Reconnect downtown and waterfront

The March 13 Advisory Ballot is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tear down a 50-year-old wall, reconnect downtown with its waterfront, and show the next generation that we had the courage and foresight to make smart decisions about Seattle's future.

In order to that, our votes must be clear and united: NO on a louder, uglier and noisier elevated viaduct.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, the proposed elevated viaduct will be taller, up to 50 percent wider, have greater environmental impact, and worst of all, will permanently separate Seattle from its waterfront.

A new elevated structure would hurt our communities. Seattle has been walled off from its central waterfront for three generations, and it's a mistake we cannot afford to repeat. The waterfront should be open to both cars and people. We must also protect open spaces while encouraging development and housing in our urban centers. If we remove the viaduct, downtown will become a more exciting place to live and work, while also reducing the need to develop rural lands.

A new elevated structure would hurt our environment. Plans for the new elevated structure show that in many places, the proposed viaduct would be less than 20 feet from the shore with disastrous implications for runoff and water pollution. We should not undermine the cleanup of Puget Sound.

A new elevated structure would hurt our businesses. There is no other world-class city in the world building elevated structures along their waterfronts, and neither should we. Opening the waterfront carries significant benefits for local and regional businesses that also carry new revenue sources for the city.

Faced with a similar choice 50 years ago, state and city leaders elected to build an elevated structure. The downtown waterfront was dirty and dangerous, and it may have made sense to wall the city away from it. However, times have changed and the face of Seattle has too.

As the success of the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park has shown us, open spaces downtown are good for residents, good for visitors, and good for Seattle. We should not cut ourselves off from the opportunity of expanding green spaces downtown.

The March 13 ballot gives us two choices. One is for an ugly, ill-conceived, and potentially damaging elevated structure that we will immediately regret. The other is for a safe, four-lane tunnel that will open up the waterfront while still moving cars at their present capacity.

We must replace the viaduct as soon as possible. But that does not mean we should force a decision without considering all of our options. While we recognize that this issue has become divisive, we must not make a hasty decision. If we rebuild the elevated structure we lose priceless open space, the opportunity to improve the environment of Elliott Bay and Puget Sound, and the economic benefits of a world-class waterfront.

Removing the viaduct and returning the City's waterfront to the public is the greatest gift we can give to future generations. We will not get another chance to make this choice.

Ballots have already arrived in your mailbox. We ask that when you make your decision, please consider that there are alternative ways to handle our transportation needs without building a bigger, uglier and noisier viaduct on our waterfront.

Please vote to reconnect downtown with its waterfront. Please vote NO to another elevated viaduct.

Jeanne Kohl-Welles

Washington State Senate

Jan Drago

Seattle City Council