Top leaders of monorail step down



...and not a moment too soon...
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From this morning's Seattle Times
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By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter
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Seattle Monorail Project board Chairman Tom Weeks and Executive Director Joel Horn resigned yesterday after a public uproar over the 50-year finance plan they had championed.
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The plan was scrapped last week after even longtime supporters expressed doubts.
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For three years, Weeks and Horn have been the dominant personalities in the monorail agency, determined to turn the city's wishes for elevated transit into reality. Their resignations come two weeks after SMP issued documents showing that the project cost of more than $2.1 billion would require total debt payments of $11.4 billion, including interest.
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The SMP board rejected the financing plan Thursday night, putting the project in limbo.
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"We take full responsibility for the current situation and feel that it is in the best interest of the Project to step down," the two wrote in a letter sent to the monorail board yesterday. They added that controversy about the interest costs had "overshadowed" the tentative deal with Cascadia Monorail — a deal they said was a "good value for the city."
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Neither Weeks nor Horn, whose resignations are effective immediately, could be reached for comment.

Posted: Tue - July 5, 2005 at 08:28 AM        

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