Prop. 1 Round-Up

Here is quick summary of various prop. 1 news.

I am not the only person who thinks the Times’ using congestion reduction as the sole criteria for judging transportation projects is ridiculous. Here’s Goldy on the Times position on Prop. 1. I think I already posted it, but it’s good for a second read. Dan Savage agrees with him. Erica C. Barnett says they should read their own paper, because a million or so more people will move here by the time the work in Prop. 1 is finished, so traffic will suck no matter what.

Also, the Portland comparison the Times has made fails flat. Josh Feit doesn’t like the lazy logic, and shows that Max light rail ridership has grown faster than car travel or population growth. There’s plenty of evidence for this (scroll down). Lucky dogs, Portland got 75% of it’s light rail paid for by the feds. We’ll be lucky to get about 25%. I guess we missed the bus train on that sort of chance. We are getting a better system than them though. Finally, Josh Feit comes back with the facts that show that Portland did not reject light rail three times, but rather voted for it three times.

Of course, the Times keeps piling on the anti-Prop. 1 nonsense on. That crappy article has extensive quotes by Kemper “Japanese interment made my daddy rich” Freeman. And it includes this:

The Eastside rail line would be part of a 50-mile expansion of light rail, including extensions to Lynnwood and Tacoma. The line over Lake Washington would bring trains holding up to 600 people, stopping at each station about every nine minutes during rush hour, according to Sound Transit.

Westbound passengers could stay on the train to head north to Lynnwood or switch trains at the Seattle transit tunnel to go south to Tacoma or Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. About 45,000 people a day would ride the Eastside line by 2030, officials say.

Some of the biggest concerns from Eastside residents are about where the line would go, though Sound Transit wouldn’t pick a route until late next year. This is especially true south of downtown Bellevue, where the trains would run past the Mercer Slough Nature Park and possibly near homes.

Some residents there are opposing Proposition 1, in part, they say, because the trains could block car traffic and require the removal of scores of homes.

Proposition 1 also is raising tensions between some Bellevue and Redmond leaders. The Bellevue City Council has pushed Sound Transit to study a tunnel through downtown Bellevue, but the tunnel would cost an extra $500 million, raising the cost of an Eastside rail line to about $3.5 billion.

Jesus christ. They found the one important guy in Downtown Bellevue who doesn’t want the rail, and have been interviewing him for ages. According to the polls 81% of Eastsiders want the rail part of the package.

Anyway, the P-I has continued it’s parade of “dinosaurs against the future” with this op-ed by George Kargianis and Phil Talmadge. I guess Talmadge is only like 65, but Kargianis passed the bar in Washington in 1953 (more than fifty years ago!) meaning he’s pushing 80. Of course these guys think something about global warming and BRT. Whatever. People past retirement shouldn’t even be allowed to vote on bills that have 30 year spans. Speaking of dinosaurs, Ted Van Dyk responded to his own piece here (scroll down).

O. Casey Corr at crosscut discusses what might happen if Prop. 1 fails. I don’t even want to think about that, so I won’t talk about it here.

Make sure you guys vote November 6th! You have no right to complain if you don’t exercise this right.