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Bellevue City Hall/SRG Partnership
2007 Honor Award: Commendation
Design Perspective: Seattle Monorail
Urban Design Committee/Subcommittee on the Monorail
On the Seattle ballot November 5, 2002
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DESIGN PERSPECTIVE ON PUBLIC ISSUES
Reviewed by the AIA Seattle Board of Directors 10/16/02
On November 5, 2002, Seattle voters have the opportunity to approve a plan ("Proposed Seattle Monorail Authority, Seattle Citizen Petition No. 1") to proceed with financing, design, and implementation of the "ETC Popular Monorail Plan." The measure before the voters stems from 2000 passage of Initiative 53, which established and authorized a body (Elevated Transportation Company, a Seattle Public Development Authority) to develop the plan now before the Seattle electorate.
Among some 2,000 design professionals associated with AIA Seattle, living and working in 6 counties within the Puget Sound region, many have had direct experience planning and designing transportation-related projects, and many others have followed transportation planning issues with professional and private concern. Many well-informed and community-conscious architects have actively involved themselves in transportation planning processes relevant to statewide Initiative 51 (endorsed by AIA Washington Council) as well as the Seattle Monorail issue in its successive phases — and in ongoing and recent debate about the proposed plan. AIA Seattle encourages and acknowledges the thoughtful, articulate, passionate, and often highly visible involvement of its Members in public affairs. The Board of Directors applauds design professionals' demonstrated commitment to expressing their special knowledge, expertise and beliefs in community activitism -- regardless of which position individuals may choose to advocate, across a spectrum of viewpoints on this and other issues.
In part because of the differences of opinion on the current measure among the AIA Seattle membership and the design and building community, the AIA Seattle Board of Directors determined it inappropriate to adopt a position either for or against the current measure. The architects and design professionals of AIA Seattle wish to support a well-considered and fiscally responsible public transportation plan for Seattle and the surrounding region, and to participate in the design and implementation of an effective system.
Regardless of the outcome of this election, the architects and design professionals of our communities will help to solve the resulting design challenges. We stand ready to assist and advise our neighbors and officials in the achievement of effective solutions to regional transportation issues, and to achieving the best urban and project design possible in the implementation of plans for the future of our urban region. We invite our fellow citizens to ASK AN ARCHITECT to help envision the form and effect of development alternatives in their neighborhoods, including impacts of the proposed Monorail.
Additional information:
* Elevated Transportation Company/ETC
* Citizens Against the Monorail
* Rise Above It All
Commentary:
• By accepted standards of good urban design, "planning by initiative" has significant drawbacks as a tool for achieving the best results for the good of the community. Although the ETC effectively carried out its charge, questions remain whether an urban monorail offers a solution that serves Seattle residents and visitors, and also advances regional growth management objectives. Will its benefits justify its costs — including "opportunity costs" of committing to an investment in advance of a regional plan for transportation improvements? With so many other major transportation problems in Seattle (and the Puget Sound Region), does the monorail proposal offer the best way to spend $2 billion? The limited range of ETC's scope did not include an in-depth comparison to other modes of mass transit, a study which would provide an important context to help guide the current choice.
• The absence of an effective regional transportation plan does not validate the choice of piecemeal solutions. The serial failure over several decades to achieve regional planning has regrettably brought frustration to citizens, planners, and elected leaders in communities throughout the Puget Sound region. ETC's study lacks specificity as to how it may meld with current and future regional transportation solutions. However, localized "solutions" will only add to the difficulty of creating a regional transportation plan, as non-integrated systems will add costs over the long term. Commitments to the Seattle monorail will cloud the picture for future transportation funding proposals, by adding yet another mode with its own appetite of political, capital and operating costs — overall, a situation likely to further confuse the electorate and create "voter sticker shock."
• As proponents emphasize, the proposal before the electorate does not present a design but only the context in which design might proceed, if the current initiative passes. If and when design of a monorail (or any transportation solution) proceeds, success will depend upon establishing clear accountability for meeting identified urban design goals. In this matter, we must learn the lesson provided by our experience with Sound Transit, in which, in effect, we asked a "start-up agency" to deliver a mega-project, in an unrealistic time frame. Again, ETC's limited scope leaves many if not most urban design questions unanswered, hindering ability to make an informed opinion of the monorail's impact in downtown and other residential and commercial neighborhoods.
Further, any design process, including a design/build process, applied to this or any urban or regional transportation solution, must adhere to standard design review procedures. The Seattle Design Commission and the Seattle Planning Commission, both including a component of design professional volunteers, have a strong track record in helping deliver effective projects for our citizens.
Background and Process
The AIA Seattle Urban Design Committee hosted two "Special Sessions on the Monorail," on September 17 and 30. John Feit AIA, along with Urban Design Committee CoChairs Peter Hockaday FAIA and Roger Wagoner AIA and 2001-02 President Steven N. Arai AIA, arranged and conducted the sessions. At both, roomfuls of attendees heard presentations and rebuttals by "pro" and "con" advocates, represented by ETC, Rise Above It All, and Citizens Against the Monorail as well as other non-affiliated individuals from the design and building community who have taken an active interest in the matter. Participants in these sessions also presented their views in editorials, including these:
* "Monorail will integrate well with citscape," by Donald I. King FAIA & Kristina Hill (Seattle P-I 9/20)
* "Massive structures degrade the city," by Jeffrey Karl Ochsner FAIA (Seattle Times 9/20)
