Comments on: Senator Swecker vs. East Link

By: Rudy

Rudy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:07:50 +0000

An aside -
[deleted, off-topic and ad hominem]

By: Marge

Marge — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:43:08 +0000

Swecker is a conservative but he is hardly anti-tax and mostly never ideological on transportation subjects, except after a visit with former Senator Jim Horn or another representative of Kemper Freeman.

That’s no doubt what’s happening here.

Swecker is the GOP go-to guy on transportation in Olympia these days, at least in the Senate. It is often his job to carry the party water even if he’s really more concerned about getting a traffic light for his district, which seems to be his real priority this year. He’s conservative for sure, but he’s a stand-up guy who represents a whole lot of people on the right wing outer edge.

The bill does help explain why Republicans are scarce in Olympia. They have not been able to get elected anywhere near Lake Washington. One big reason: Kemper Freeman’s all-politics approach to transportation.

Kemper’s iron fist, and rigid ideology on the topic, make it impossible to elect Republicans in places where the GOP once ruled.

This bill is nothing more, than more of the same.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:20:32 +0000

No need to make a public records request for that. You can find it right here: http://www.pdc.wa.gov/QuerySystem/candidates/candidatedata.aspx. When you get there search Daniel Swecker in 2008. John Stanton gave him over $2000, and his wife gave another $1300 or so… It’s perfectly within their rights, and I’m not suggesting there was any quid pro quo, but it certainly shows that Sen. Swecker is supported by some very anti-light rail people who don’t even live in his district.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:38:36 +0000

Lol oops meant to say she!

By: Clueless Republican of the day

Clueless Republican of the day — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:17:51 +0000

[...] Washington state Senator from one of our southern counties wants to stop development of a mass transit rail system across Interstate 90’s floating bridge. You see, if you’re not familiar with our [...]

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:43:30 +0000

Sign it?

By: MattG

MattG — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:46:06 +0000

You are almost required to have one of those signs if you live in Lewis County.

And ill-informed is a great way to describe that area – many down there actually believe that their tax dollars go to support Seattle when, of course, it is King, Pierce, and Spokane counties that support much of the rural areas. Last time I checked I’m sure Lewis County doesn’t have the money to widen and re-pave I-5

By: Brian in Seattle(Wellington,NZ)

Brian in Seattle(Wellington,NZ) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:18:10 +0000

The ironic part is that if you go visit the old downtown area of chehalis, which is compact and walkable, its actually on higher elevation than the valley floor that always gets flooded. The founders of these cities were smarter than today’s councilmen and women.

By: Jason Mitchell

Jason Mitchell — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:09:23 +0000

Sorry. I was suggesting a judicial rather than legislative route.

By: josh

josh — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:55:02 +0000

The definition already doesn’t extend only to rubber-tired vehicles, what it requires is [b]public[/b] vehicular travel. Streetcars are explicitly included in vehicular travel.

If your fixed-guideway rail cars shared a bit of public right-of-way at the ends of the run, but had an exclusive lane in the middle of the run, would they still be streetcars when they were on the bridge?

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:34:05 +0000

See my comment above.

It could be he’s trying to get ST money for rebuilding 520.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:32:34 +0000

Well a good thing to start with is just to look at his list of donors. Then see who he’s carried water for in past legislative sessions.

I’m guessing though this is just one of those “Screw Seattle” things that is always popular with legislators from the more rural parts of the state.

This could also be some sort of gambit to try to extort money out of Sound Transit for use of the I-90 center roadway. Even with tolls, rebuilding 520 is way short of money, why not try to grab that big pile of East sub-area funds ST is sitting on?

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:27:45 +0000

BTW the population of all of Lewis County is only 68,000. You could fit everyone who lives there in Qwest Field with room to spare.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:25:22 +0000

The “Tea Party” movement is big down in Lewis County. But that is really no surprise as it was one of the few places keeping the flame for the John Birch Society after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:23:56 +0000

That does sound like a problem. I mean, it’s clearly an issue when they ask for money for help after they flood…

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:21:24 +0000

The Chehalis Valley is fairly broad its lower reaches (basically the Western part of Lewis County). For the most part any hill would need to be created.

But the real problem is Lewis County continues to permit new development in some of the most flood prone areas of the county.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:01:08 +0000

I’ve never understood this. Why not build twenty feet up a hill?

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:00:00 +0000

I’m not sure what I’d ask for.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:57:22 +0000

It’s density that makes people get it. When you can walk to a beautiful public library, your kids get decent school, your water is clean, your house is protected from burning down, your electricity stays on, and your roads and sidewalks get regular maintenance, you appreciate the investment.

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:56:00 +0000

The first thing that comes to mind is UGB-related issues that come up every time there’s a flood, with Olympia demanding Lewis County officials enforce some semblance of a UGB in accordance with the GMA and lots of Seattle-area media basically saying “it’s their own fault that they get flooded out, they should uproot and move somewhere more sustainable”.

That probably irks them a bit.