Get Out The Vote: Yes on Prop 1

41 Replies to “Get Out The Vote: Yes on Prop 1”

1. Move King Count Now?

   What, Dean C. Logan move back into King County sElections?

   Listen guys, I am a moderate R firmly in support of Prop 1. But you need to be careful when it comes to elections around here and typos too.

   1. Thanks for editorial help, Joe. However, since you read STB as frequently as I write things in it, you’ve probably noticed that every single posting of mine has multiple “typo’s”. As well as being ill-tempered, ten times too long, and often completely wrong.

      But especially when one is writing under serious time pressure, these particular screens are much harder to edit than typewriter paper- I don’t even remember what that white tape was called. Bottled stuff was White-Out.

      Will also say that in general, Adam with typo’s is worth The Times’ whole composition staff clean. Was going to say their editorial department but 911 can only handle so many choking cases at once.

      Anyhow, Joe, special thanks for trying to lighten up a pretty heavy time. Only hope efforts like this from a self-identified Moderate Republican don’t get you killed by the sheet-wearing Southern Democrats who turned the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

      Picked worst one I could think of. Read “River Run Red.”

      Mark

      1. Mark;

         I intend to hold my own like my political heroes and go down firin’ bro.

         I don’t get your scorn for the newsroom of the Seattle Times. I have some annoyance w/ the Editorial Board on Prop 1 however.

         I also have used white out from time to time.

      2. [ot]

2. Do as Caesar said, vote:

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   1. What he said was: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! (Ris of Planet of the Apes, 2011)

3. Ok, after four comments that really didn’t have anything to do with the subject of the posting, let’s talk about encouraging and successfully marshaling participation in an election.

   At this particular time, and this particular medium, Adam is doing just exactly what somebody definitely should be doing on both sides: giving information on participating in the election, and the necessity of doing so.

   Both sides naturally want to win by a large margin. And, unfortunately, neither side would mind this being a result of a large number of their opponents not voting. But there’s real danger here.

   Even if the non-participation stems from really not caring, when the actual work begins to bring about the results mandated by the election, you have a large number of people who feel no responsibility whatever for the outcome, and therefore with blanket license to do nothing but criticize whoever did win.

   But what we’ve had in this country for a very long time is worse than apathy. Across the spectrum, an enormous number of voters feel cheated, helpless, and therefore silently enraged- and therefore a lot more inclined not to vote, but to sit quietly and hate both political sides.

   This means that even for the winners of any election, no matter how wide the “spread”, nobody really feels like they won by enough to implement their programs, but politicians and voters do share in feeling they lost, like they always will.

   Does this sound like anyplace anybody knows about?

   Conversely, whichever way voters vote, by their act of voting, let alone making phone calls and ringing doorbells, and contributing money, they feel like they’ve got “skin in the game”, no matter how many floor-burns.

   And in addition to a large participation, like in a game, a close vote often leaves both sides with the sense they fought well. Which greatly helps with the state of mind necessary for the real work of doing what the outcome mandates.

   It also gives the side that didn’t win the sense both that with effort they can win the next one- best if the spirit is a better offering, not just better advertising. And also, that their best ideas have a chance at surviving to be implemented sometime.

   So let’s give Adam credit for Civics, with a kind note to his family about his spelling.

   Mark

   1. Let’s just tell Adam himself to realize the implications of “Move King Count Now” before Mary “Marummy” Lane Strow shows up on the NO Campaign and acts like her callsign. I remember when she wanted to

      Yes, Marummy is a friend of mine. I give her roses when I see her about once a year, partially for sinking Dean Logan for all of us. All of us. What happened in King County sElections 10 years ago this November & December is unforgivable. More votes than voters being more than the spread could happen tomorrow so we need to get the vote out – LEGALLY AND ETHICALLY to honour both our military who defend our paradise called Seattle AND Lane’s Legions here at home.

      Again, I support transit. But let’s get this fixed.

      1. I don’t think you wanna know what Marummy wanted to do to King County sElections.

         http://youtu.be/uklVuYgiMSA comes to mind.

4. Damn, now someone in comments on a neighborhood blog about the Bertha mess is telling people to vote no on this because of the Bertha delay! 2 different agencies, but apparently not everyone know this. I tried to post a comment there to correct them, but it hasn’t shown up yet. I knew some people would confuse the two.

   1. Well, there’s the 20 year delay in getting LINK built and the addition 30 years for getting it to any place but downtown Seattle.

      I’d say before we give any of these bureaucracies more money, a few heads should roll.

      1. But it’s precisely the lack of money that’s causing such delay, John.

      2. Link would have been done earlier if the politicians had lifted a finger for rapid transit between 1972 and 1996.

         The initial Link line opened in 13 years, and it will be 20 years when University Link opens. Y’know, a destination other than downtown. And 27 years when your favorite station Kent-Des Moines opens. That’s still less than 30 or 50 years. When/if Tacoma and Everett open, that will be around the 40 year mark.

      3. @Wm:

         Do they need a bigger budget at the Department of Pillories?

      4. @Mike Orr

         Vancouver BC Skytrain vs. LINK

         Compare and contrast.

         Skytrain: A fully built out rapid rail network all the way to the suburbs and beyond in every direction of the region.

         LINK: A model railway that goes between two centralized destinations.

5. I voted no, and gleefully awaiting the dismantling of Metro to a more reasonable agency of 400 buses and 60 bus routes.

   1. Powerfully doubt you’re serious, Jim, but really would like to hear anything from the No campaign on what they do think is a seriously reasonable transit system.

      Haven’t had time to read all the campaign literature, but did drive for Metro for thirteen years. So I think that if Prop 1 loses, the whole exercise will be worthwhile for the humor it leaves us with: the sight of the victors trying to make anything reasonable out of the remaining system.

      Anybody seen “The Grand Budapest Hotel” yet? Something like that, especially those wonderful non-existent diseases like “Scribe’s Palsey” and “The Prussian Grippe.” Though I think scene will be more like “The Lutz Blitz”

      Okay: gimme 400 triple-articulated trolleybuses on 60 routes of fully-reserved right of way with signal pre-empt wherever needed. Did I miss that campaign promise in the Vote No material?

      Mark

      1. I would rather sit in traffic for three hours than see one transit bus on the freeway that is half full.

      2. Jim, I burst into laughter at your comment!

      3. @Jim,

         May your wishes be your life.

6. As I attempted to just personally explain, it is VITAL to GOTV tomorrow.

   Let’s do it LEGALLY, ETHICALLY but GOTV.

   Say something around the water cooler.

   Tell folks where to get a replacement ballot if they lost theirs: https://kingcounty.everyonecounts.com/page/281/543

   Tell folks Prop 1 is about taking a stand FOR transit, not unions.

   Tell folks Prop 1 is about taking a stand FOR King County keeping more of its own resources for KING COUNTY’s roads & transit.

   Tell folks Prop 1 is about protecting those who can’t or shouldn’t drive – and congestion relief for those who can.

   There you go. GO SORTIE!

7. I also voted no after giving it much thought and not voting until late last week. The reason for my no vote is financial as I have mentioned previously that I am retired and on a fixed income and this past month has been expensive. Like every other property owner I had to pay the first half of my property taxes which I had budgeted for but it is still an expensive.

   I also had to renew my license tabs this month and that was $155. Again I budgeted for it but it is still an expense. I also got my renewal for my home insurance and the premium for that went up. So this month has been expensive.

   I also looked down the road on what other measures will be on the ballot in the future asking for a tax increase to pay for something else. I live in Seattle and the city council is considering a tax levy to pay for parks. You have a group that wants to raise taxes to pay for pre-school and then you have all the debate about the requirement for a $15 a hour wage rate and that will increase prices at restaurants and other businesses that will have to pay this increase in labor costs. And all of these groups all say it is only going to cost just a few dollars more per month for the taxpayer. Well all of those few dollars more per month adds up to real money that many people can’t afford to pay.

   For me enough is enough and I will be voting no on any measure that wants increase taxes. I have a budget and I try to stay within that budget and it is time that government agencies do the same. The pocketbooks of the taxpayers is not unlimited.

   1. Jeff, I understand about expenses adding up. But my pocket computer calculations tell me that the total additional burden would be seventy-seven cents a week, meaning eleven cents a day. Also understand there are breaks designed in for financially struggling people.

      Add also to your calculations the added expenses you’ll face if the measure doesn’t pass. If you depend on transit at all, especially if you’re working at all, a diminished system could really damage- or lose you- your income.

      If not, you’ll be putting much more than seventy-seven cents a week into the extra gas, maintenance, and difficulty finding parking. All those unwilling new drivers will have to take their cars somewhere.

      Gas prices alone are expected to go up this summer- forty dollars could go out the tailpipe in a very short time. Like, for instance, one or two tankfuls costing more than a year of Prop 1.

      Am I wrong about any of this?

      Mark Dublin

      1. You are wrong. Traffic will only marginally get worse People will carpool, telecommute, adjust their commute routes and schedules to compensate. The system will balance itself out, even with a 20 percent reduction. I was wondering…. Since metro will need future buses in its fleet, could they sell newer buses to other agencies? San Francisco Muni just approved a 12 percent increase in service. They could use our buses. Most of their lines will be running every five minutes during peak hours come 2015.

      2. Mark,

         You make some very valid points and as I mentioned in my post I didn’t vote until late last week because I had to think about it. It was not an easy decision but after all the expenses I had this month it brought it home even more the cost of paying for all these special tax measures.

         You say only 11 cents more per week but as I pointed out that is still real money and when you start adding up all of the other prices and costs that continue to go up and it becomes a burden on people. And as I said there are other tax measure coming up in the future on the ballot and the question becomes when does it end.

         As I noted I do have a car but for the most part I use it to run errands and do shopping in and around my neighborhood. And no before somebody suggest it is not convenient to use public transit to do those things. I will also tell you that I have a Senior Orca card and I do use transit when I need to go to downtown.

         But my no vote is also my message to local government to start living within a budget which seemingly they are not willing to do. I know that most people on this forum are great supporters of public transit but it seems like some of you have a tunnel vision concerning Metro as it seems that they continue to ask for more money on a regular basis but it is never enough for them. It kind of reminds me of adult children that continue to come back to their parents with their hand out. You help them out a couple of times but at some point you need to cut them off and tell them they are on their own. I just feel that Metro Transit are like those adult children and you need to cut them off at some point and say to them live within your budget.

      3. Would Jeff qualify for the reduced rate registration fee, thereby actually reducing his registration fee?

      4. Jeff, don’t be surprised when Metro heeds your message and raises the senior cash fare to $1.75 (which will be the maximum allowed under federal law after a 25-cent cash surcharge gets tacked onto the 2-zone peak fare).

8. Actually, San Francisco is piggybacking on Metro’ s order for trolleybuses, and Metro is ordering less than the current fleet. That is because of the cuts. I like the features of the new trolleys. A few nights ago, I saw a push truck waiting to assist runs of the 7 around an accident. With the batteries, that will not be needed, saving resources.
   http://kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2013/June/nr06172013_trolleycontract.aspx

   I probably will be voting yes, even though it appears that my bus route to LINK from work, the D, may be keeping it’s late night runs.(I work the night shift) My Plan B, the 32/8 combination, is not.

   1. I forgot to mention, sometimes I am on the last run of LINK for the night. The bus that clears Market Street at 12:08AM is the last one I catch that makes it in time. Tonight work went late, and I used my plan B, but ended up hailing a cab from Uptown. If the late night D line runs go away, my plan was to take a cab at least to Downtown to catch LINK(Cheaper than going all the way from Interbay to S. Seattle). Even though it is a 30 minute walk from Columbia City Station to home. When I am headed to work, the 50 gets me to the station in about 5 minutes. I used to be a temp, but after getting hired on, I chose to start buying monthly passes, as I realized $40 a week on the ORCA Card really added up.

9. I’m voting Yes! Folks voting not based on cost cannot be serious? So much drama over a tiny tax to preserve service for a public transit system that has been in place for 40 years. Not to mention basic road reapair and maintenance. The recesion hammered Metro’s budget projections and Metro works rather well. It’s not broke it’s funding mechanism is broke.

   And quite frankly comparing household budgets to that of large government agencies and public services is just plain silly!! The self rightieous, holier than thou attitude of the no voters is more than I can take. Good Grief you little penny pinching do gooders! Save the world from transit. What a bunch of whiners. Buck up and be proud of your transit system. Vote yes on Prop 1!!!

   1. Actually, as long as there are strict limits on debt, and you have to make the budget balance the comparison isn’t comletely silly. It’s only truly silyy when you have the ability to borrow (more or less) without limit in your own currency.

   2. Craig,

      It is obvious that you are not retired and on a fixed income and if you are not you are in for a treat when you do retire and find yourself in the position that I am and has to budget his spending. My fixed income continues to get less and less as taxes and cost go up for almost everything. I also don’t have the ability to go to the taxpayers time and time again and stick my hand out asking for money on a regular basis like government agencies and politicians continue to do.

      A budget is a budget if it is for a private citizen or a government agency and it is time that the latter learn to live within that budget.

      1. No taxes ever! Welcome to the Republican party! I suppose you would like us to continue funding your social security and your single-payer healthcare. Because government services are only for the elderly — the richest segment of society — and the rest of us can suck it.

         If you are truly poor, you will benefit from the low-income rebate, low-income fare, and of course the service that Proposition 1 will provide.

      2. Live within budget? Americans are not even close. Within budget would require Americans to not consume a Lion’s Share of world resources. Given current oil imports, giving up 40% of all car trips would be a great way for Americans to start moving towards such a balanced, budgeted way of life. Otherwise, you’ll need to find some way to drop the profligate energy burn by that 5% of the world’s population to something less than 20% of world energy. Until then, Americans are unseemingly proud of being able to do less with more oil—a gallon of gas will take you 44 miles in Germany, yet only 22 in the United States. Why the waste? Balance that energy budget.

10. The signs I see in support of Prop 1 around Seattle seem to emphasize the “Save Metro!” aspect of the initiative but make no mention of the money going toward road maintenance and improvements — something that benefits both drivers and transit riders.

    I’m frustrated by the transit vs. cars mentality that seems to pervade the campaign for Prop 1. If one wants to get people who gain little to no benefit from transit to vote yes, it seems prudent to say, “By the way, 40% of the $60 you will pay goes toward improving area roads.”

    1. +1 Matt. I think that the messaging, particularly in areas where people drive pretty much everywhere (basically everywhere outside of Seattle and even in certain areas inside the city limits) should have been more like what you said and perhaps even say something like, “want your commute to be 30% longer every day both ways? Neither do we. Vote yes!” to frame the argument to be more about improving everyone’s daily lives instead of focusing on saving the sacred cow that is the Metro bus that everyone is talking about. There simply aren’t enough people in King County who ride Metro buses that will pass an initiative whose messaging focuses primarily on spending more money to save bus service they already don’t use.

       Yes it’s easy to be an armchair quarterback at this point in the game. However, I think it’s crucial that we talk about this stuff now to help future campaigns going forward.

11. Actually Matt the signs in favor or Prop 1 say Save our buses Fix our roads! Vote yes!

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13. Martin Duke:

    When you post you should check your facts first.

    One I worked for over 32 years and out of each paycheck I contributed to social security. And if you don’t know social security payments are taxed so just like you I pay federal income taxes.

    Second Medicare is not free as a monthly premium for that is taken out of my social security payment. Also Medicare does not come close to covering all medical payments and most retirees like myself buy an additional supplement insurance to cover most of those costs but not all and those that are not I have to pay. So I have a monthly premium for this supplemental insurance.

    As I have posted before I pay property and like everyone else I pay sales tax anytime I buy anything. I pay my utility bills just like everyone else.

    So before you say that senior citizens have a free ride it is obvious that you have no clue what is like to be on a fixed income but you will find out when you get be my age and you will then change your tune.

    1. Jeff,

       As you presumably know, Social Security and Medicare are pay-as-you-go, so it’s current workers that are paying your benefits in the same way that you did for prior generations — except that your generation is living much longer and has much higher unit costs for health care. It’s payroll taxes, not the income tax you currently pay, that fund these. Regardless of what premiums you pay, it doesn’t come close to the costs of paying for senior citizen health care.

       And I don’t begrudge you any of that! When I’m a senior citizen I will doubtless treasure those benefits. But I do resent the idea that it’s perfectly OK for taxes to cover your benefits, no matter how much the costs might spiral, while the benefits that people of other walks of life need just aren’t worth it.

       If you don’t think transit is worth it, say so. But if you think that government expenditure levels should remain flat because some people are on fixed incomes, then start looking at what you’re taking from the government first.

       And incidentally, I’ve “checked my facts” enough to know that your social security checks get a cost-of-living adjustment that outpaces most measures of inflation. So you’re income isn’t even fixed!

       1. Yes we do get cost of living raises while at the same time the cost of the Medicare premiums are raises basically cancelling out the raise. This past January my monthly social security went up a whole two dollars.

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