The worst local news of the past week pertaining to urban livability comes from Seattle City Hall, where City Councilmembers thanked citizens for reelecting some of them by proposing to eliminate from the city budget the $1.5 million for planning streetcars and light rail requested Mayor McGinn.
Local planning is a prerequisite for federal grant applications. Therefore, applying for federal support to expand the rail network would be delayed by whatever amount of time it would take to marshal the will to fund and carry out such studies.
