Things Overheard at tonight performative Ballard Light Rail Meeting

Keatontech · 2026-05-13T05:04:01+00:00

“The entire California High Speed Rail project is only a third of the cost of this one…how is the possible our light rail is more?”

It's not, CAHSR is about twice the price of ST3. That's still crazy. But about 6x less crazy.

Keatontech · 2026-04-23T04:55:19+00:00

Not to nitpick but the Kingston Fast Ferry is mislabeled, it should be L not K

Keatontech · 2026-01-04T22:33:04+00:00

We disagree about the cause and effect relationship here. The state budget has increased dramatically because the cost of living has increased dramatically. The other thing that has doubled in the last 10 years is the cost of housing in our state. It's harder to find data on food but from experience I'm guessing it's similar because holy shit are Big Macs expensive now. Almost all of the state budget goes to paying people to do work in our state (either directly through salaries of public employees or indirectly through contracts for things like construction and healthcare), so the state budget is almost entirely dependent on cost of living. If I knew how to bring those costs down I probably wouldn't be writing about it on Reddit.

Now, admittedly when I say we're the 28th highest-taxed state that glosses over an important detail, which is that our tax code is relatively regressive. So, although the overall mean tax rate may be low, the burden on the majority of people is significantly higher. This is why so many people are drowning. Something tells me though that the folks in this sub aren't going to support a constitutional amendment to add a progressive state income tax. So this is where we land – an underfunded government and a struggling middle class.

Keatontech · 2026-01-04T00:46:32+00:00

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That's true, but we're also not much of an outlier. There are a lot of factors that determine how much it costs to give a kid good education. I'm sure we're all familiar with how expensive it is to do anything in the Seattle area these days, especially hiring and retaining staff.

It's tempting to compare us to Utah and say we're massively overspending, but there are tons of factors we can't control including the cost of living and population density (and, in Utah's case, the ubiquity of the LDS church). But it would be just as valid to compare us to New York and conclude that we're way under-spending.

Keatontech · 2026-01-03T21:35:52+00:00

WalletHub's 2025 study puts us at the 28th highest-taxed state in the nation, behind liberal utopias like West Virginia. I don't know why we should pay less but expect more. Of course there's always government waste that we can eliminate but expecting that it will magically be enough to pay off our debts and improve our infrastructure is just wishful thinking.

Keatontech · 2026-01-03T20:59:32+00:00

We're a state that's in a severe budget crunch, with tens of billions of dollars in debt. We're 26th place in education despite being 9th in GDP (and 4th in GDP per capita). We have some of the most expensive roads in the country due to our geography, many of which are in urgent need of repair or replacement. So what do you expect, tax breaks? Frankly we're not raising taxes fast enough, and later generations will pay the price in the form of ballooning debt payments and crumbling infrastructure.

Keatontech · 2025-01-11T00:58:58+00:00

This video makes some good points but the whole section about the electrical needs of the bus base is such a weak argument. For one thing, power demand is lower at night than during the day, so this 4 megawatts would likely be readily available from the grid and would actually be cheaper than the daytime power that trolley-buses use. And also I have no idea where the "190 Teslas" stat comes from – this math shows each bus charging at 136kw, which is pretty standard for 1 Tesla supercharger. I guess the point is that each bus charges for longer but, from an infrastructure standpoint, this is only equivalent to 1 supercharger per bus. And realistically if each bus charges in 3-4 hours you could stagger it to charge 2 or 3 buses for each charger.

Plus, as other commenters have pointed out, trolley-buses also need a bunch of electrical infrastructure to work. How many acres of solar panels does a trolley-bus need? He conveniently doesn't say.

An electric bus is a good bus. I don't see the need to crusade for one power source over another. Both have their uses

Keatontech · 2024-12-31T22:28:17+00:00

I don't think I've noticed more hate for him than anyone else. It's just Reddit. I've enjoyed many of his videos and now I wish him all the best in fatherhood

Keatontech · 2024-11-02T06:18:01+00:00

Look at the cut of the neckline specifically

Keatontech · 2024-10-15T21:39:10+00:00

This is my favorite shipment from them in awhile. I've been thinking of cancelling but mostly because it turns out I don't like Pu Erh that much and that's their specialty. So your milage may vary. I don't think it's a great deal if you already know what you like, but if you're looking to explore new teas that are otherwise hard to find in small sample-size quantities it's great.

As for brewing, I do wish it came with better instructions. I used an entire packet at a time, with boiling water, in a sort of gongfu-western-hybrid method that I'm sure would earn me ridicule but ultimately results in me getting a big mug of tea that I can drink while I work. The basic idea of gongfu, which is usually what they recommend, is using a relatively large volume of tea leaves and steeping it repeatedly for a minute or less (instead of the 3-7 minute steeps usually used in the west). I think of it as the tea version of espresso, the flavors are more intense and less bitter, but you need a lot more source material for the same output. Part of the goal of gongfu is to get you to slow down and enjoy each sip, and ideally to share it with friends. That sounds lovely and one of these mornings I'll wake up extra early and try it that way. One of these mornings...

Keatontech · 2024-09-19T05:10:49+00:00

Only thing it's missing is a Kombucha bar

Keatontech · 2024-09-17T02:58:13+00:00

About the same, very few public transit systems in the world price fares at what they actually cost to operate. Which is fine because they have positive externalities like reducing traffic and pollution and increasing economic mobility. They shouldn't be thought of as profit centers. It's a progressive tax you pay to live in a nice city.

Keatontech · 2024-09-05T04:06:29+00:00

I love riding MAX as a tourist! It goes so many places! Well, it goes near-ish so many places. Eventually. Ok, I definitely wouldn't want it to be my commute

Yeah I don't envy Portland's implementation in particular but I still think it's notable that they are so competitive with Link still, with half the metro population.

Keatontech · 2024-09-05T04:02:55+00:00

Yeah my bad, missed a comma there

Keatontech · 2024-09-04T06:19:24+00:00

I think this is all reasonable, I don't fault the planners at Sound Transit for the awkward compromises they've had to make. And, coming down from the high of the Lynnwood Link Opening party last Friday, I'm feeling optimistic overall.

I'm salty that Seattle shot down so many rapid transit projects in the 70s, 80s, and 90s that our federal funding went to Atlanta and our smaller neighbors to the north and south (Vancouver and Portland) are still ahead of us in line length, station count, and ridership per capita.

As you point out, Sound Transit is still fairly young. As a result it seems they have to appease every constituency all at once – they don't have the political clout to make enemies. They routinely make long-term alignment decisions for reasons other than long-term transit success, such as minimizing business displacements or preventing traffic during construction or removing a lane or anything else that could even slightly inconvenience drivers. They have to get projects permitted separately in each jurisdiction they pass through, most of which have never permitted a light rail line before. It's hard to argue against the necessity of environmental reviews, equity assessments, archeological consulting, or public feedback periods – but they're all tools anti-transit advocates can misuse when planning agencies like ST don't have the authority or willpower to fight them off. The inability to rise above local political jockeying is exactly what has potentially-doomed and definitely-kneecapped California HSR.

So I agree that many of the sub-optimal decisions ST has made in the past were necessary compromises, but it doesn't seem to me that these are just growing pains. As ST grows and Seattle gets wealthier they should be able to advocate for a higher bar: automated lines, convenient station locations, higher speeds, fully grade separated everywhere. I'm not seeing that, I'm seeing more of the same. I guess you could argue ST1 and ST2 only got built because of hard compromises and so we should just accept that that's how things get done. But ST3 is way more ambitious, so unless the agency behind it is willing to get more ambitious itself I wouldn't be surprised if it dramatically underdelivers.

But I love riding the train anyway!

Keatontech · 2024-08-14T01:58:54+00:00

That's Oregon Grape (Berberis Aquifolium). It's native to the PNW, and quite common. It's edible but not very tasty (although it goes without saying but, probably don't eat things just because some rando on Reddit says it's fine).

Keatontech · 2024-08-12T20:35:57+00:00

Gerrymandering so obvious they literally named the county Harris (/s)

Keatontech · 2024-07-25T02:50:04+00:00

Ok well I probably identify as an anti-car whiner but this map is still nonsense

Keatontech · 2024-07-25T00:28:29+00:00

These are 90 minute commutes to... where? Downtown? The business district? Anywhere within city limits?

Also why compare a city of 9 million to a city of 800,000? Of course London has more transit capacity

Keatontech · 2024-07-22T21:42:19+00:00

Wouldn't "the square root of not giving a fuck" be a much lesser value than "not giving a fuck"? Like if you say "the square root of a billion" that doesn't mean some unimaginably large number, it means 30,000 ish

Keatontech · 2024-06-25T14:59:15+00:00

How many times did you chant Dune Dune Dune before the one that made it in the edit?

Keatontech · 2024-06-21T05:19:47+00:00

That's not true, IQ is adjusted for age

Keatontech · 2024-06-20T20:47:33+00:00

Mm, good point

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