Herein lies the proof that the Council's decision to put the Viaduct replacement to a public advisory vote was ill-considered:
House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, called the ballot measures approved by the city "a meaningless advisory vote."
House Democrats, he said, are moving forward with replacing the viaduct with an elevated highway. That will hold true, Chopp said, even if Seattle voters support the mayor's new, trimmed-down tunnel proposal.
"We stand by our position," said Chopp, a longtime tunnel opponent.
Given Speaker Chopp's position, the Council should have skipped the charade of a public advisory vote and stuck to its guns by telling the state that the City does not want a rebuild, period. And then left it at that.
Our fear is that the tunnel proponents, by clinging to the fantasy of a tunnel no matter what its political prospects, probably have failed to do the most important thing at this moment: resolutely fought to kill the rebuild.
UPDATE: The Strange Bedfellows P-I blog has more from Speaker Chopp:
"This is not a meaningful ballot," Chopp said Monday. "These are false choices being presented to the voters."
Like Gregoire, Chopp said he had concerns about the capacity, safety and financial feasibility of the hybrid tunnel plan and blames the city for that.
"The city has had plenty of time," Chopp said.
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