On Sept. 6, just in time for rush-hour, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was closed south-bound. Commutes that should have been 20 minutes stretched past two hours as downtown became gridlocked.

Following the earthquake, when the Viaduct was closed in both directions, it was even worse, with commutes out of West Seattle sometimes spanning three hours. Now imagine this happening every day!

(Mayor Greg) Nickels says the Viaduct may not be replaced? Well, then he had better expect the value of his home, as well as those of all West Seattle residents to fall to zero, as a mass departure takes place. He had also be ready for ambulances from Harborview to be unable to reach us over here, for us to lose all our port business to the Port of Tacoma, since traffic will be so bad that trucking goods out of port will be almost impossible, and for businesses downtown to go belly-up since no one will want to fight the horrible traffic to shop downtown.

But will we be safe during a major earthquake? If you think so, just take a moment to ponder how old the seawall is (goodbye stadiums, waterfront businesses, and millions in roads!).

But hey, at least the rich folks downtown will have a nice view. That's what's important, right?

Get it together Seattle!

Erin Wenzel

Alki