SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: If ‘Red Line’ is banned, what color is non-triggering?

Nov 16, 2019, 2:05 AM

Sound Transit, $318 million, Red Line...

(File, Associated Press)

(File, Associated Press)

As Seattle Times transportation reporter Mike Lindblom first reported, Sound Transit will stop calling its north-south red metro line, the line that will eventually run between Everett and West Seattle, the “Red Line.”

Apparently, according to a press release, people complained to Sound Transit that it sounded like “redlining.” In the past, African-American families were kept out of certain neighborhoods in cities by being denied home loans or insurance. This type of segregation was known as redlining, and was prevalent in Seattle in the 1930s and 1940s.

What does that have to do with a light rail line?

“Red Line” is two words. “Redlining” is one word.

Dori: Sound Transit’s incompetence on full display in I-5 flood

The rail line is depicted on the future light rail network map as a red line. That’s what sets it apart from the Blue Line to Redmond or the Green Line to Ballard or the Purple Line to Issaquah or the Orange Line in Tacoma.

I really thought colors would be innocuous. I didn’t realize colors had to be so politically correct. It makes me wonder, if “Red Line” is forbidden, what colors can we use?

You hear references to white, black, and brown people all the time, so we can’t use any of those colors. That’s clearly offensive.

Blue — there are many people who suffer from depression. They feel blue quite often. Calling a rail line the “Blue Line” could be hurtful to them.

Orange? Trump is the orange Cheeto. We can’t have a line that is orange. It would remind people of Trump and trigger them.

So what color can we use?

Green is probably good. Environmentalists love going green. Getting into more specific colors, magenta and teal are likely inoffensive. Lavender is not okay, though — there are people who are allergic to scents and can’t stand lavender perfume when their colleagues wear it to the office.

So anyway, it’s time to say goodbye to the Red Line.

But seriously — remember the color of Kshama Sawant’s campaign signs? If we get rid of the Red Line, won’t we be alienating the socialists and communists?

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

FILE - President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping tour the Forbidden City, Nov....

Associated Press

Oil prices are high but could be much worse. Trump has China’s Xi to thank for that

WASHINGTON (AP) — It could be much worse. When President Donald Trump launched his war against Iran in late February, energy analysts issued dire warnings that oil prices could more than double during a protracted conflict and urged investors and motorists to buckle up for a bumpy ride. The war grinds on and oil prices […]

3 hours ago

FILE - Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, center, is surrounded by journalists and...

Associated Press

Even as trading and markets moved faster, Warren Buffett made patience profitable and cool

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Even in the age of algorithms, short attention spans and TikTok teases, Warren Buffett continued to profit with his patient bargain-hunting approach while offering folksy advice on investing and life. As chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett became famous for his unwavering and methodical investing style: Buy good businesses when […]

3 hours ago

William Lawrence, Democratic candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan's 7th District...

Associated Press

AI fears are fueling progressive Democrat’s campaign in Michigan battleground district

MASON, Mich. (AP) — Emerson Hyde and Dan Ewart, both Republicans, stood outside a contentious city council meeting earlier this week in the central Michigan town of Mason and grappled with the fact that the most prominent person to stand with them against a possible artificial intelligence data center was the local Democratic candidate for […]

4 hours ago

macklemore (1)...

John Curley Show

‘This is all about Macklemore’s bottom line, baby’: Comedian rips rapper’s Palestine speech as a career play

New York-based comedian Eitan Levine had a sharp take on Macklemore's removal from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour.

5 hours ago

9th ave...

Chris Sullivan

SDOT plans to paint over Convention Center street art that won’t come off 9th Ave.

SDOT, which granted the Seattle Convention Center the permit to paint 9th Ave., now has a plan to fix the problem.

6 hours ago

Actress Lynda Carter speaks to the crowd as they rally against the closing of the John F. Kennedy C...

Associated Press

Thousands join protest outside Kennedy Center, expressing concern that Trump might tear it down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people joined outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Friday evening to protest President Donald Trump’s plans for the facility, lending their voices to a chorus of organizations and individuals who have been horrified that he might make good on his threat to close and tear down […]

6 hours ago

Dori: If ‘Red Line’ is banned, what color is non-triggering?