The state will defer sales of bonds backed by the gas tax if I-912 makes the ballot, which appears certain. Somebody in Olympia is listening. Good.
Also listening on the subject of the gas tax is the P-I's Joel Connelly. Once you get past his superciliousness ("take on the right wing for dividing the state, and hold it to account for destructive naysaying") he acknowledges the root causes of the "naysaying"
The burdened middle class cries out for relief ... Rethink the gold-plated $4.5 billion viaduct tunnel replacement plan. What can we do with the $2 billion the Legislature has put up? ... Curb the mayor and deputy mayor. Greg Nickels and Tim Ceis have yet to meet a transportation project -- or any project -- they don't like. The city is picking up part of the cost on the $50 million South Lake Union streetcar.It's refreshing when a liberal columnist complains about fiscally irresponsible government for a change. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 13, 2005 08:53 AM | Email ThisPut a Ceis-and-desist order on such boondoggles.
On the other hand, perhaps on some subliminal level even leftist moonbats (redundant, I know) have a primal sense that their pocketbooks are affected (or infected) by this costly nonsense along with those of everyone else.
I would love it if some of this cost/rider info would reach banner level in the msm. As my coffee kicks in I expect to waken from my reverie.
Conversely, perhaps the powers that be will wake up and properly begin awarding Pulitzers to SS and others in the blogosphere that are doing the heavy lifting.
Posted by: scott158 on July 13, 2005 09:46 AMThe FIX was on. Get the rest of the State to pay for a waterfront beautification in the name of a transportation EMERGENCY to line the pockets of LEFTIST PINHEAD cronies. Bad try===No Sale!
Stefan---I think Connelly is a regular reader of SoundPolitics. While I believe Connelly is still a dipsh*t and will always be a dipsh*t...when he actually begins to see the reality every 10 years or so....it's refreshing. God does work in mysterious ways!
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on July 13, 2005 09:50 AMJoel states that, "The three-step 9.5-cent a gallon gas tax increase is a systematic plan to unclog the state's greatest bottlenecks. I-405, the viaduct, and the Evergreen Point Bridge get about half the money."
Another lane on 405 may help, but the plans I've seen so far for the viaduct and Evergreen Point Bridge are only replacements and don't really answer congestion - of course, we have 2.5 billion allocated and don't yet know what for sure it is to pay for. The mismanagement and waste at Sound Transit and the monorail have made gunshy taxpayers even more leary of promises by politicians. We want to see more concrete evidence from them that our money will be well (in our eyes). We want projects on time and on budget. We want congestion relief.
Joel makes his usual comments about conservatives, but then he states, "Republican activists, shut out of the statehouse for two decades, retaliate against perceived spending plans by "liberals."".
If Rebublican activists have been shut out for two decades, who's been running the show (rhetorical)? Why didn't they solve it 10-15 years ago?
Of course, I do need to applaud Joel's final comments. For once, he is right on.
Posted by: SouthernRoots on July 13, 2005 09:59 AMToo bad the elections department didnt have the same policy....
Posted by: chris on July 13, 2005 10:03 AMThe author was correct that many of these projects such as the monorail just deliver expenses and no product.
Where the left has this wrong, is who exactly was signing these initaitives. It was not just republicans, but democrats and liberals also flocked to the initiative. This massive Gas tax will die as the last attempt at a 9 cent gas tax was killed by the people.
He is right that many of these projects need to be eliminated or scaled way way back. We do not need a 4+++++ Billion Viaduct Tunnel when we can fix the existing bridge or build a brand new one for more than half the cost.
We just blew 60 billion on a failed bridge dig, and you want to dig up the entire front of seattle with no expectation of finding artifacts.
Anyone who believes that the viaduct tunnel cost will even resemble the 4 billion estimate, should have their medical marijauna prescription renewed!
Posted by: GS on July 13, 2005 10:07 AM
Huh???? Why should I, a permanent Pullman resident, care about a road that is 175 miles to the west of Pullman? I suppose WSU students and their parents care, but they are residents of Kent, Seattle, Bellevue, Olympia, Tacoma, et. al. if they are driving over to Pullman on SR 26. We have a road just a half-mile east of the town that needs widening on which 3 WSU students died a few years back, but we are still waiting because WSDOT has mismanaged the project.
Dangerous passing? That can be applied to all of SR 26. I don't recall seeing the widening of the entire 150 or so mile length of SR 26 on the list of gas tax projects. What is accomplished by widening just one stretch in Adams County?
However, if Mr Connelly can guarantee that the WSP will no longer patrol SR 26, I'm voting against I-912.
It's amazing how desperate these idiots get when trying to defend this unfair tax, especially with regards to Eastern Washington. Now let's scare the WSU parents into voting against I-912.
Posted by: Felis Concolor on July 13, 2005 10:38 AMNo wonder people are fed up with all the construction projects that accomplish nothing.
Posted by: C. Oh on July 13, 2005 11:23 AMConnelly also dishonestly intimates that the new gas tax will relieve congestion on I-405. While that may be true in certain spots with the money allocated to new onramps and such, if you travel between Bellevue and Southcenter, that new gas tax doesn't build even one new lane in either direction. That mega-project still needs funding.
Posted by: Palouse on July 13, 2005 11:32 AMI will also be fascinated to see if the Re-Elect Rossi/Revoter movement will somehow shoulder the blame when the voters send the gas tax packing...
Posted by: flexnfx on July 13, 2005 12:12 PMExactly. Until we start adding lanes (AND NOT HOV LANES) to the key freeways that carry the largest volumes of traffic to the denser areas, we won't solve our problems. Sure we need to retrofit 520 and the Viaduct to keep them functional, but where are the proposals to widen I-5 through downtown, widen 167, widen and straighten 405, etc. These are the key chokepoints.
Building light rail and tunnels and monorails and other stupid boondoggles are all just distractions from the real transportation probelms facing the Sound. Ultimately, the failure to address these problems in a timely manner is going to drive business out of WA.
We'll have Locke, Gregoire and a whole host of bickering liberals to thank for spending the last 40 years planning with very little results.
Posted by: Jeff B. on July 13, 2005 12:14 PMThe powers that run Puget Sound just want transportation money so they can pretend to solve problems and line the pockets of their developer friends.
I should do what some of your more famous voters (the one from Georgia and all the dead ones come to mind) have done and vote NO on 912 just for the fun of poking the politicians in the eye.
Posted by: Former Seattle Resident on July 13, 2005 04:28 PM