The Washington Policy Center has released a new Policy Brief on the ST2/RTID ballot measure, which estimates that the measure will cost the average Puget Sound household $268 a year, a 24% increase in total transportation taxes.
And the punchline of the ST2/RTID joke is that even after spending all this money, most everybody's commutes will only get worse.
Sound Transit's push-poll aside, ST2/RTID smells like political death. Postman reports that Mrs. Gregoire, Speaker Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Brown plan to campaign for some ballot measures this fall:
But none said they planned to campaign for the regional transportation package that will also appear on the ballot.Tick tock. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 23, 2007 04:32 PM | Email This
The ballot would be set up like this:
55% of the State transportation budget (what-ever it happens to be) would be mandated spending evenly split between roads and alternative transport (rail,light rail. bikes, ferries, whatever)
The remaining 45% would be voter directed. Simply choose on the ballot where you would like the state to spend the remaining 45% .
When election results are tablulated the unmandated portion of the budget would be allocated in accordance with the voting percentages associated with the road or rail vote.
The result would truly reflect the will of the people in directing the tax dollars collected from them. It will never happen, but the thought of allowing the people to decide would offer peace of mind to voters regardless of the outcome.
Posted by: cardio on April 23, 2007 05:06 PMThat's as inane as saying that the punchline of all the medical care I've had throughout my life is that my health has only got worse. Without medical care I would be even worse. The question is how would traffic differ with/without the transportation package.
Silly comments like this detract from any leigitimate beefs you may have with the package.
Posted by: Bruce on April 23, 2007 05:19 PMReject the RTID/ST2 until we can elect someone who is serious about moving people, goods and services via our highways. When and until everyone in Government starts PAYING to ride mass transit and it is made a condition of employment (including management)it's all just a game to force the "little people" into a utopian vision quest of compliance.
Posted by: Smokie on April 23, 2007 06:53 PMI'm assuming that the medical care you've received has been for mental health issues - I'd hate to have read one of your posts before your "medical care".
Fact is, the last gas tax hike was supposed to take care urgent "they're going to collapse and hundreds will die" viaduct and 520 bridge. We're still years away. I have no faith/trust in the liberal Ds running this insane asylum called Washington.
Posted by: Jeffro on April 23, 2007 07:03 PMGreat handle by the way.
You are 100% correct. I'm a sarcastic A$$ so my posts are admittedly, more sarcasm than substance.
I am one of the little people - but the libs will have to pry my cold dead fingers off my stearing wheel to get me out of my car.
Posted by: Jeffro on April 23, 2007 07:09 PMI vote to keep some of what I earn with my family!
That's the emergency I care about!
Posted by: GS on April 23, 2007 09:43 PMSo in order to get money for Sound Transit the crafted little devils in Olympia coupled it to roads. Want more roads then you must pay for Sound Transit. All or nothing so they say.
This type of thinking proves to all that we are consider at best suckers at worst - use your own imaginations. Remember you are dealing with politicians that are capable of anything. And done most anything in one session. They will lie, cheat and steal to suit their purposes.
A cursory review of the important emergencies that they responded to last session would reveal the vile and cunning of your elected leaders.
Just about every group friendly to the Democrats have benefited at our expense last session. Imagine that!
Let's see the last vote for transportation included such promises for our consideration as the Viaduct - it was about to crumble. Are they held accountable for their inactions on this emergency? Nope, not a one.
We pay an extraordinarily high tax in this state and get very little in return. What we do get, we don't want:
1. Costly schools producing students that can't pass state exams.
2. Roads and bridges that are unsafe.
3. Catch and release for criminals.
4. A court system unable to mete out timely justice.
5. A minimum wage that result in waiters making $20 dollars an hour. Chech you tab lately.
6. A mandated union for government employees and teachers.
7. Property taxes on property you can't use or sell. It is for the enviroment.
8. Sound transit where costs are the benefits.
9. Unfriendly business climate.
10. My all time favorite - No investigation on the election. None. And her ill-begotten highness is paying back all of her supporters with your tax dollars. $3o billion is real money folks. Your money. And it is only the beginning. Democrats are an expensive lot. And the cost of buying votes keeps increasing.
Posted by: Snuffy on April 23, 2007 09:48 PMThere is hardly a week that goes by that there isn't a mugging at one of the light rail stations including downtown Portland. Is that the type of place that you would want your Mother, or your Sister or how about your 16 year old daughter? I do see the trains all the time, however there is not very many riders. Mostly empty seats.
Posted by: Janet on April 23, 2007 09:51 PMTo top this off, the automobile is on the rise. Lots of folks like to moan about gas prices, but the auto is far cheaper to own and operate than ever before. And over time, it will only become more so. As new technologies replace fossil fuels, and as manufacturing gets better and better, auto costs will continue to drop, in the same way that many other mass produced items are cheaper than ever. A cheap ULEV is far less to own and operate than any regional transit fare, and that's with the MASSIVE subsidies that make the transit system look affordable. A Toyota Yaris gets 40 MPG HWY at just over $11,000 price tag. There's simply no way for transit to compete with the flexibility, greenness, and longevity of these new "disposable" cars. Even if you don't factor in the MASSIVE capital and expense subsidies used to keep Sound Transit alive, there's something far more fair about each person bearing the cost of vehicle maintenance than having a yard full of union wage train mechanics. And I bet the Sounder Trains don't have a multi year warranty like the Yaris either.
And we live in a world of increasing violence. With felon release programs, shooting rampages and constant threat of more gun control, the average Joe will become increasingly dubious of public transit. My brother was mugged at the Rose Garden station of the Portland MAX light rail, and that was about ten years ago. How many people are going to be riding the light rail at night, lugging their bags, through Ranier Valley, to "near" the airport so they can then get on a shuttle to the airport? Crickets chirping.
Most folks wake up every morning and make an economic decision. And for the vast majority, it is far faster and cheaper to drive a car. Will trains be coming soon to the many massive suburban developments? And will those trains connect to the many disparate corporate business parks? NO and NO.
Rail is dead. Money would be far better spent on buses and roads. But the left will continue to dump money into train fantasies.
The left should have the motto: Billions spent, hundreds served.
Posted by: Jeff B. on April 23, 2007 10:38 PMFact is, no. The bill clearly stated that it only partially funded those projects.
See: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/accountability/2005GasTax/
Posted by: Bruce on April 24, 2007 12:16 AMUm, has anything -ANYTHING- been done about the viaduct. As far as I know, it's been about to collapse since they used it to push through the tax. Oh yeah, they've paid millions to take core samples to determine if it stands on any Native American sacred land.
These folks are full of hogwash and you can't deny it.
Posted by: Jeffro on April 24, 2007 05:59 AMThey need to put together the definitive TAX BURDEN summary that includes BOTH what we are already paying AND what the KLOWNS at various levels have proposed.
The R's must take Tax information like this and clearly combine it with all other taxes in a clear, concise summary.
People of all walks have had it.
The problem is the lack of a clear, concise summary of Dem impact on our pocketbooks.
To anyone who knows:
Wasn't the prior state budget 22 billion? How did we end up with a 33 billion budget just two years later. Maybe I'm unaware of this huge cost of living increase. I just don't remember getting more than a 3% cost of living increase during that time. Seriously, why should government budgets grow greater than the cost of living?
Posted by: Jeffro on April 24, 2007 06:50 AM$268/year? Not too bad when I almost had to pay $240/year for a library expansion I don't use and is 10 miles away.
Posted by: swatter on April 24, 2007 06:55 AMNice catch. When you get the number of hands went up, Stefan should make that a new post, or maybe you could guest post. It's important that people realize that no one, even the transit high priests, uses what is an unworkable and expensive system.
Posted by: Jeff B. on April 24, 2007 09:12 AMWho knows . . . maybe we have wised up some. Voters shot down monorail (eventually), and neither of the pricey viaduct replacement options got a majority of "yes" votes. Sounds kinda funny to say it, but that is a positive "negative" trend.
Hopefully that rejection-momentum will carry through to November so we can bury this abomination.
Posted by: Orotund on April 24, 2007 01:44 PM