Part 1 of The Ghostly Green Line: The Seattle Monorail Chronicles dives into the \"ghostly green line\"—the proposed Seattle Monorail that promised a transformative transit future between 1997 and 2005. Guest Cindi Laws, a veteran political operative, provides an insider’s look at the campaigns that defined that era. Laws reveals the \"death by a thousand cuts\" strategy employed by well-funded opponents, the deep-seated political rivalries between City of Seattle and King County leadership, and the unethical management practices that ultimately crippled the Monorail agency. The discussion moves beyond the surface-level narrative to address why Seattle’s transit planning has faced such consistent, decades-long failures. Cindi also shares the joys of successful campaigns, and her
Cindi Laws, a Public Affairs Consultant and Lobbyist, has specialized in trade associations for small businesses and nonprofit organizations since the late 90s. Her professional political experience began in 1986 when she worked on former US Secretary of Transportation and former Congressman Brock Adams campaign to defeat incumbent US Senator Slade Gorton. She went on to serve Sen. Adams in the US Senate, where she worked on transportation, timber, Tribes, and Labor, and then as state outreach director for Senator Adams. Cindi also worked on 3 presidential campaigns: Dukakis/Bentsen 1988 (flipping WA Blue for the first time in 20 years), and smaller roles for Clinton/Gore in both 1992 and 1996. You can connect with Cindi through her LinkedIn and Facebook
\"Let's celebrate the joy that we can do great things!!\"
-Cindi Laws
Part 2 will come out on September 22nd, and will include interviews with people who worked for and volunteered with the Monorail campaigns: Rodney Rutherford,
Brian Dougherty, and Michael Taylor-Judd.
Show Notes:
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Credits:
Episode recorded in Seattle, WA
Edited by Elke Hautala
Music: Alteration by IMG from Uppbeat io & Monorail by The New Concert Orchestra from Archive.org
Cover art design by Cari Simson
Cari Simson and Elke Hautala formed Invisible Histories to visually and viscerally connect the public to experiences from the past. Their Invisible Histories podcast unearths diverse local stories and forgotten places. www.invisible-histories.com
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