On May 10, Sound Transit went all out in its promotion for the opening of its new light rail train stations in Redmond. The many expensive public relations firms which Sound Transit retains, lined up politicians and media celebrities to speak, music acts to entertain, food trucks to feed the crowd, activities to entertain the kids, and enough balloons and decorations to make a concrete train station look appealing.

Every media outlet had reporters and photographers to record the festivities. It was the top story on the Seattle Times website and every local TV news program made it their featured story.

With all this coverage, it was almost never mentioned that Sound Transit is at least two years late in delivering these Eastside stations. Also, due to massive construction delays on the I-90 bridge, Redmond light rail passengers can only travel a few miles to Bellevue from these stations – something dozens of current bus routes already do.

Also not mentioned, is that the Sound Transit system is currently costing taxpayers approximately three times what voters approved in 1996, 2008, and 2016. The costs have exploded from approximately $59 billion to an estimated $150 billion and the “spine” of the elaborate light rail system has yet to be completed. Like California’s bullet train debacle, Puget Sound residents are being forced to pay higher property taxes and car tab fees as Sound Transit contractors continue to cash large paychecks with every construction delay.

New ridership and toll collection data also show that the current passenger figures are still lower than pre-pandemic totals when the light-rail system was smaller than it is today.  There were 47.3 million boardings in 2018 and just 31.8 million in 2022. Analysts explain this is because the new system is unable to accommodate the new work model with more people working from home and companies moving away from large Downtown Seattle offices to smaller cheaper locations in the suburbs.

While the media fawned all over the new stations in Redmond, nearly no one covered the far more important news which was revealed to a nearly empty Sound Transit board room the following Friday.

With most of the board members watching on Zoom new Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine announced that construction delays on I-90 will push the completion of the Eastside link to at least 2026. Notably, this will likely occur after large World Cup crowds leave Seattle in July 2026. This is crushing news to Eastside hotels and restaurants.

A quick search finds that the only major media outlet to carry news of this latest construction delay was KOMO news. 

This one-sided coverage of Sound Transit is nothing new. The constant stream of construction delays and cost overruns are rarely reported while expensive PR events receive front page coverage. It is this lazy reporting that has enabled the Sound Transit board to believe they are no longer accountable to the public and that they can get away with blatant acts of cronyism – like hiring Dow Constantine as CEO and doubling his already high (taxpayer-funded) pension to nearly $400,000 a year!

When news of the secret process to hire Constantine became public, there was criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. Not only were good-government advocates upset, but there has also been strong negative reaction from the public.

A recent survey showed that 55% of King County voters said they would vote against a local candidate who supported Constantine’s appointment. Only 7% said they would support such a candidate. (Note: the Sound Transit Board is made up of 18 members who are each locally elected city and county officials.)

This is why the board and Sound Transit contractors oppose direct elections; it would compel the board to be more accountable with public funds. (The group Smarter Transit is collecting signatures for public election of board members.)

 If voters are upset about this decision to give an already wealthy politician a $6 million package, imagine how upset they would be if the local media did its job and reported on the $100 billion cost-overruns and numerous construction delays?

Since the Seattle Times and other old guard media outlets refuse to challenge the status quo by exposing the many costly flaws of their agenda, where can taxpayers go to learn about the cronyism, waste, and lack of accountability that dominates Sound Transit?

ChangeWA is committed to being the watchdog of those on the Sound Transit board who believe the current level of waste and poor decisions is acceptable to those who pay the bills.  As with our coverage of failed progressive public safety, drug, and homelessness policies, ChangeWA is teaming up with other organizations to provide coverage of the skyrocketing costs and construction delays which constantly occur in this poorly administered government bureaucracy.

Stay tuned to ChangeWA for more exposing articles and for opportunities to make your voice heard by those who are supposed to represent you on the Sound Transit board.