It’s like trying to get a fair hearing with the Queen of Hearts. Or the Caterpillar. Or the Cheshire Cat.

Last night Sound Transit  held a public meeting at Bellevue High School that oh-so-quickly looked at some of the new segment ideas for ST2 in Bellevue. Sound Transit was quick to emphasize that they “listened” to the public, and straightened the alignment in the B section to avoid condemning (they like “acquiring”)more of the The Bellevue Club’s parking lot, which would adversely affect their business and future expansion plans. Fine.

But they completely omitted any information regarding condemnations of the homes and business properties affected by a Main Street alignment. Sound Transit’s Sue Comis just blithely passed over the section on the map showing how the north end of Surrey Downs would be cut off (condemned) by passing over it quietly with her laser pointer…HMMM…Nothing happening here, folks, move along….

Hands started going up as the public realized that Sound Transit was not going to allow questions regarding property takings that the whole group could hear. Sound Transit tried to get the questions coming in small groups around the photograph tables, so that separate neighborhoods wouldn’t know how their preferences would be affecting or impacting their neighbors.

However, they did have a nice table with a couple of guys present near the front door, ready to answer questions, with the title: “Real Estate“.

Yes, what a nice, pretty term for the guys in the department that condemns your property- I wonder how those guys sleep at night.

Welcome to Wonderland.

Sound Transit says it will build a bridge -- not an earthen berm  -- over the so-called B-Street Gulch within its project site to install commuter rail tracks through Tacoma's Dome District. The design change for that part of the project largely was spurred by community concerns about aesthetics and wildlife,  Jim Edwards, Sound Transit's director [...]