Ray Delahanty of CityNerd did a video on the 2 Line, now that the light rail corridor spans Lake Washington connecting Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond – and stretching north to Lynnwood in a segment overlapping with the 1 Line. Delahanty ranked the Eastside stations from worst to best. Toward the worse end of the spectrum was South Bellevue, which boasts a large parking garage, a u-pick blueberry farm and not a whole lot else.
Some lucky urbanists got to see an early version of the video along with commentary from our own Ryan Packer and two special guests who are leading transit policymakers (Claudia Balducci and Alexis Mercedes Rinck) at a Town Hall Seattle event earlier this month.
Both the video and the IRL talk also looked ahead to the next batch of light rail openings and explored the topic of Sound Transit 3 expansion plans, which are facing serious delays, especially in Ballard and Interbay. In typical CityNerd fashion, Ray eloquently summed up the dilemma with a dash of wry humor.
"I'm not naive; I understand how regional politics and bond measures work, but I don't think that makes it any less insane that Ballard has to wait 35 years longer to get light rail than a u-pick blueberry farm does," Delahanty said. "So being in Seattle in 2026 means being in a place where great optimism and great pessimism collide."
A big thanks to Ray for putting on the event with us, and for the kind words and member drive plug he shared at the talk and in the video. We are in the last days of our Fall Member Drive, and we could use your help to close out strong and hit our goal so we can keep growing The Urbanist.
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