel of either journalists or “civic-minded folks” (say, Muni League, League of Women Voters, Sierra Club) that is split left-center-right or tunnel-elevated-surface?

Or are you looking for something with tighter controls?

reminds me of a similar event held back in…must have been 2005, when Cary Moon and Ed Murray played verbal hardball. I remember him getting all red in the face as Moon rattled off the many reasons why the tunnel (back then it was a cut and cover tunnel) was a shitty idea. It resulted in Mr. Murray hurling several condescending zingers Moon’s way. Very entertaining…this should be good with “foot in mouth” McGinn added to the mix.

Where is the invite to Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel? It’s pretty bad that the people that are solidly against the tunnel – not waffling around with phony “I’m against cost overruns” arguments, and not waffling around with, “I’m against the tunnel but I sit on every committee that supports a tunnel”, the McGinns and Moons of the world, are not invited.

What gives? Only fake anti-tunnel people are allowed?

Clearly an anti-whackadoodle conspiracy must be afoot.

I see, this is a way of poking at their former employer. Well-played.

Strangely, the people calling for the viaduct to be kept open until the day the tunnel opens keep on trying to blame environmentalists for keeping the viaduct open.

I still see hope for Tom Rasmussen to do some good on the city council. The panhandling vote showed he has a conscience. He handled the hearing on the Nickerson St road diet quite well. I just wish he would see the light at the ending of the tunnel.