Over at the AAUP listserv, Robert Wood notes:
I saw this interesting article in the Seattle Times about how the possible KC Metro transit cuts may negatively affect students, especially those with long commutes:
I note also that The Seattle Times appears to be taking a neutral stand on Prop 1, which would fund Metro transit with modest increases in car tabs and a small sales tax increase. They have both pro and con editorials.
Full disclosure: I am voting for Prop 1, in part because I trust the judgement of our Country Executive, Dow Constantine. That said, I am not so sure whether Rob Wood is writing about the Times or about transit . The Times feckless stance and lack of journalistic insight are typical of its slow death. Rob must be one of a shrinking minority who does not understand that the Times no longer has much to say about anything. It certainly never backs up an editorial stance with data.
So why did the Times take this stance? My wife, Barbara Schwartz, pointed out the likely reason. Seattle is sprouting apartment./condo/podment towers at a rate that is amazing. BUT the developers do not want to build parking spaces and the liberals believe that people living in these buildings, deprived of cars, will become transit patrons! The Times, of course, supports the developers and, in this case, can do so oddly by also supporting the liberals .. or at least by not taking a stand. Meanwhile my guess is that the liberals see the formation of a voting block.
Where does the UW stand? It is hard to know because state law, or at least the way our law is interpreted, prohibits the UW, taking a stand ON ANY POLTICAL ISSUE. Presumably if we had a ballot issue on evolution, the faculty would need to be quiet!
How will a failure of Prop 1 affect the UW? It is also important to realize that Prop 1 is a COUNTY measure. So, without some digging by The Times or an effort by the Husky Tower to release data, we do not know how many students would be affected if the County has to cut back of bus routes. For that matter, with the soon to be opening of light rail, I wonder if a lot of students and faculty may be choosing to live in Rainier Valley?
Interestingly, the UDub is also on a building boom of its own … new dorms seem to be sprouting along I5. I assume those dorms will have lots of bike racks rather than parking. Still, I would think students living in these dorms should want easy access to the rest of urban Seattle. Will Metro’s cut backs make it hard to get from The Ave (note lower case) to the ID?
The Times no longer has much to say about anything but it certainly cannot be expected to do the journalism needed to be taken seriously on any issue.
Maybe the ASUW has an opinion on whether students need busses? Apparently they do but again they claim to be muzzled by the state law on political comments.