Seattle Times: No
Post Intelligencer: Yes
This measure would expand and coordinate light-rail, commuter-rail, and express bus service…authorize Sound Transit to impose an additional five-tenths of one percent sales and use tax, and to use existing taxes to fund the local share of the $17.9 billion estimated cost…
On transportation related issues, I always try to find out what I can from a subject matter expert: Tony Woody, P.E., a transportation engineer who has led and worked on a variety of freeway, arterial, and transit micro-simulation projects. His professional experience includes traffic operational analysis, transportation planning, and microscopic traffic simulation modeling. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Washington. Note that although he obtained his Bachelor’s from Oregon State University, this is more than offset by the fact that his Master’s is from that fantastic institution of learning that is the University of Washington. Although he is slightly biased in relation to this proposition, a summary of Prop 1 from Tony Woody, P.E.:
Post Intelligencer: Yes
This measure would expand and coordinate light-rail, commuter-rail, and express bus service…authorize Sound Transit to impose an additional five-tenths of one percent sales and use tax, and to use existing taxes to fund the local share of the $17.9 billion estimated cost…
On transportation related issues, I always try to find out what I can from a subject matter expert: Tony Woody, P.E., a transportation engineer who has led and worked on a variety of freeway, arterial, and transit micro-simulation projects. His professional experience includes traffic operational analysis, transportation planning, and microscopic traffic simulation modeling. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Washington. Note that although he obtained his Bachelor’s from Oregon State University, this is more than offset by the fact that his Master’s is from that fantastic institution of learning that is the University of Washington. Although he is slightly biased in relation to this proposition, a summary of Prop 1 from Tony Woody, P.E.:
Prop 1 will fund:
· Additional Light Rail facilities to the North (Northgate w/extension possibly to Lynnwood) and East (Bellevue/Redmond)
· Increase Buses by something like 17%
· Provide easy access to a large portion of Puget Sound region homes (many new stations, stops, P&R with 1/2 mile of homes/business)
· Additional planning studies for new lines to Issaquah, and the South
· The ability to expand capacity for 50+ years (roads are already maxed out)
Some of the things that might be conceived as a disadvantage are the design modifications (conversion of lanes to tracks, etc.), but these changes are actually expected to make a net increase in mobility because we will have less people in vehicles. In addition, this will be something that we can continue to expand on for a long period of time.
For more information, check out the Seattle Times Proposition 1 Guide, which has a quick and dirty summary, plus Pros and Cons as well as the Seattle Times Voter’s Guide which has statements from both sides. See also the Sound Transit website, and click on the “Setting the Record Straight” for misleading or untrue statements about this proposition.
Why vote yes? Light rail is superior to buses. We need to encourage people to get out of their cars and into mass transit, and they only way to do that is if it is quicker and easier and light rail would do that. This proposition won’t even have light rail come out to Issaquah (although I keep trying to tell Tony’s wife to get him to sneak it in there somehow), but I still support it because we need to start off with a base network of light rail, and then expand from there.
Yes, we have excellent bus service in King County Metro, with more than 9,000 stops. It provides a spider web of services whereas light rail will only have a few stations to begin with. But we have to start somewhere, and buses have problems that light rail solves, and would therefore encourage people to get out of their cars. Problems such as…
Buses get stuck in traffic. When I’m sitting on the bus, and we’re not moving because of a traffic accident or a Mariner’s game, I think to myself, I should have drove in today. Yes, you can build more bus lanes, but light rail has dedicated tracks. I’d think about trading in light rail for buses if you agree to build bus-only lanes for the majority of their routes. And that still doesn’t solve the problem of when buses merge onto the freeway or other streets and have to fight through regular traffic just to get to the HOV lane, like you do by my house. Yes, this issue is being fixed in many areas, but light rail would never have that issue.
Another reason light rail is more efficient, is because you would be able to get on and off much more quickly. For commuter park n’ rides, in the morning, when I get on the bus, it takes way too long for the entire line to snake through one set of doors. Same thing when you get off in evening, you have to pay and go through one set of doors. With light rail, you’ve already paid as you get to the loading area, so when the train comes, it’s an easy on or off through multiple sets of doors, making the whole process more efficient. Okay, maybe time-wise, you only save a few minutes, but the perception of efficiency would help encourage people to take light rail rather than buses.
So, maybe you’re all for mass transit, but you don’t like the cost. The position of the Seattle Times is that a 0.5% increase would bring our sales tax to 9.5% in Seattle, one of the highest in the nation, and that it would retard the economy and hurt the poor.
First of all, we don’t have a state income tax, so quit your whining about the high sales tax. The second part is, do people really stand in a store and think, well, I was going to buy those shoes for $70 ($76.30 with tax), but now, with the additional tax, those shoes are going to cost me $76.65, so I’ll pass? If I was making a big purchase, I would consider the impact of the sales tax. But right now, when I’m calculating the sales tax, I just round it off to 10% anyway. As in, hmmm, I was thinking of buying a Tag Heuer watch for $2,000, can I really afford that? Oh, wait I need to adjust for tax, so really it would be about $2,200 – can I afford that amount? One other thing to note: most food in groceries are not subject to tax. But if you really need to make a non-grocery purchase, and you’re low on money, it would be easier to select the $40 pair of shoes rather than the $70 pair, rather than worrying about the 0.5% increase in sales tax.
What’s the actual dollar impact to you? The typical adult would pay about $69 a year, and the median household, earning around $65,000 a year, would pay $125 per year. That doesn't include sales taxes paid by businesses, some of which would be passed on through higher prices.
When the Seattle Times Editorials came out with their recommendation against Prop 1, it occurred right about when the credit crisis was happening and the Dow Jones was taking a tumble. I think their thinking back then was, why add on a tax now with the economy in shambles?
The PI endorsement came out more recently. The thinking here is that, yeah, a tax isn’t great right now, but what’s worse is job loss. It’s all about “jobs, baby, jobs.” From the PI Editorials:
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels estimates at least 66,00 direct and indirect jobs would be created, and the US. DOT estimates 47,500 jobs are created for every billion dollars invested in transportation projects. These are jobs that will not come to the region if we do not expand mass transit.
Vote Yes if you understand that light rail is far superior to buses and realize the benefits in terms of transportation, environment, and jobs outweigh the costs.
Vote No if you can only see in the short-term and want only immediate fixes, or you believe building more freeway lanes will relieve congestion (which it will not, since it just means more people would end up driving), or if you enjoy sitting in a bus while it’s stuck in traffic.
Why vote yes? Light rail is superior to buses. We need to encourage people to get out of their cars and into mass transit, and they only way to do that is if it is quicker and easier and light rail would do that. This proposition won’t even have light rail come out to Issaquah (although I keep trying to tell Tony’s wife to get him to sneak it in there somehow), but I still support it because we need to start off with a base network of light rail, and then expand from there.
Yes, we have excellent bus service in King County Metro, with more than 9,000 stops. It provides a spider web of services whereas light rail will only have a few stations to begin with. But we have to start somewhere, and buses have problems that light rail solves, and would therefore encourage people to get out of their cars. Problems such as…
Buses get stuck in traffic. When I’m sitting on the bus, and we’re not moving because of a traffic accident or a Mariner’s game, I think to myself, I should have drove in today. Yes, you can build more bus lanes, but light rail has dedicated tracks. I’d think about trading in light rail for buses if you agree to build bus-only lanes for the majority of their routes. And that still doesn’t solve the problem of when buses merge onto the freeway or other streets and have to fight through regular traffic just to get to the HOV lane, like you do by my house. Yes, this issue is being fixed in many areas, but light rail would never have that issue.
Another reason light rail is more efficient, is because you would be able to get on and off much more quickly. For commuter park n’ rides, in the morning, when I get on the bus, it takes way too long for the entire line to snake through one set of doors. Same thing when you get off in evening, you have to pay and go through one set of doors. With light rail, you’ve already paid as you get to the loading area, so when the train comes, it’s an easy on or off through multiple sets of doors, making the whole process more efficient. Okay, maybe time-wise, you only save a few minutes, but the perception of efficiency would help encourage people to take light rail rather than buses.
So, maybe you’re all for mass transit, but you don’t like the cost. The position of the Seattle Times is that a 0.5% increase would bring our sales tax to 9.5% in Seattle, one of the highest in the nation, and that it would retard the economy and hurt the poor.
First of all, we don’t have a state income tax, so quit your whining about the high sales tax. The second part is, do people really stand in a store and think, well, I was going to buy those shoes for $70 ($76.30 with tax), but now, with the additional tax, those shoes are going to cost me $76.65, so I’ll pass? If I was making a big purchase, I would consider the impact of the sales tax. But right now, when I’m calculating the sales tax, I just round it off to 10% anyway. As in, hmmm, I was thinking of buying a Tag Heuer watch for $2,000, can I really afford that? Oh, wait I need to adjust for tax, so really it would be about $2,200 – can I afford that amount? One other thing to note: most food in groceries are not subject to tax. But if you really need to make a non-grocery purchase, and you’re low on money, it would be easier to select the $40 pair of shoes rather than the $70 pair, rather than worrying about the 0.5% increase in sales tax.
What’s the actual dollar impact to you? The typical adult would pay about $69 a year, and the median household, earning around $65,000 a year, would pay $125 per year. That doesn't include sales taxes paid by businesses, some of which would be passed on through higher prices.
When the Seattle Times Editorials came out with their recommendation against Prop 1, it occurred right about when the credit crisis was happening and the Dow Jones was taking a tumble. I think their thinking back then was, why add on a tax now with the economy in shambles?
The PI endorsement came out more recently. The thinking here is that, yeah, a tax isn’t great right now, but what’s worse is job loss. It’s all about “jobs, baby, jobs.” From the PI Editorials:
All things being equal, we'd support the expansion of Sound Transit for many reasons…We could make the case on transportation grounds, the environment…But all things are not equal. Not now…The first priority in this economy must be the creation of good-paying jobs and voting yes on Proposition 1 will do just that… Sound Transit is a critical public works project. A one-half cent boost in the sales tax seems a reasonable price to pay for so many new jobs.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels estimates at least 66,00 direct and indirect jobs would be created, and the US. DOT estimates 47,500 jobs are created for every billion dollars invested in transportation projects. These are jobs that will not come to the region if we do not expand mass transit.
Vote Yes if you understand that light rail is far superior to buses and realize the benefits in terms of transportation, environment, and jobs outweigh the costs.
Vote No if you can only see in the short-term and want only immediate fixes, or you believe building more freeway lanes will relieve congestion (which it will not, since it just means more people would end up driving), or if you enjoy sitting in a bus while it’s stuck in traffic.
2 comments:
Seattle needs Light Rail to stay on the forefront. Light Rail will continue to provide capacity for a longer period of time than road improvements will. Although it seems on the ocver that it will only benefit transit riders, that is not true, we are all impacted in a positive way by having a multi-modal transportation system.
Besides, Portland has had Light Rail for 23 years - isn't it about time that we start catching up with our friends to the south? Light Rail Transit has been successfully implemented in Portland, Calgary, Edmonton, Dallas, Charlotte, Phoenix, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Houston.
Let's ask ourselves - Is Houston really more progressive than Seattle? Come on, I think we all know the answer to that.
Vote Yes on Prop. 1
Being a transit supporter, I can appreciate all the good reasons you mentioned to approve this measure. But I think you forgot the most important one:
Vote yes if your husband's livelihood is linked to it!
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