SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff encourages protesters to stand in traffic

Aug 14, 2019, 3:12 PM

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff...

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff. (Joe A. Kunzler)

(Joe A. Kunzler)

The CEO of Sound Transit, Peter Rogoff, appears to have said on Twitter that if you have a problem with his agency, you should stand on a track in front of a Sound Transit Link train.

Let me explain.

As you know very well if you are a listener, I believe that Sound Transit is the most criminally corrupt public agency in the United States. I’m not engaging in hyperbole when I say that. They over-value people’s vehicles just so that they can charge more on car tabs.

Downtown Seattle, a lot of people try to escape the gridlock by driving in the bus lanes. They’re cheating — I’m not advocating for driving in the bus lanes. But downtown Seattle this week, a bunch of activists stood in the bus lanes waving red flags and yelling to get the cars to move out of the bus lanes.

Legislator calls for Sound Transit board to reject pay raise for CEO

Peter Rogoff, on his official Sound Transit CEO account, endorsed their actions. He called them heroes for standing in front of cars.

So I can only assume, to be consistent, that Peter Rogoff would be equally appreciative if anyone protesting Sound Transit were to stand on a track in front of a Link light rail train.

Let me be clear – I am absolutely not telling anyone to climb onto a track and go do that. But it’s essentially the same thing.

These protesters in the bus lanes are great examples of what’s wrong with this region. It’s really odd to me that the Leftists who get up in arms about a traffic violation are also the ones who have encouraged and, in large part politically, caused the drug vagrant problem. They have no problem with the lawbreaking that occurs on a daily basis on our streets thanks to the rampant drug use. Yet a person who is late to a meeting and cuts through a bus lane commits a misdeed of the worst kind for them. They think that they can enforce certain laws while they ignore all of the others.

What if a Sound Transit bus returning to base without passengers uses the bus lane? An empty bus has no business taking up a bus lane. Could activists stand in front of that bus and tell it to move to the general purpose lanes?

That seems to be what Peter Rogoff is advocating — anybody who has any problem with any law, go stand in the middle of traffic.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Dori: Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff encourages protesters to stand in traffic