In response to my last blog commenting on the homes and businesses Sound Transit wants to destroy to build the Federal Way Link Extension, Sound Transit responded on Facebook that the associated Final Environmental Impact Statement is not an issue of contention because they notified people of the potential destruction back in 2015 (although certainly not in their taxpayer-funded pre-election mailer).

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy illustrates this exchange best, when the government comes to bulldoze Arthur Dent's house to build a highway and claims they made their plans known:

Government: "But the plans were on display . . ."

Arthur: "On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

Government: "That's the display department."

Arthur: "With a torch."

Government: "Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

Arthur: "So had the stairs."

Government: "But look, you found the notice, didn't you?"

Arthur: "Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard."
 

Sound Transit officials got in trouble in 2006 when they posted an eminent domain public meeting on their website and the property owners didn’t see it. They won in court and condemned the land to build a park-and-ride for a commuter rail transit station.

More recently, Sound Transit officials notified residents they might take some or all of their property for the Lynnwood Link Extension, leaving people who wanted to put their homes on the market in limbo.  

Although marketing (rather than burying) these negative social and environmental impacts may not necessarily generate votes, it does honor taxpayers with the greater transparency they deserve.