Comments on Report from the Pro-Prop 1 Party

OK, all you opponents of Roads and Transit: now what?

I'm waiting to see and read about YOUR alternative, now that you have (apparently) prevailed tonight.

Perfect Voter, allow perfect cherry picking.

Split the roads into one proposition, the transit into another, and then put both on the ballot.

@1 Gimme the transit without the roads, or at least with no new lanes, and I'll vote for it.

There is no plan B, except to let folks suffer as oil prices skyrocket and they have no other commute options.

The fact is that the Stranger, which used to pride itself for challenging the Seattle consensus, has now gone native. They will find any excuse to prevent meaningful change.

Forward Thrust in 1970...Sound Transit in 1995...Monorail in 2005...Prop 1 in 2007. At every key moment, this region fails to embrace mass transit, and the acolytes of a new urbanism, like the Stranger, have continued that ugly trend. They've become everything they used to criticize.

@3, in her post from the anti-Prop 1 party, Erica explains that the Sierra Club will author a new measure...that will include roads.

Something does not add up here.

It will include "maintenance and safety" improvements on EXISTING roads, NOT addition of any NEW roads.

Learn to read, fer chrissakes.

As a pretty solid pro-Prop-1 agitator, I sure hope you guys are right, that a substantially similar transit measure can go on the ballot and pass quickly.

If not, we're screwed.

Just use the backup plan you always had.

The negotiations already started a week ago. You know what that means.

ST2.1 (considering dropping the Pierce County segment which makes no sense until the Tacoma grid expands in dense to moderate density areas)

RTID - dead. dead. dead.

Critical existing bridge/roads/highways repair and replacement - coming back, probably Snohomish and King county only - because Pierce County Exec refused to play nice and so will live in a world of hurt for a while.

Next time don't bring a knife to a gun fight. The personal attacks you did on me and others were beyond the pale and didn't help you. Your basic ideas wouldn't sell and you failed to realize that.

Will,

I'd appreciate you distinguishing me from others like Cressona. I specifically avoided personal attacks against you or anyone else, and if there's a counterexample you can provide, I'd apologize for it.

I hope you're right about 2.1, not that "I" always had one. I also hope that an electorate that clearly distrustful of new taxes and all local government institutions will pass it.

ST2 will not pass, Will, especially if the key funding will come from a MVET. Voters have a long memory, and they'll only remember voting this and the monorail down. They hate taxes and they're not fond of trains.

You have shown absolutely no understanding of why Prop 1 failed.

This is great. A year from now when we're not voting on a new light rail package, I hope someone remembers to drop a flaming bag of dogshit on the Stranger's front stoop.

Thanks, MHD. Sorry that so many felt it necessary to do Karl Marx Rove personal attacks when they were losing the arguments - it didn't help you win the battle of ideas, and I've been in a lot worse, so it's a pretty useless tactic.

And ST2.1 will pass. As will the critical bridges and roads that our county (and maybe Snohomish) will vote on.

But for Pierce County - nothing. They burnt a lot of bridges in this battle and people know it.