Letters to the editor

Destination unknown

Behind the wheel: People who ramble without any reckoning

Editor, The Times:

No wonder Seattle has recently earned the dubious title of having "the worst transportation planning in North America." This month, the monorail imploded from inadequate financial resources, the same factor that led Sound Transit to bait-and-switch us into a 14-mile light-rail line to nowhere. Now Sound Transit wants to jettison a station in First Hill, one of Seattle's most dense employment hubs, in its plan to go north from downtown ["Board cuts First Hill rail station," Times, Local News, July 29].

The county's growth-management policies have long called for urban centers to be linked together with high-capacity transit. First Hill is one such urban center.

The heart of the problem lies with who's making decisions that leave the public with the short end of the stick. Who is that? Well, the same folks who wrote those growth-management policies. In other words, we have the same people who wrote the law now trying to avoid the law. My, my... isn't that just like Seattle? That's why I left.

— Thomas Heller, Columbus, Ind.

Locked out on the tracks

As an ardent monorail supporter, I implore the agency to reopen the bidding process to Team Monorail ["Officials consider phased-in monorail," Local News, July 20]. As I understand it, the main reason it dropped out of the process was the joint-and-several-liability requirement, which was later dropped for the remaining single bidder, Cascadia.

Thus it is highly unfair for Team Monorail not to be invited back into the process now that significant issues have arisen with Cascadia's proposal.

I have heard compelling arguments that suggest Team Monorail may have a more-affordable proposal, and anyway, a little competition between bidders can only help shake out the truth. I and the majority of Seattleites who support the monorail project will not accept the project being scuttled after only one bid is considered.

— Bob Gale, Seattle

Wrong side of the supply

We just returned from England and traveled the highways southeast of and within London. The price of gasoline was averaging .89 pence per liter, which is about the same as when we did a similar trip in 2004.

So how come the U.S. gas price has gone up more than double the price when other countries have not?

To confuse readers further, the .89/pence/per liter works out when an English pound costs $1.72 in U.S. dollars, and a liter is 0.2642 of a gallon, making a U.S. gallon of gas costing $5.79 in England, last year and this year.

— Kenneth Cottingham, Cottingham Transportation Engineering, Seattle

On the beach

Swim with eyes open

I enjoyed "How clean is your beach?" [Local News, July 24]. However, your comparison of Puget Sound beach closures with those of Southern California is not fair.

In 1998, California passed a bill that set standards for single-sample and a 30-day average for the concentration of total coliforms, fecal coliforms and enterococcus. If any one of these standards is exceeded, then the beach must be posted with a warning; it is up to the bather to decide the risk of going in the water.

Generally, only during a sewage spill are the beaches closed. During 2004, there were 15 spills between Point Conception and the Mexico border.

In Washington, the only indicator of marine pollution is enterococcus. Both Washington and California require testing beaches at least once a week. However, many popular Southern California beaches are sampled more frequently, increasing the chance of measuring high concentrations.

Southern California beaches are sampled at a higher spatial density and specifically focus on hot spots, such as near storm drains.

A more thorough investigation is required to determine which beaches are the cleanest.

— Steven Colbert, Seattle

More grains of truth

According to studies cited in the Clean Beaches Council report, "2005 State of the Beach: Bacteria and Sand," indicator bacteria survive in beach sand longer than they do in water. Thus, contaminated sand may be the source of indicator bacteria that routinely force unexplained beach closings.

The report finds that beach waters may get contaminated as they lap across shores rich with sand bacteria. While researchers do not fully understand all the routes of sand contamination, there is solid evidence that people are a culprit. Scientists have confirmed a link between fecal contamination from birds and animals exposed to unattended human food and food waste.

Beachgoers should be encouraged to adopt a "leave no trace" ethic when visiting the beach as well as to wash children off after playing in the sand.

— Walter McLeod, president, Clean Beaches Council, Washington, D.C.

Dyed-in-the-wool fan

Socks will never finish

Knitting night at Safeco Field? ["M's hit one out of park with a night for knitters," page one, July 29.] Thanks. I am now embarrassed to be a Mariner fan.

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago in 1995, fans stood and cheered every time an M's pitcher had two strikes on a hitter. It was a great time to be a Mariner fan and the Kingdome rocked every game with the "Refuse to Lose" M's.

Now 10 years later, fans are sitting in their chairs knitting.

What's next at Safeco? How about Mariner Nap Night? They can give out Mariner eye-shades and pillows and everyone can sleep through the game.

Or bring out Oprah and we can have Read-A-Book Night. I can even suggest the first title: "Baseball For Dummies."

— Dave Butner, Bothell