Citizen gifts to the monorail

This is how you can tell you have a popular transit proposal. Even though they're less than drops in the bucket for a multi-billion dollar project, Seattle citizens are making unprecedented donations to SMP

Teresa Healy...mailed a $20,000 check to the Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) this month, a follow-up to her $10,000 gift two years ago...The American Public Transit Association is unaware of citizen gifts to transit agencies, spokesmen said.

The monorail also received $399 from Colleen Browne, who formerly belonged to the "Save Our Valley" group that opposed running light-rail trains at street level in South Seattle. Browne, who now lives in Burien, said she plans to make annual donations equal to what her SMP car-tab tax would be in Seattle.

Robert Casey of Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood gave $100, while 11 people donated their $15 refunds from Initiative 776, which eliminated a road fee.

Healy's gifts would cover about one-seventy-thousandth of the project.

Well, either a popular transit proposal, or a few crazy neighbors with money burning holes in their pockets.