SB 5803: A Trojan Horse
While many people are truly frustrated with transportation planning in the Puget Sound region, the problem isn't in Puget Sound. It's in Olympia. It's been said there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" when it comes to transportation.
Well, most of them are in Olympia.
Most of the elected officials in the state capital just can't make up their minds from one year to the next. Last year, Representative Ed Murray helped shut down the vote on Sound Transit Phase II for more transit and light rail after the agency had spent 2 years gathering public input and making plans for the next 10 years.
This plan would have gone to the voters last November in 2006. Today, we could have been on our way toward construction.
Last November, Senator Murray got a promotion. Now he wants to prevent Sound Transit from continuing with the East Link project across I-90 to Bellevue and Redmond. The vendetta against Sound Transit is really getting annoying. The Eastside wants light rail - the people of the 43rd legislative district want light rail.
If the push for regional governance reform was ever truly an honest desire for governance reform, it isn't any more.
It seems to be nothing more than an effort to either kill off Sound Transit as an agency or at least the light rail extension across I-90.
This is really about the right wing philosophy of killing off transit. The Republicans want more roads. More roads so more cars can sit parked on them during rush hour. An increasing number of voters are beginning to understand that we can't build our way out of congestion. So why do we continue to try?
Maybe next year someone other than a billionaire can be placed in charge of studying the issue of governance.
Maybe someone with a background in transportation, for instance. No one will take this concept seriously until Olympia does.
Well, most of them are in Olympia.
Most of the elected officials in the state capital just can't make up their minds from one year to the next. Last year, Representative Ed Murray helped shut down the vote on Sound Transit Phase II for more transit and light rail after the agency had spent 2 years gathering public input and making plans for the next 10 years.
This plan would have gone to the voters last November in 2006. Today, we could have been on our way toward construction.
Last November, Senator Murray got a promotion. Now he wants to prevent Sound Transit from continuing with the East Link project across I-90 to Bellevue and Redmond. The vendetta against Sound Transit is really getting annoying. The Eastside wants light rail - the people of the 43rd legislative district want light rail.
If the push for regional governance reform was ever truly an honest desire for governance reform, it isn't any more.
It seems to be nothing more than an effort to either kill off Sound Transit as an agency or at least the light rail extension across I-90.
This is really about the right wing philosophy of killing off transit. The Republicans want more roads. More roads so more cars can sit parked on them during rush hour. An increasing number of voters are beginning to understand that we can't build our way out of congestion. So why do we continue to try?
Maybe next year someone other than a billionaire can be placed in charge of studying the issue of governance.
Maybe someone with a background in transportation, for instance. No one will take this concept seriously until Olympia does.
