Joel Connelly has an uncommonly good column Wednesday -- "It's time to pull plug on monorail" He even chides the P-I editorial board for being as silly as all the rest of the Kool-Aid drinking monomaniacs. And he quotes pollster Tim Hibbitts who mostly gets it:
"To be blunt," he wrote, "I do not think that the average bureaucrat has any idea of the financial strain that is on the average middle-class family today in cities like Seattle and (Portland).I think it's also running into the reality that those who promise to do wonders for transportatioin and good schools can't seem to deliver on their promises. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 05, 2005 11:48 PM | Email This"We are picking up an increasing resistance and resentment toward the tax and spend crowd that is beginning to come even from those whose politics is distinctly on the liberal side.
"I am not sure where this will go as it presents two disparate avenues. Most of these squeezed middle-class liberals believe in transportation and good schools and are not averse to paying for them. But that attitude is running headfirst into the squeeze they feel about their own finances."
LOL. It's time for Joel to retire along with the P-I.
Posted by: Jeff B. on July 5, 2005 11:55 PMSpeaking of "good schools", any idea on what the per student spending in the Seattle school district is in comparison to, say, the Bellevue school district? Just looking at the local property tax rates, it seems that Seattle is raising a lot more local school tax levy money than Bellevue, while Bellevue undoubtedly has a higher percentage of its population as public school students, in comparison to relatively childless Seattle.
Posted by: Richard Pope on July 6, 2005 12:38 AM"If talk show hosts have their way, the state will vote in November on whether to repeal the Legislature's recently enacted three-year, 9.5-cents-a-gallon gas tax increase."
Why not tell the truth there Joel ?
If the Voters of Washington State have their way!
912 is the people telling Olympia that this false emergency horse crap isn't gonna wash with us.
I only hope that this is just the beginning and that we go through and repeal every one of these bills.
I believe the emergency clause was inacted 88 times in the past session.
The real emergency is the need to replace the arm twisting,and black mailing majority in power and any of the minority without the spine to stand the people's ground.
I have some insight in to the inner workings down there and as I hear it, threats to withhold any districts funding were made to those refusing to play ball.
Instead of giving in, they should be telling their constituents who and what is being said.
If I had permission to name names, I sure as hell would be shouting it to the roof tops.
As for the monorail, if the people of Seattle don't start making the council hear their opinions somewhere other than on this site, they deserve 50 years of taxes.
Ever the pessimist I think the rabid union teachers have come up with the perfect camoflauge. It is called grade inflation. Ever notice that nearly 80 percent of the kids are on honor roll? (Yes, I exaggerate a little but not much.) ("My child is an honor student at ........") bumper stickers.
The illiterate kid comes home with a straight "A" report card and the parents think the school is great, the teacher is great and the kid is great.
The ultimate teacher con, "We'd be even better if we had more money." The liberal voters buy it!
I certainly hope I am wrong.
Posted by: ipsi-dixit on July 6, 2005 08:59 AMI think that I can speak for quite a few from the 'region' and only use one finger doing so in response to this suggestion.
Posted by: JDH on July 6, 2005 09:03 AMSeattle's 2004-05 operating budget was $443,666,649. Enrollment for 2003-04 was 44,650 students. Per student spending was $9,937 per year.
Bellevue's 2004-05 operating budget was $129 million. Enrollment for 2003-04 was 15,396 students. Per student spending was $8,379 per year.
Seattle spends 19% more per student than Bellevue. But which district would you rather have your children attend?
Another example of how monomaniacal liberals in Seattle burn money like it is going out of style, with practically nothing to show for the extra spending.
Posted by: Richard Pope on July 6, 2005 09:17 AMJoe Connola is dim (liberal) enough to really believe that we are guided by talk radio hosts and not our own convictions.
It is part of his liberal "good home training" and victim mentality turned our way.
He covets an ideology where denial and obfuscation are necessary survival tools. The profound social illness that is
the consequence of such defiant obduracy in substitution for honesty and forthrightness concerning real problems has
yet to reach us. No apocalypse, just natural consequences.
Connola won’t be able to cope with the social breakdown coming our way, but it won’t matter anyway;
he’s a liberal, he’ll just *move on* leaving little figurative turds on his trail.