[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, submitted by a verified resident. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of South King Media, nor its staff:]

Traffic Flow Destroyed on Ambaum

As a proud homeowner raising a family and running a small business in Burien, one of the aspects of my city that I enjoy the most is the free flow of traffic and the ability to quickly run errands and move about town.

As I watch Ambaum Blvd. transform from two lanes of free-flowing traffic going each way, to one lane with a bus lane on each side, I can’t help but wonder:

“Who is responsible for this terrible public policy that benefits the few at the expense of the many?”

With two shootings in our downtown area in the last week alone, does anyone honestly believe that enhancing public transit at the behest of most residents, is a good idea before we’ve effectively addressed the problems of crime, mental health and open-air drug markets that plague our downtown corridor?

It is a Seattle-based fantasy that if you intentionally make driving intolerable by destroying traffic flow, people will take the only other option you’ve given them and jump on the bus, despite a lack of safety.

I had hoped that Burien wouldn’t fall into this trap that Sound Transit has been promoting throughout the Puget Sound region for over a decade.

I hope that in future city council elections, our citizens wake up and stop electing people who promote misguided public policy based on fantasy-land that we’ve seen fail in neighboring cities.

– Jon Talmadge
Gregory Heights resident

EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you have something you’d like to share with our highly engaged local Readers? If so, please email your Letter to the Editor to scott@southkingmedia.com and, pending review and verification that you’re a real human being, we may publish it. Letter writers must use their full names and cite sources – as well as provide an address and phone number (NOT for publication but for verification purposes).