Seattle Mayor Ed Murray at the grand opening of a new light rail station on Capitol Hill.
Seattle mayor and Sound Transit board member Ed Murray at the opening of a new light rail station on Capitol Hill. Sound Transit

UPDATE: The Sound Transit board voted unanimously to send the package to the ballot. Here's Seattle Subway's victory lap.


ORIGINAL POST: Prepare for another round of light rail news today. The Sound Transit Board is expected to vote at its 1:30 p.m. meeting to officially send Sound Transit 3 to your November ballot. Immediately afterward, "Mass Transit Now," the pro-ST3 campaign, will host a press conference to kick off their efforts. I can't be at today's vote—I'll be trapped in a windowless room interviewing self-important assholes candidates for public office for the SECB—but here are a few things to know:

• The ST3 package that passes the board today won't look much different from the updated version the agency announced late last month. That's the one that featured slightly faster timelines than the original version of ST3 and a few key Seattle wins like an elevated route to Ballard and a station at 130th Street in North Seattle. More here.

• There will be a lot of talk about how "historic" this vote is, especially from county executive/board chair/silver fox Dow Constantine. At $54 billion total with enough projects to double the amount of light rail in the region, ST3 is the largest Sound Transit tax package ever.

• But, remember, the real fight to pass it hasn't even started yet. It's going to be a tough summer for transit advocates, who'll have to battle arguments that Sound Transit needs to talk about it some more and spend less on marketing and that the campaign is being bankrolled by people who will benefit from it (which, duh). Add onto that the fact that Seattle voters will be considering another property tax increase—doubling the housing levy—on the August ballot. Expect months of arguments about bus rapid transit vs. light rail, why light rail is going to take so long, and "tax fatigue." (The pro side is here, the con side is here, and you can register to vote here.)

• Will we hear board members talk much about affordable housing today? I'm not sure, but remember: ST3 isn't just historic in its size, but because it would involve the agency in affordable housing like never before. That hasn't been much of a talking point for the pro side so far, but it should be.

• And what about parking? Publicola has been following the agency's plans for building parking at new rail stations and the guesswork the agency does to figure out how much parking to build. In a package that will be sold as a way to get people out of cars, the board should justify the parking they're including and pledge to charge for it.

• If you want to follow today's vote, you can watch live here. And here is a list of people who are likely to be tweeting from today's board meeting. If you pick just one, make it Seattle Transit Blog.