SEATTLE — On Thursday night, West Seattle businesses held a rally ahead of a decision about where the light rail extension will be built. Sound Transit will not announce its plans for the location until later this year, but there is a grassroots effort to raise awareness now.
For Laurel Trujillo, a lot is on the line.
"My time, my money, my everything has been poured into this business for eight years now, and all to be faced with a bulldozer essentially coming in and demolishing it,” said Trujillo.
At Ounces Taproom and Beer Garden, it's a possibility because Sound Transit wants to add four miles of light rail service from SODO to West Seattle's Alaska Junction neighborhood.
"I saw the designs of the light rail station literally sitting on top of my business, and sitting on top of this whole block. That was a hard day,” said Trujillo.
"Four billion dollars for four miles that doesn't add that much to ridership, what is that about," John Niles, the co-founder of Smarter Transit said during a Thursday morning news conference.
Niles said carrying out the project would be moving in the wrong direction for West Seattle, where dozens of businesses would feel an impact.
"Let's calm down a little bit and not spend so much money on a dream that may be a step too far,” said Niles.
"There are a lot of people who really do support it, and frankly the voters in Seattle overwhelmingly approved ST3,” said Rachelle Cunningham with Sound Transit.
Voters approved the project in 2016.
Trujillo said she voted for light rail.
"We embrace light rail to the community, but we don't want to be sacrificed as a result of it,” said Trujillo. "The stark reality of it all is that Sound Transit does not provide adequate resources for us businesses to successfully relocate."
When Sound Transit acquires property, the agency said it uses federal and state laws to regulate what benefits business receive.
"I feel for those folks who are going to have to move. It is expensive and it is stressful, but it is really too early to say because we cant even start the process of actually talking about their specific propertles until the board selects the project to be built. That wont be until later this year,” said Cunningham.
Trujillo is taking action right now, uniting with businesses online to share updates about the project and potential impacts. "We can still have a voice and potentially do what we can to ensure that these businesses get what they need to survive,” said Trujillo.