Early this month, a group of more than 100 rail industry professionals and local politicians met on the Microsoft campus to discuss the future of high-speed rail in the Northwest.
I attended the conference as an interested free agent. As a local organizer working on land use issues in Ballard and Interbay, I have a vested interest in figuring out where high-speed rail (HSR) is going to go through Seattle. It physically cannot run the same route as the current Amtrak and Sounder trains going through Interbay and up the coast to Edmonds. The terrain and curving track simply do not allow for high speeds. The sooner we settle this, the sooner we can get a bigger picture to the rail and industrial development potential throughout all of Seattle.
So my perspective was really as a cheerleader for high-speed rail, and more importantly for an aggressive timeline. Let’s get this settled, people.
I went into the meeting thinking it was going to be a lot like other professional workgroups or conference. Session, coffee, plenary, lunch, keynote, end session, cocktail hour. But this summit managed to surprise me. It was not about advances in research or best practices in governance. It was light on locations and heavy on potential. Instead of the details of HSR, there was a lot about feasibility of HSR as a technology and the Northwest as a location. The local elected officials were selling the region. The consultants were selling the potential of the train. It was a hundred person Tinder date.
The bulk of the summit happened on Thursday, November 7th. It was the talkathon sandwiched between Wednesday’s happy hour networking event and Friday’s Link station tours.
All day Thursday, courses of speakers took to the front of the Microsoft conference center. Welcome messages from the Governor (by video) and Roger Miller, the head of Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). Senator Liias of Edmonds, King County Executive Constantine, President Mullin of the Roundtable, and Mayor Marchione of Redmond offered their pitches on why this region is salivating for high-speed rail.
Then it was the turn for major interests in rail to take the stage. An important map came up in several presentations. It presented a New Map of France, based on the time from Paris. Instead of the well known hexagon stretching from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, the map was globular, with famous coastal cities pulled towards the capital. In terms of hours on the train, France is much smaller and it is changing the country in important ways. Perhaps we will not just have a Bordeaux for lunch, we shall enjoy repas in Bordeaux, one imagines a Parisian saying.
Such things are silly for the Northwest, where we don’t put the same importance on the midday meal. That’s also why we were back to the politicians for lunch. Former Governor Chris Gregoire talked Cascadia regionalism while we munched on tiny roast beef or salmon sandwiches with a side of cookies and Doritos. No wine was served.
But Gregoire’s message was one of similar changes to the functional map of the area. Let’s go to Vancouver to see a hockey game. Let’s get to Portland to connect with businesses and universities. Let’s spread the housing market to a more regional–and affordable–model.
