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News & ArtsMonday, August 15, 2011
Transportation / Politics $20 Car Tab Fee Deal in Jeopardy as King County Council Caucuses in Perpetual Recess (Update: IT PASSED!)
Posted by Goldy on Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 3:56 PM
- Goldy | The Stranger
- Your tax dollars at work.
"The wheels are coming off the bus," one insider confided, as King County Council members continue to caucus in recess, more than two hours after today's meeting was first gaveled to order. At this point, according to my source, councilmanic approval of the $20 congestion reduction fee now appears unlikely.
On Friday, pro-transit members of the council were all smiles as an agreement was announced in which suburban Republican members Jane Hague and Kathy Lambert would support councilmanic approval in exchange for elimination of the Seattle's downtown Ride Free Area, and other reforms. The deal was touted as averting a 17 percent cut in Metro bus service. But word is that Hague and Lambert are wavering after a weekend of political pressure, and are now demanding changes.
Hague, who was for the fee before she was against it before she was for it, told reporters on Friday that there was "zero" chance she would vote against the fee on Monday. Well, today is Monday, and we're still waiting for her to live up to her pledge.
UPDATES:
4:30 — Another few hours of my life wasted in council chambers. No end in sight.
4:35 — Recess extended until 4:55. Like I'm buying that.
4:50 — Reagan Dunn and Pete von Reichbauer are very jovial right now. And that can't be a good thing.
5:15 — Lesson learned: Never cover a King County Council meeting without bringing pemmican and lembas. I'm so hungry. Somebody please send me a pizza.
5:24 — PURE SPECULATION: The deal is dead, and the Dems are debating whether to put it on the ballot or not. Why? If Hague loses reelection (and who likes a flip-flop-flip-flopper?) they can approve it councilmanically in January. But if the fee loses at the polls, it'll be dead, dead, dead, politically.
5:41 — I found an almond on the floor of the council chambers. What do you think... eat it?
5:50 — Ohmigod! They're back!
5:54 — And... they're gone! Now they're just teasing us.
6:15 — Tweet and ye shall receive: Pizza!
- Goldy | The Stranger
- Bruce Nourish of STB delivers a pizza to council chambers. Yum!
6:25 — Back in session! Really. I mean it.
6:43 — Patterson just complimented Hague on 8 ride tickets for car tab payers. Weird, if Hague is going to vote against this. Or, you know, kinda savvy.
6:54 — Laptop out of power. Slogging from my fucking phone.
6:57 — Hague supporting it. So it passes! (Lambert too!)
7:03 — Dunn and PvR no longer smiling.
7:06 — Dunn: "I want to confirm that council member Ferguson smells fantastic."
7:12 — PvR talking... But the vote will be 7-2 in favor.
7:18 — Folks still talking. God I hope my dog's bladder hasn't exploded yet.
7:22 — Please stop talking and pass the fucking ordinance already, before somebody else changes their mind!
7:30 — It's over: passes 7-2!
3
IF this is a plot to destroy the last vestiges of a Republican Party in King County, here you go. Esepcially if the Friday deal dies because of Councilor Dunn's "quiet act" filibuster.
4
Can we clarify something? Not all "pro-transit" folks are "on our side." Some "pro-transit" folks are actually pro-corporate and pro-big business masquerading as progressive, like FUSE. Around the country, local, state, and the federal government are responding to the effects of the financial crisis caused by Wall Street by making working people pay more for less through budget cuts. Over the last 35 years, Democrats and Republicans have reduced corporate taxes while raising taxes on working class people and reducing access to services and programs we need (and pay for). In the meantime, the Pentagon budget steadily rises every year.
I've read some comments on the Seattle Times website by ostensibly "progressive" Seattle folks that are appalling. Some progressive folks are "happy" to pay the car tab fee but they wish things would change. If you are "happy" paying more for less while corporations and Big Business pay less for more, then you are not progressive and things will never change.
They built for Paul Allen and made businesses along the route cover half the cost through an LID. Why can't the same be done for Metro? Where's the shared sacrifice?
I've read some comments on the Seattle Times website by ostensibly "progressive" Seattle folks that are appalling. Some progressive folks are "happy" to pay the car tab fee but they wish things would change. If you are "happy" paying more for less while corporations and Big Business pay less for more, then you are not progressive and things will never change.
They built for Paul Allen and made businesses along the route cover half the cost through an LID. Why can't the same be done for Metro? Where's the shared sacrifice?
5
IF this is a plot to destroy the last vestiges of a Republican Party in King County, here you go. Esepcially if the Friday deal dies because of Councilor Dunn's "quiet act" filibuster. Great work being a King County Clowncilor, if you can get it.
7
Hague is clearly trying to gin up a test case for the pitfalls of voting by mail. I voted over two weeks ago and felt out of step on Friday. Now the people who voted on Saturday can share my disorientation.
9
the best thing about Metro is the downtown free ride zone! and they're trading it away for ONE VOTE? GMAFB. do any of these people actually ride the bus? don't answer me - i know the answer.
11
"IF this is a plot to destroy the last vestiges of a Republican Party in King County, here you go."
Do you mean the 55% of King County that voted for I1053 and against I1098? Sorry, they're not going anywhere.
Do you mean the 55% of King County that voted for I1053 and against I1098? Sorry, they're not going anywhere.
12
I've been afraid something like this would happen. Have we tried keeping the pressure up on the pro-transit side?
Please call Jane Hague (206-296-1006) and Kathy Lambert (206-296-1003) and tell them you support preserving metro transit via the $20 car tab fee!
Please call Jane Hague (206-296-1006) and Kathy Lambert (206-296-1003) and tell them you support preserving metro transit via the $20 car tab fee!
13
Damn! We need college educate, transit obsessed white liberals to impose more of these stupid, regressive fees and taxes so they can gentrify Seattle. It's the only way we can convince the plebs to vote against an income tax and for Eyman's 2/3 rule.
What are you thinking, impose another regressive tax!
What are you thinking, impose another regressive tax!
14
Reagan Dunn is playing Big Government back room dealer, everything he will claim to campaign against.
15
Reagan Dunn is probably sexting his wife right now. Or at least we HOPE it's his lovely wife and not the MARRIED Secretary of Defense for the State of Washington or somebody who'll leak to Andrew Breitbart or Heather Brooke!
16
Jane Hague obviously had this planned all along. This was a total ploy for the mail in ballots to try to secure her place on the council. I sure hope that everyone voted her out of office anyway, because who wants someone like this on the council. It's not about doing what is right for the city, it's about doing what's right for her agenda.
18
I swear, if Hague & Lambert let Metro take a 17% cut... it's time for Seattle to become it's own city-state.
19
If someone has enough money to own and maintain a vehicle, then they can spare an extra 20 bucks to save Metro. I can't believe people are having a "tax" freakout over so little. Seriously, $20 over a year is nothing for 99.9% of the population, right?
20
What @18 said.
Don't think we can't get the sigs for doing that, cause we can.
Our economy is larger than that of five other states, after all.
Don't think we can't get the sigs for doing that, cause we can.
Our economy is larger than that of five other states, after all.
22
So Goldy...
Has Mary Lane Strow been sighted?
Has Dori Monson been in the building?
Has Tim Lieyman been snuck in behind the back door?
Has Dean C. Logan been offered a new contract to come back and screw Washington State again?
WTF is wrong with the King County Clowncil?
Has Mary Lane Strow been sighted?
Has Dori Monson been in the building?
Has Tim Lieyman been snuck in behind the back door?
Has Dean C. Logan been offered a new contract to come back and screw Washington State again?
WTF is wrong with the King County Clowncil?
25
How does Dunn's support of the RFZ equate to a "quiet" filibuster? I don't get that aspect of this crappy turn of events.
26
@25 Dunn support RFZ? Nope. He wants to kill the car tab so he's keeping this recess going as long as he can. Acting more like a Playground Cop than the Heir to McKenna (TM).
27
" let Metro take a 17% cut... "
Are u one of the morons who believes Metro?
Pay up or the kitten dies!
Are u one of the morons who believes Metro?
Pay up or the kitten dies!
28
" $20 over a year is nothing for 99.9% of the population, right"
That's the problem with the left. A little slice here, a little slice there. Pretty soon you've taken the whole fucking salami and then you're stunne when I1053 passes and 1098 fails.
That's the problem with the left. A little slice here, a little slice there. Pretty soon you've taken the whole fucking salami and then you're stunne when I1053 passes and 1098 fails.
29
Really? "You're" tax dollars at work?
And @ 26, you think Reagan Dunn wants to keep a meeting going longer than the bare minimum?? You've clearly never the met the guy.
And @ 26, you think Reagan Dunn wants to keep a meeting going longer than the bare minimum?? You've clearly never the met the guy.
30
" $20 over a year is nothing"
And you're the reason why I 1053 passed. Thanks for your hard work ad failure to understand working Americans.
And you're the reason why I 1053 passed. Thanks for your hard work ad failure to understand working Americans.
31
@28 as a % of income, our tax burden in the lowest it has been in over 70 years, so (1) we still have more of the salami now then ever in our lifetimes and (2) you're a moron if you wan't to return to a standard of living equivalent to pre 1930s.
32
Has anyone figured out any of the following?
Why a 5% increase (what the tabs would bring annually to the transportation budget of roughly 540 million) will supposedly save 17% of the cuts they're threatening us with?
How much it will cost to mail out 8 vouchers to the more than 1.5 million people who register a vehicle in KC?
Why Metro doesn't just increase efficiency and right size the damn busses in the first place, instead of demanding the CRC and 25 million annually to accomplish those tasks?
Anyone?? Bueller? BUELLER??
Why a 5% increase (what the tabs would bring annually to the transportation budget of roughly 540 million) will supposedly save 17% of the cuts they're threatening us with?
How much it will cost to mail out 8 vouchers to the more than 1.5 million people who register a vehicle in KC?
Why Metro doesn't just increase efficiency and right size the damn busses in the first place, instead of demanding the CRC and 25 million annually to accomplish those tasks?
Anyone?? Bueller? BUELLER??
33
They reappeared to see if the almond was still on the floor.
There is money on that, they're waiting until 6pm, then Lambert cleans up, betting against Goldy eating the almond.
There is money on that, they're waiting until 6pm, then Lambert cleans up, betting against Goldy eating the almond.
34
@32 "right sizing" buses does nothing. Most of bus costs are in operating hours, not capital expense or even fuel cost. It comes down to the cost of labor. If you're paying someone to drive around, you might as well have them drive around as many people as possible. That full down-sized bus that can't pick up any more people is losing potential fares.
Want to save money? Fire people. Oops, that's where our 17% cuts comes from - each lost line represents a whole group of new people in the unemployment line.
But you keep your $20 and walk. That's the smart choice. [/sarcasm]
Want to save money? Fire people. Oops, that's where our 17% cuts comes from - each lost line represents a whole group of new people in the unemployment line.
But you keep your $20 and walk. That's the smart choice. [/sarcasm]
35
Photo caption s/b "Your tax dollars at work" not "You're tax dollars at work". We are not tax dollars (but we may be at work).
36
Here's a new simulation of what it will be like inside the DBT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4oT9LlnL…
(Scuttlebutt is the CGI cost over $10 million to make.)
37
@34. So let me get this straight. You're telling us right sizing will do nothing, yet Dow is touting it as a huge concession/reform? Interesting.
Also interesting? Your lack of anything resembling a response on the other bullshit concessions/reforms we're being sold with this turd sandwich of a "deal."
And thanks for letting me keep my own money. Since you line to tell people what they can do with their own things, you'll no doubt like this: Please, feel free to give your money away to anybody who screams fire, or uses numbers like "17% cuts!" without a second thought.
Also interesting? Your lack of anything resembling a response on the other bullshit concessions/reforms we're being sold with this turd sandwich of a "deal."
And thanks for letting me keep my own money. Since you line to tell people what they can do with their own things, you'll no doubt like this: Please, feel free to give your money away to anybody who screams fire, or uses numbers like "17% cuts!" without a second thought.
38
Are they watching Monday Night Football? I so want to read outside instead of listen to a stream of elevator music!
41
When Metro employees are all on 401(K)'s and paying the same percentage of their income for their health insurance premiums in as the schlubs in the private sector, when the drivers are paid what bus drivers are paid in the private sector, when they staff overtime with the least expensive drivers instead of using overtime as a pension spiking mechanism for the most senior drivers, etc, etc, etc - then I'll support more tax subsidies. *Then* they'll have "cut to the bone." Until then, fuuuuuuuck Metro.
I can support government as an efficient provider of public goods, but not as a unionized patronage machine that overcharges and under delivers.
I can support government as an efficient provider of public goods, but not as a unionized patronage machine that overcharges and under delivers.
42
Seattle needs to have our own transit, pull our funding from Metro and let Bellevue and Federal Way suffer.
45
I'm happy after a world-class recess, we have a few Republicans who will do what is right and just for disabled people.
50
8 rides at $2.50 each is $20.
So basically, the sick logic of this, is that they have to count on people NOT USING THEM and instead USING THEIR CARS or else they would lose as much money in fares as the car tab fee.
But because they realize that most people will continue to use their cars and NEVER SET FOOT on a bus -- they will net the full $20!!
51
The kicker, Bailo, is that those eight passes are for bus rides that cost a lot more than $20 -- since bus fare only covers a small portion of each bus trip. Is your head exploding yet?
52
@41: private bus drivers don't generally need to deal with a full shift of just city driving big busses with the extra bonus of dealing with some very disturbed people almost every day.
53
@50, close. If 20 people are on a bus, and they let me on with a pass it doesn't fucking matter. The bus is going with or without me.
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