By Gwen Davis

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce held their luncheon Thursday morning, featuring Sound Transit’s plan for West Seattle.

The event featured a panel discussion on what their current stage of the plan, ST3 (Sound Transit 3) means to West Seattle. The panel was put together by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee, hosting experts on the subject material. King County Executive, Dow Constantine was the most notable panelist.

The goal of the luncheon was for participants to walk away with more knowledge about what the proposed ST3 package will mean to the West Seattle peninsula.

The luncheon took place at The Kenney.

Constantine then addressed the audience.

As chair of the Sound Transit board of directors, Constantine said he’s happy to be at the luncheon addressing the participants, many of whom he said he knows.

“Light Rail is coming to West Seattle,” he said. Back in the day, when Light Rail was first starting, Constantine said he was very adamant at reaching West Seattle. It was approved in 2008.

“We have communities that desperately need access to public transit,” he said. He talked about slides presented to the audience, which displayed facts about the Sound Transit district.

“The 13-mile Link Light Rail service between SeaTac and University of Washington opened seven years ago,” he said. “It provided 25 million rides in 2013… It has now doubled.”

42 million riders will be served this upcoming year.

By 2021, the Light Rail will extend to Northgate. Shoreline, Mount Lake Terrace, Bellevue, Federal Way will all be served within the next couple decades.

“Last year we added 100 new cars to the road every single day, that’s why we have these problems,” he said. “We need a system that is a million people larger than we are today.”

Why ST3, he asked? “Because this is what works,” he said. “We don’t have an alternative for transporting that number of people. The fact of the matter is, this is a built-out region. We will continue to try to optimize the system we have, but we are not going to had another I-5. There’s not enough land for it.”

The Light Rail adds jobs, he said. It also stops people from wasting their time and wasting their money.

“If you live in Everett but work in Seattle, you spend four hours every week, in addition to the time it should take you, sitting in traffic,” he said. Those are tremendous hours that riders will never get back.

Ultimately, Seattleites will be able to get anywhere they want in a timely fashion.

“We have to have a high-capacity transit to succeed economically in the future,” he said.

A freeway lane can carry 2,000 people per hour. The Light Rail can carry 16,000 people per hour.

The executive then went though a timeline of when the Light Rail will open in neighborhoods all over the greater Seattle area.

Light Rail will reach West Seattle by 2030. It might be sooner, depending on various factors.

In 2035, Ballard, South Lake Union and other neighborhoods will have access to the Light Rail.

The timeline ends at 2041, where the Light Rail will reach South Kirkland, Richards Rd., Eastgate and Issaquah.

The executive then went into the particulars about where in West Seattle the Light Rail will reach.

To view the entire timeline and specifications, visit soundtransit.org.

“It might be a surprise to you, but building things cost money,” he said. The audience chuckled. “The ST3 plan will be paid for by taxes, grants, bonds and fares.” Property tax, vehicle tax and sales tax were the taxes that were authorized by the legislature.

One participant asked why this will take so long. “This takes money,” Constantine said. “You need that to hire the contractors.” Also, it takes time to carry out the things necessary to begin building.

What risks does this plan have, one participant asked?

“The greatest risk is doing nothing,” he said. Constantine also said that SoundTransit has a record of delivering quality products on-time.

The rest of the luncheon:

Lynn B. Dennis, chief executive officer of the Chamber, gave a wrap-up of previous recent Chamber activities. She also acknowledged the gold and the platinum members of the Chamber. They included the YMCA, BendnMove, Comcast Business Class, Dog City Daycare, Food Lifeline, Homestreet Bank, the Port of Seattle, South Seattle College, The Kenney, West Seattle Health Club and the VCA West Seattle Veterinary Hospital.

A representative from the Veterinary Hospital had the opportunity to speak. “We are a full-service veterinary hospital,” she said. They treat sick pets and also offer preventative care services. “A pet on a wellness plan will live 25 to 30 percent longer than a pet without that,” she said. The vet doesn’t just treat pets, but educate owners, so they don’t have to rely on “Dr. Google”, she said.

The chair of the Commerce's board of directors, Elizabeth Pluhta spoke about how she works at South Seattle College. She said that learning about Sound Transit’s plans will be very helpful to students.