<< Previous   of   Next >> Dan Bates / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Patti and Kelvin Barton have offered Everett Transit the use of land they own on Olympic Boulevard to turn buses around. (click to enlarge)

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Everett neighborhood may work out spat over buses

A resident offers a solution that might end the quarrel in Everett's View Ridge area.

By David Chircop, Herald Writer

EVERETT -- A convenient bus route through Everett's View Ridge neighborhood was one of the reasons Patti Barton and her husband moved there 16 years ago.

Patti is legally blind and cannot drive. For her, the bus is a ticket to independence, a vital link for grocery shopping and life's necessities.

"I raised my kids on the bus," said Barton, 54.

For the second time in recent years, neighborhood protests about the route's safety caused Everett Transit to explore the route's termination.

Dueling petitions on both sides of the bus route controversy have circulated around the neighborhood.

"It makes me feel threatened," said Barton, who collected about 100 signatures on a petition to keep buses in the neighborhood. "To me, to have this bus loop removed is for most people like having their car removed."

Instead of fighting for the same route, Barton and her husband on Wednesday presented a new plan to Everett City Council.

They offered Everett Transit the use of land they own on Olympic Boulevard for buses to turn around.

The route now creates a short loop around Elm Street, View Ridge Drive and Olympic Boulevard off of Mukilteo Boulevard.

The Bartons' offer would allow bus drivers to avoid Elm Street -- a narrow road without sidewalks that some neighbors say is unsafe for buses -- and stay on Olympic Boulevard, a two-lane road with a center line and sidewalks.

Kelvin Barton, 52, who works for Everett Transit, said he was careful to separate his job from his advocacy for the route.

He said a similar turn-about was created several years ago on Lowell-Larimer Road.

"Maybe we can put it all to rest," he said. "It shouldn't keep coming up again and again."

Dan Stahlberg, the chief opponent of bus service on Elm Street, who has never met the Bartons, said he's pleased with their solution.

His opposition to buses on Elm Street started when he was nearly hit by an Everett Transit bus while using a leaf blower in front of his driveway four years ago.

"This is good news," he said.

Stahlberg, who made dozens of calls to City Hall in pursuit of his quest to get buses off of his street, also circulated his own petition around the neighborhood.

"I didn't want to divide bus lovers and bus haters," he said. "I was just looking out for safety."

Stahlberg, 49, said his street is narrow and full of retirees, children and parked cars, making it unsafe for buses.

The City Council on Wednesday directed the city's transit director and city engineer to consider the proposal.

Tom Hingson, the director of Everett Transit, said the roundabout idea could be a good solution to the neighborhood's dispute over bus service. Turning buses around is a tremendous challenge on a bus route, he said.

Hingson said the option will be presented to residents at a public hearing planned for June 17. A final decision could be made as early as July, he said.

The purpose of routing buses through the city's residential neighborhoods was to make bus travel more convenient for people who live there. Over the years, most neighborhood routes have been phased out.

"This would keep it on the best road," he said. "The widest road in the neighborhood."



Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.