Title

Bringing The Spatial In: The Case Of The 2002 Seattle Monorail Referendum

Keywords

Cological inference; Mass transit; Public goods; Referenda; Seattle; Spatial analysis; Voter behavior

Abstract

Contests over public goods remain at the forefront of urban political battles in nearly every major city in the United States. The spatial location of the good can play an instrumental role in understanding the contours and outcomes of such conflicts. The authors explore a particular case - voting for a growth-related development project, the monorail, by referendum in the city of Seattle - and examine how a grassroots campaign successfully mobilized voters by targeting both their particularistic and collective interests. The authors conduct analysis at the precinct level and use spatial tools of analysis and ecological inference, finding that voter support for the monorail stemmed from the location of the proposed route and the campaign's progressive appeals to environmental, social justice, and high tech concerns. Although cost overruns ultimately derailed construction of the monorail in 2005, when passed in 2002, the monorail was the most expensive infrastructure project in Seattle's history.

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Publication Title

Urban Affairs Review

Volume

43

Issue

3

Number of Pages

https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/9558;Submitted Version;Any Website;No Embargo;;Authors;Reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses-

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087407302065

Socpus ID

37049026231 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/37049026231

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS