The Green Line was the first phase of a proposed five-line monorail system to be constructed in Seattle, Washington by the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority, also known as the Seattle Monorail Project. The fourteen-mile line was to run from Ballard to West Seattle via Seattle Center, Belltown, Downtown, Pioneer Square, the International District, and Qwest Field. The KL Monorail in Kuala Lumpur, a colourful straddle-beam monorail Gyroscopically Balanced Monorail (1907) by Brennan and Scherl The term monorail or industrial monorail is also used to describe any number of systems in which a chair or carrier is suspended from, or rides on, an overhead rail structure... Nickname: The Emerald City Location of Seattle in King County and Washington Coordinates: Country United States State Washington County King County Incorporated December 2 1869 Mayor Greg Nickels Area    - City 369. ... Ballard Ballard is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, USA. Incorporated as an independent city in 1890, it was annexed by Seattle in 1907, but has retained much of its old Scandinavian flavor. ... West Seattle West Seattle, a hilly district in Seattle, Washington, USA, encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. ... Seattle Center is a fairground, park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, on the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. ... Belltown Belltown is the most densely populated neighbourhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, located on the citys downtown waterfront. ... Downtown Seattle, from top of Space Needle (looking south) Map of downtown Seattle Downtown is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. ... Pioneer Square Pioneer Square is the neighborhood where Seattle, Washington was founded in 1853. ... The International District of Seattle, Washington (also known as Chinatown) has been called the only place in the continental United States where Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans, Laotian Americans, Cambodian Americans, and other Asian Americans live in one neighborhood. ... Qwest Field is a football stadium in Seattle, Washington. ...

Construction

Construction was expected to begin in autumn 2005 and be completed in 2009. The agency was conducting confidential negotiations with Cascadia Monorail Company to develop the contract to design, build, operate and maintain the line, which under their proposal would use Hitachi trains. Another consortium called Team Monorail had to drop out of the bidding for financial reasons, but lobbied to be re-considered; they said that their proposal, using Bombardier trains, would be less expensive than Cascadia's and provide better services. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2009 (MMIX) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that Hitachi Works be merged into this article or section. ... A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organisations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal. ... Bombardier Inc. ...

Financing

In November 2002 Seattle voters approved the construction of the Green Line and a 1.4% motor vehicle excise tax on vehicles registered in Seattle to help fund it. The tax is based on the MSRP of the vehicle and a fixed depreciation table. In 2005, the average monorail tax per vehicle was $130. City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... The Suggested Retail Price (SRP) of a product is the price the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell it for. ...

The project fell under intense public scrutiny, as actual revenue from the motor vehicle excise tax that was to pay for the line fell as much as 30% under projected income, while projected costs rose by as much as 10%. To accommodate this, the SMP proposed a finance plan that included over $9 billion in interest to pay for the $2 billion construction. This would have required extending the tax out nearly 50 years, causing a small uproar in Seattle-area politics. Even local monorail boosters such as local alternative weekly The Stranger opposed the financing plan. The Stranger is a weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, noted for its social commentary, political opinion, arts, comics and music coverage, and local news items. ...

In response to public criticism regarding the above finance plan, the Seattle Monorail Project's board of directors killed the plan. The Seattle mayor Greg Nickels gave the board an ultimatum, to create a new plan or he would withdraw city support for the project. A new plan was not developed, and on September 16, 2005, Seattle mayor Greg Nickels withdrew city support for the project. On September 23, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to withdraw support for the project, echoing Nickels' position on the issue. City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels Gregory J. Greg Nickels (born August 7, 1955) became the 51st and current mayor of Seattle, Washington on January 1, 2002. ... City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels Gregory J. Greg Nickels (born August 7, 1955) became the 51st and current mayor of Seattle, Washington on January 1, 2002. ... The Seattle City Council, the legislative body of Seattle, Washington, consists of nine members elected at large. ...

End of the Line

While the city of Seattle could not officially stop the project, it could withhold permission to build on municipal land, as Nickels did. Nickels also called on the Seattle Monorail Project to put a measure on the November 2005 ballot to determine whether or not to continue with the project, which marked the fifth time Seattleites voted on this issue.

Following the Council's vote, the Monorail Board met and approved a ballot measure for the elections. The measure shortened the initial phase of the Green Line to 10.6 miles with the remaining 3.4 miles to be added later. The SMP said it would dissolve if the measure failed. "Proposition 1" was defeated by a margin of 65%-35%.

With the defeat of the measure, SMP reduced staff and started work to liquidate the properties purchased for the line. At the end of 2005, SMP only had 4 employees remaining. The motor vehicle excise tax on Seattle vehicles was terminated effective July 1, 2006. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Official web site
• Cascadia Monorail Company
• 2045 Seattle - a grassroots movement that supports the construction of rapid transit monorail in Seattle, WA

References

• King County Election Results. King County Election Results. Retrieved on 2005-12-22.
• Monorail MVET Information. DOL - Seattle Monorail Excise Tax. Retrieved on 2005-12-22.
• When will the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) end?. SMP - Board of Directors. Retrieved on 2005-12-23.
• Clark, Steve. "Monorail staff to 4", West Seattle Herald, 2005-12-13.
• Lange, Larry. "No refund of monorail car license tax", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2005-09-20.
• Hitachi Monorail. Hitachi Monorail. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.