Will Too Much Public Input Create 'The Big Ugly'?

Can soliciting too much public input on civic decisions result in nothing getting done? Seattle's efforts to figure out what to do with the Alaskan Way Viaduct provides a "textbook" example.

1 minute read

March 7, 2007, 2:00 PM PST

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"[Seattle's] 2.2-mile-long Alaskan Way Viaduct [is an] aging, earthquake-vulnerable elevated expressway that separates much of downtown Seattle from Elliott Bay, one of the city's iconic natural features...One [proposal] would replace the viaduct with a tunnel. It would be a visionary reclamation of Seattle's somewhat neglected waterfront, according to proponents, and a Boston Big Dig-style construction nightmare, according to opponents. The other measure would replace the viaduct with a new elevated expressway...In a way, the saga of the neglected roadway is a textbook example of what many call the 'Seattle process,' or the reputed civic inclination here to seek so much public input and listen to so many sides of an argument that nothing actually gets done."

FULL STORY: Seattle's 'Big Ugly' political mess

Monday, March 5, 2007 in The Los Angeles Times

Transportation Washington

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