With its fate in the hands of voters tomorrow, the Seattle Monorail Project needs all the help it can get. Luckily for mass transit fans, the monorail has a posse in 2045 Seattle. Founder, Christian Gloddy [obvious diversion] is a busy man. Between developing applications and designing projects, he’s been spending the last third of the year frantically trying to remind young voters why the monorail matters. The following interview took place over e-mail between 8 August 2005 and 07 November 2005, before the Mayor issued his ultimatum and after Christian became something of a the Stranger centerfold [#].

Josh: You’ve seen the monorail episode of the Simpsons, right?

Christian: Absolutely and we can really learn something from it: if you’re going to build a monorail, then you have to have snazzy monorail outfits like the one Homer wears.

Seriously though, that Simpsons episode showed the foolishness of small towns investing in mass transit they don’t need. Seattle on the other hand is a big kid now and is only getting bigger. Today, we’re desperate for ways to get out of traffic. Tomorrow, we’ll be gridlocked like we never imagined if we don’t do something now.

O.K., now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, why 2045? isn’t the dreaded financing supposed to last fifty years?

The dreaded financing plan is dead and we’re all better for it. Instead we’re getting over ten miles of monorail running in only four years for 1.3 billion dollars in building costs. This is cheaper than any other comparable transit project going on and it’s a deal we need to take.

Why did we call ourselves 2045 Seattle? It’s about viewing our future with a younger mind, about wondering out loud what our city will be like forty years from now. When we’re old and grey, will some punk kid be spending their free time yelling at us or thanking us?

How does Seattle’s prolonged experience with mass transit compare to that of other cities? Are there historical examples that might provide reason for optimism? Or is Seattle just particularly indecisive?

Every city has the fight that Seattle is having right now. When Washington D. C. debated building a train system, the fight was fierce about whether it was something worth doing at all. Once they had that first line running, something remarkable happened. People understood the difference a true rapid transit system can make, an option that doesn’t get stuck in traffic, and the neighborhoods began to fight over who would get the second and third and forth lines. Seattle will experience the same thing, but we have to take that first step.

What about the other lines? Wasn’t the Green line supposed to be the first of several? Is there any hope for a network of monorails when even the people who voted for the monorail are whining about their car tabs?

The first time is always the hardest, but once the Green Line is up in running in only four years, we’ll begin to experience something new. Trains will arrive every six minutes during rush hour. The trains will be on time, every time, because they will ride above traffic. You’ll grab a newspaper, hop on the train and find it inconceivable that we ever lived any differently.

We’ll be living our ideals by not just talking about clean transportation, but doing something about it. We’ll be buying less oil from corrupt nations. We’ll be giving ourselves choices and planning for our future. We’ll be getting cleaner air and less children with asthma. This is an investment and a necessary one at that.

And as for the cost, the median cost for people paying their car tabs is $81 a year. How many tanks of gas a year do you get for $81? Isn’t $81 a year worth building rapid transit in Seattle?

What’s the relationship between 2045seattle and the other monorail-related groups around town?

Well, we’re not going steady or anything if that’s what you mean. Sure, if they asked us to the transit prom, we’d probably consider it, but we’re not the kind of group that kisses on the first date, so they’d better not get any ideas because 2045 Seattle just isn’t that kind of girl.

2045 Seattle is looking to amplify the younger voice in this city, a voice which overwhelmingly supports the monorail. Younger voices are progressive voices, but the circumstances of our lives make it difficult to participate in this whole government thing. We’re going to school or beginning careers or working multiple jobs while pursuing our dreams and all of this plus the need to call that cute boy/girl/telemarketer back doesn’t leave a lot of time or desire to sit in government meetings with bad fluorescent lighting. But this doesn’t mean our needs and ideas are any less valid. 2045 Seattle is hoping to find ways to make it easier to organize and represent and generally make a difference in getting our city moving and making sure we’re not ignored when it comes to our own future.

Thanks for the interview and good luck out there tomorrow.

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Are you interesting? Want to be Metroblogging Seattle interviewed? e-mail seattle (at) sciencevsromance (dot) net and we’ll try to get something set up.