Taxpayers spent $858,378 for Sound Transit's March 19 grand-opening party for the Capitol Hill and UW stations, Seattle Times reporter Mike Lindblom reported.
That cost included nearly $28,000 spent on tote bags, nearly $5,000 for paper trains and more than $13,000 for lanyards and other items for VIPs who were on the first train rides, Lindblom reported.
Follow this link to read Lindblom's full report.
Mayor Ed Murray enthusiastically tweeted about the March 19 opening and was part of the celebration with his husband, Michael Shiosaki, who was appointed last week by Gov. Jay Inslee to the State Recreation and Conservation Funding Board. King County Executive Dow Constantine was also part of the Sound Transit opening celebration.
The spending is excessive, says the nonprofit Smarter Transit, which portrays the event as early campaigning for this fall's $50 billion Sound Transit 3 ballot measure, The Times reported.
Before the kickoff, Sound Transit said the roughly 3-mile university extension will add 71,000 riders to the system by 2030.
Link light rail will eventually run to Lynnwood in the north, Overlake in Redmond to the east and south of Sea-Tac airport. Another new station is expected to open this fall in SeaTac, which would extend light rail 1.6 miles south of the airport.
Cox Media Group
