I wish Prop 1 to passed countywide but the suburbs voted it down. The only logical thing left for Seattle to do is go it alone. I like that this initiative is a progressive tax and not a sales tax or fee on cars.
it can credibly be snarked that any 'No' vote on your poll comes from some fine person sitting at their computer outside Seattle.
(yes yes "Seattle-only property tax", but consider how if this were to go forward it would affect transit in King county outside Seattle. sure.. @#$'n-em! but that's why 'No' roughly means an outside Seattle voter)
Will this pass? its the 2nd initiative that raises property taxes. Either you vote to fund parks, or vote to fund buses. Tough sell for the average citizen who doesn't want to give their landlord a reason to jack up the rent.
Oh and remember when people were planning to vote against the deep bore tunnel saying 100,000+ cars being directed into downtown traffic wasn't a big deal. But when it came to eliminating bus routes, putting 50,000 cars on the streets, omg this will lead to carmageddon!
Our great masterminds in City Hall already have future property tax levies firmly planned out for the next x years. Funding transit is not part of their plan, thus the MIA.
Can't vote Yes on this unless Schiendelman does something about his hair. We, the voters, cannot bear it through multiple months of campaigning. Will have to tune out.
Fair enough Ben. You've got one Yes vote for the haircut. Do away with the hipster facial hair attempt and swear we will never see sideburns and you'll probably eke out a second Yes vote from this household.
@20, I live in the burbs. I have a car. I also ride and appreciate the Metro. I voted to increase the cost of tabs and sales tax to fund the Metro. Sadly, there were many more people who could not see the logic.
The suburbs are SEATTLE's urban sprawl. This is a nice little fix for the short term, but long term, we will have a much harder time curtailing further sprawl and making our suburbs more dense and sustainable if we can't come up with a regional solution. Failure to do so will only mean we lose time in the fight to make our region a more dense, transit oriented place, with transportation options for all. Preserving a transit oriented island in a sea of sprawl sounds like failure to me.
Sen. David Frockt (46th) is missing but the two Reps are repping.
This tax doesn't increase routes to get me out of my car. I am forced to drive regardless. At least with this proposal my car isn't a money cow to be milked. I will vote yes on this one, and no on all other proposals going forward.
It's insulting to me that my rep played this off as a temporary fix until Olympia provides a solution.
Attn: Rep Farrell, property taxes are forever. At no point do I expect Olympia to do anything at anytime.
@23, if the so-called suburbs keep cutting transit's throat by opposing every measure they believe will cost them too much money, how can we continue to rely on a "regional solution"? We have no choice but to go city solution since the region won't cooperate.
@24, the tax may not increase routes, but your trips won't be delayed or impeded by more cars joining you.
But stupid question, what is causing the crisis. Is it less funding from the state, or increase costs or both? Wasn't there a crisis last year and they cut services and raised prices? What is causing year after year crisis with metro and can we solve this, or will this just solve this year crisis. Is there a multi-year plan?
@26 Obviously we can't. Preserving service in a small portion of the Seattle metropolitan area is absolutely better than preserving it nowhere. Our region loses big time either way though. Only 15% of us live in the city limits of Seattle, and people commute all over the place. I live in the CD and ride to UW, so no worries for me, but my wife, who needs to get to Bellvue for work, not so much.
@28
Short answer is "less funding from the state? How can you get less than $0?"
Seriously. Washington state ranks dead last in the whole country for transit operations funding help from the state. Mississippi does more. Texas does more. Rhode Island does more. DC House Republicans have never suggested a budget with such a small role for transit. We have always paid for it ourselves, through taxes on ourselves, this measure just eliminates the step where we have to get permission from Oly to pay for it ourselves. Which is great.
@26, nope, if metro still went where I need to go then there would be a bus for me to ride on that route. Since there isn't a bus that travels that route then the invisible bus route will not get cut, and the invisible people on the non-existent route will not start driving.
There either is a bus for me to ride or there isn't. And there isn't.
@28
The crisis was caused 15 years ago when I-695 removed metro's primary stable funding source.
Since then, Metro has lurched from one temporary funding solution to another, only to be dropped back into crisis mode when the temporary measures expire. They are extremely dependent on sales tax revenue right now, which fluctuates dramatically with the economy, leading to unkept promises and unexpected cutbacks. Their latest temporary solution, the car tab fee, is set to expire in a matter of months, and the State government has not authorized a renewal.
And during all of this, ridership has been constantly increasing. Service is getting downright terrible on core routes with frequent crowding, delays, and extremely poor schedule reliability.
You'd think they would want to go into the 2015 election being hailed as heroes for saving the buses...
(yes yes "Seattle-only property tax", but consider how if this were to go forward it would affect transit in King county outside Seattle. sure.. @#$'n-em! but that's why 'No' roughly means an outside Seattle voter)
Oh and remember when people were planning to vote against the deep bore tunnel saying 100,000+ cars being directed into downtown traffic wasn't a big deal. But when it came to eliminating bus routes, putting 50,000 cars on the streets, omg this will lead to carmageddon!
Okay really I think that's a fun idea, I just wanted to say that.
This tax doesn't increase routes to get me out of my car. I am forced to drive regardless. At least with this proposal my car isn't a money cow to be milked. I will vote yes on this one, and no on all other proposals going forward.
It's insulting to me that my rep played this off as a temporary fix until Olympia provides a solution.
Attn: Rep Farrell, property taxes are forever. At no point do I expect Olympia to do anything at anytime.
I hope you get Carlye to take a position on this issue.
@24, the tax may not increase routes, but your trips won't be delayed or impeded by more cars joining you.
Short answer is "less funding from the state? How can you get less than $0?"
Seriously. Washington state ranks dead last in the whole country for transit operations funding help from the state. Mississippi does more. Texas does more. Rhode Island does more. DC House Republicans have never suggested a budget with such a small role for transit. We have always paid for it ourselves, through taxes on ourselves, this measure just eliminates the step where we have to get permission from Oly to pay for it ourselves. Which is great.
There either is a bus for me to ride or there isn't. And there isn't.
Excuses don't cut it anymore.
The crisis was caused 15 years ago when I-695 removed metro's primary stable funding source.
Since then, Metro has lurched from one temporary funding solution to another, only to be dropped back into crisis mode when the temporary measures expire. They are extremely dependent on sales tax revenue right now, which fluctuates dramatically with the economy, leading to unkept promises and unexpected cutbacks. Their latest temporary solution, the car tab fee, is set to expire in a matter of months, and the State government has not authorized a renewal.
And during all of this, ridership has been constantly increasing. Service is getting downright terrible on core routes with frequent crowding, delays, and extremely poor schedule reliability.