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Thursday, March 22, 2007

Chopp Out of Sync with His District. Pt. 2

posted by on March 22 at 11:22 AM

The PI has a story today breaking down the viaduct vote. The data shows which neighborhoods supported the elevated rebuild: West Seattle and Magnolia.

The article doesn’t broach this subject, but the data they present also shows which neighborhoods didn’t support the elevated rebuild.

Yep, as polling had shown, Rep. Frank Chopp’s very own 43rd District (U-District, Wallingford, Capitol Hill) came out heavy against his pet plan, the elevated rebuild.

UPDATE: And by heavy, I mean: 73.8% against the rebuild in Chopp’s 43rd District, according to King County Elections. Oh, and 65.4% against in the 37th District, South Seattle. Talk about “Hell No!”

RSS icon Comments

1

Again: who lives on Harbor Island?

Posted by Fnarf | March 22, 2007 11:21 AM
2

Josh,

I'd rather read your ramblings on Agent Zero, Chopp is going nowhere

Posted by rwatson | March 22, 2007 11:35 AM
3

Not to mention the small fact that the Surface and Transit option is the only one that we can, you know, afford.

Money needs to be directed to 520 and improving cross Lake transit links, and I say that as a West Seattleite who never goes to the east side. Sometimes we have to sacrifice for the overall good of the community.

Posted by Original Andrew | March 22, 2007 11:38 AM
4

i have a problem with reasoning like this. if you don't like a reps views, and they are different than their constituents, then you can complain that he is out of step with those he represents. if you disagree with a reps views, but they are lock step with his constituents, then you can complain that he should do what is right, not just what will get him elected.

Posted by konstantconsumer | March 22, 2007 11:39 AM
5

I wonder why the U-District was so pro tunnel.

Posted by Gitai | March 22, 2007 11:47 AM
6

OK, I looked at the map, and while the underwater tunnel was soundly stomped on by Seattle - and with good reason - it is true that the only area that had ANY support for the underwater tunnel - surface/hybrid mealymouthed fake name or whatever - was in fact pretty much showing on the map as being ONLY the 43rd District.

And the highest No vote on the Viaduct was in fact also contiguous with the 43rd District.

However, Frank is Speaker of the House. And, he is very much in touch with the district - as you well know, Josh.

Now, once they kill off RTID and the combined ST-RTID vote requirement - let's get back to DOUBLING LOCAL TRANSIT.

Besides, Frank is probably going to get more than 80 percent of the vote - AGAIN. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. Deal with it.

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 22, 2007 11:50 AM
7

@6,
Just reporting the facts, ma'am

Posted by Josh Feit | March 22, 2007 11:56 AM
8

@1 - Illegal immigrants trapped in containers? Homeless dudes sleeping in empty containers?

Even if they live there I doubt they can vote, but it is King County, so anything is possible.

Posted by Soupytwist | March 22, 2007 12:10 PM
9

I'd really like to see some breakdown of no/no and yes/yes votes...

Posted by gfish | March 22, 2007 12:22 PM
10

Look. Chopp is elected from arguably the most liberal LD in the state. However, his approach as Speaker is to govern for "one Washington" by maintaining as big a majority as possible, even if it means Seattle gets screwed in the process. Hey Frank, another option would be to strategically govern to maintain a slimmer majority but advocate for the progressives who elected you.
Let's face it folks: Frank is obviously one of the shining stars of the Seattle delegation, but his focus is statewide. Most (not all, but most) of our Seattle legislators are weak. Seattle will continue to get screwed in Olympia until egos are put aside and they start advocating for the district they represent.

Posted by Seattle-Schmeattle | March 22, 2007 12:45 PM
11

Look, Josh, I told you that I looked at the pics (think it was Times images) of the vote breakdown - and noticed it pretty much mapped with the 43rd boundaries.

But at least Frank is working on getting us more transit - he delivers while council quivers. Results matter, which is why Sims wins while the Mayor NIMBYs.

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 22, 2007 12:47 PM
12

Whereas the 43rd District re-elects Frank Chopp with 80 percent of the vote DESPITE his position on the Viaduct, I'd say it's pretty clear Josh Feit is the one who is out of touch with the voters in the 43rd District.

Posted by Ivan | March 22, 2007 1:10 PM
13

Well, Josh always was a bit of a whiner when his interpretation didn't line up with the political reality. But he's a good writer ... not as good as ECB of course ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 22, 2007 1:23 PM
14

The tunnel/elevated maps are inverse of one another. I can understand the more liberal districts supporting the tunnel, but I don't get is why West Seattle didn't support the tunnel.

If it's just about transportation, I would have thought they'd vote yes/yes. Maybe the key issue really is those purdy views you get driving on the viaduct.

Posted by Matthew | March 22, 2007 1:50 PM
15

#9 SurveyUSA poll - pretty good breakouts


http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=7901726d-5d7e-43fb-9697-bdebbfb50bc2

#5 well maybe students that pay no taxes and plan to move think it would be cool -

Posted by Kush | March 22, 2007 2:04 PM
16

#14 The poll taken in January showed that when people were told the price tags and Seattle's responsibility for cost overruns, the support for the tunnel went way down. I would say that the people in West Seattle want capacity, the views, at no additional cost to them or the rest of the city, seems pretty rational.

Posted by Kush | March 22, 2007 2:10 PM
17

Couldn't resist taking this one step further, and overlaying Chopp's district on the PI heat map. It's here: http://transit.spymyshadow.com/2007/03/alaskan_way_via.html

Posted by Mike | March 22, 2007 2:36 PM
18

I agree with the interesting blotch at the UW - but technically, that is part of the 43rd ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 22, 2007 2:44 PM
19

oh, and your keypad thing doesn't work, Mike @17 ... at least not for verifying ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 22, 2007 2:46 PM
20

Taking another look you might just want to add Greenwood, Queen Anne, Northgate, and that hipster haven Ballard to the 50% or over support for the elevated. If you have to actually use the corridor, maintaining capacity appears to win people over.

Who wouldn't love to see real mass transit in this town? But after watching the monorail throttled in it's crib by our visionary leaders, I'm just a tad skeptical that it can happen. And it looks like West Seattle isn't the only neighborhood that isn't too thrilled about being the subject of a "new urbanism" experiement

Posted by Westside forever | March 22, 2007 3:57 PM
21

Will@19: your comment is up. I had an odd period of spam comments when I first started that blog, so I tightened up security and approve everything beforehand. I probably should loosen it up.

Posted by Mike@17 | March 22, 2007 4:45 PM
22

thanks @21. now you know why noone posts ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 22, 2007 5:16 PM

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