Posted Fri, Apr 27, 10:14 a.m.

I can't wait to vote against Nickels. To me, he appears to be not only arrogant, but narcissistic, greedy, and just plain incompetent. How can you say that? If it were not for Nickels we would not have Sound Transit's ST2 ordinance with the intergenerational $85 BILLION regressive tax cost ...

Posted Fri, Apr 27, 9:28 a.m.

[McKenna] snaps at a young woman and tells her to "get a job," never a good answer and especially during a recession. Thumbs down for McKenna, and you as well Knute. You need to get your head out of 1962 and look around at what’s happening in Seattle now. The ...

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 6:58 a.m.

eddiew writes: "Transport choices are made in the political realm." Not the financing plans for Sound Transit. The ST2 financing plan was created by ST's staff and self-interested lawyers and financiers. The key details about it -- such as the amount of new local regressive taxing that would be required ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 5:31 p.m.

3 of 3 Loren, can you back up some of the wild assertions you made in your post? What evidence supports your assertion that entities intent on “protection of substantial investments in the Big Oil/Big Automotive monopoly, the environmental consequences be damned” have stunted transit revenues or service delivery around ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 5:30 p.m.

2 of 3 Metro, the transit governments in Pierce and Snohomish counties, and Sound Transit will confiscate something on the order of $1.5 billion in local tax revenue this year alone. All the peers do a great job of providing bus service, and expanding train systems, with far less annual ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 5:28 p.m.

1 of 3 One of the flaws with Loren’s loopy, verbose post is the false equivalency he suggests, to the effect that the numbers of successful votes on transit measures somehow translate to the quality of bus and train service. Hey Loren – you were a journalist. I’m sure you’d ...

Posted Sun, Apr 22, 11:19 a.m.

Matt Hays is one of those smug local hipsters who knows nothing about the subjects he posts on. The “sprawl industry” is thriving around here. Here are three examples of how our local government heads encourage sprawl: -- Sims and the King County Council structured the multi-billion dollar bond-backed Brightwater ...

Posted Sun, Apr 22, 7:11 a.m.

Lots of parallels to what's going on here. One difference: in California some ill-advised populist initiatives are causing budget problems for governments, whereas here some abusive propositions from governments are causing significant adverse financial impacts on individuals and families.

Posted Fri, Apr 20, 8:20 a.m.

Yet another example demonstrating in no uncertain terms how the management of Sound Transit is absolute garbage. Light rail is dirt cheap for people in the Portland area because proper financing techniques are used, and because the management of TriMet is competent. Neither of those things is true about Sound ...

Posted Fri, Apr 13, 7:18 a.m.

Joe Mallahan didn’t work out for them in 2009, so now Wright Runstad and Goldman Sachs are pimping Daudon as the next mayor of Seattle (aka, Muni Bond City). She’s been their agent for decades. -- The PacMed debacle has been in the news recently, with WRC bailing from its ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 5:22 p.m.

Here are a couple of thoughts on Borkowski's posts in this thread. 1) Note how he refused to address the question I put to him about the amount of taxing the political appointees controlling Sound Transit's board would impose if they decide to sell all the additional $7 billion in ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 3:41 p.m.

Richard: Why do you refer to Sound Transit’s governing board as a “federated” board? Nobody refers to it that way -- that's not what it is. Sound Transit has an appointive board. There are two types of boards local governments can have: representative (such as King County’s council, or Seattle’s ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 9:32 a.m.

Richard Borkowski misrepresents what I’ve written, makes unsupportable assertions of fact, misstates facts, and fails to address the main point of my posting above. -- He first tries to twist what I wrote into a “contradiction”. The Portland Council of Governments IS a unique regional governance model (as the authors ...

Posted Sun, Apr 8, 7:40 a.m.

From the piece: [O]nly one metropolitan area has a regionally elected governing body: the Metro Council of Portland, Oregon, created in the 1980s. No other region has followed suit. Nice. Of course these authors reference how transit is governed around Portland. They do regional transit right. Moreover, it's no mystery ...

Posted Mon, Apr 2, 9 a.m.

Here’s what to look for with regard to this fake-litigation. The dismissal was appealed by Jurca and Bagshaw to Division One of the court of appeals. If those appellate judges want to emulate the dishonest conduct the justices routinely employ when Sound Transit’s interests are at stake, what we’ll see ...

Posted Mon, Apr 2, 6:58 a.m.

A lawsuit from three Seattle residents attempting to undo the entire BNSF-Port of Seattle transaction lost on a summary judgment last December; the plaintiffs have appealed, however. That fundamentally misrepresents the nature of that lawsuit. The legal challenge raised only was to the Port's acquisition of the northern portion, in ...

Posted Fri, Mar 30, 7:23 a.m.

The author seems taken aback by how that court is dealing with these legal challenges. That bench is just going about considering whether aspects of this federal legislation pass constitutional muster. There’s absolutely nothing odd or different about how this law is being reviewed; when new laws are challenged all ...

Posted Thu, Mar 29, 12:54 p.m.

Roger: The premise of your argument is faulty. There is no reason to believe that loosening regulations now applicable to new developments near light rail stations will make ANY difference in terms of future sprawl around here. You advocate for the significant loosening of the height, density, setback, and required ...

Posted Thu, Mar 29, 10:27 a.m.

This time I agree with Dick Nelson.

Posted Thu, Mar 29, 9:19 a.m.

Paul, isn’t Futurewise just acting here as the “public outreach/policy advocacy” team for local multi-family project developers? It pushes for modification of zoning regulations to allow projects with greater height, more units, and less parking . . . all so developers can profit more at each location. I understand Futurewise ...

Posted Wed, Mar 28, 5:23 p.m.

Yes, thanks for that quote from Le Corbusier, Paul. It shows how popular disgust (in this case, at the externalities resulting from automobile use) can lead to terrible government policies. The urban design ideals of Le Corbusier – dense TOD housing near passenger rail stations leading to and from urban ...

Posted Wed, Mar 28, 8:25 a.m.

The author points to the successes of TOD near the Fruitvale BART stop. One of the lessons learned from that project certainly is lost on the transit planning cabal in this neck of the woods. Here’s a reference to it: In fact, fees at the parking structure drive a significant ...

Posted Tue, Mar 27, 5:02 p.m.

No other takers? -- As for why they sold this property at a discount . . .. That is my point . . . it sold at a discount. If the market saw this property as one that was going to get a nearby light rail station the seller would ...

Posted Mon, Mar 26, 10:46 a.m.

There were three property owners in downtown Bellevue looking to make a killing off of Sound Transit’s East Link: Kemper Development, Whitehall Street, and Schnitzer West. Putting in a light rail line does little or nothing for a metro area’s overall economy (and when it’s financed in the aberrant, abusive ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 12:10 p.m.

From that Herald story: "If properly informed of the situation, Snohomish County taxpayers should be pressing to stop continuance of Sounder north," James MacIsaac said in a letter to Sound Transit in January. MacIsaac is part of Sound Transit's disinformation team. He raises tertiary issues as fodder for the press. ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 9:46 a.m.

Apparently condo prices around here aren't at the "dead cat bounce" stage yet: It goes without saying that 2011 was not a banner year for Seattle condo values. The citywide median condo sales price dipped 11.6% from 2010 to $252,000. Distressed properties, which accounted for 29% of the condos sold ...

Posted Mon, Mar 19, 2:35 p.m.

I forget . . . does Sanders have three girlfriends, or is it a wife and three girlfriends? He started a trend, and Aaron Reardon is following in his footsteps. Any lawyers or judges read Crosscut? Let's discuss Sanders' inane, misleading dissents in one or more of the following: 1) ...

Posted Thu, Mar 8, 6:45 a.m.

Reardon most likely tried "to keep potentially embarrassing government records from seeing the light of day". He's been on Sound Transit's board for years, most recently as its chairman. Keeping embarrassing records out of the public eye is SOP at Sound Transit. Anyone want to try linking to documents describing ...

Posted Tue, Mar 6, 9:24 a.m.

From the piece: There have been other shocks recently. . . . Kemper Freeman, the main man in Bellevue politics, is losing clout and failing to elect his allies to the city council. The City of Bellevue still does what Kemper Freeman, Bob Wallace, and other property developers want. The ...

Posted Wed, Feb 22, 9:17 a.m.

He should step aside from his board position at Sound Transit as well.

Posted Tue, Feb 21, 1:10 p.m.

Also what will the city look like when gasoline hits $9/gal? There'll be much less economic activity in this region. Commercial airline orders will evaporate, meaning a spike in unemployment due to Boeing-related layoffs. The costs of marine shipping will explode, meaning far less activity between the Port of Seattle ...

Posted Mon, Feb 20, 9 p.m.

--there's no real evidence that poor people are deliberately targeted, as opposed to wealthy people being deliberately privileged. --the poor are not targeted for good or ill, they are simply ignored, more or less as they always have been. Those two are trying to suggest what goes on here is ...

Posted Mon, Feb 20, 8:56 a.m.

Panel members weren’t arguing that the system has deliberately been stacked against the poor; they merely pointed to one of many ways in which it’s skewed toward the rich. Those panel members should have addressed how the system here has been deliberately stacked against the poor. The state and local ...

Posted Tue, Feb 14, 9:59 a.m.

4 of 4 An Open Letter to Auditor Sonntag: The SAO is paying the same accountants from Oregon to deliver a performance audit report of Sound Transit that produced that I-900 audit report in 2007. That suggests we can expect another whitewash job. In the event your office intends to ...

Posted Tue, Feb 14, 9:57 a.m.

3 of 4 What the public, state and local legislators, and the press now need is a range of facts and estimates bearing on the ballooning massive local public costs Sound Transit intends to impose. A story in the Times from sixteen months ago said staff STILL wasn’t ready to ...

Posted Tue, Feb 14, 9:57 a.m.

2 of 4 The SAO’s previous performance audit reports regarding that government and its activities have been worse than useless. Here’s the one from 2007 relating to aspects of light rail construction: http://www.sao.wa.gov/auditreports/auditreportfiles/ar1000005.pdf Here are just two examples of how lousy that report was: -- On page 22 it says ...

Posted Tue, Feb 14, 9:56 a.m.

1 of 4 State Auditor Brian Sonntag has underway a comprehensive performance audit of Sound Transit, which is expected to be the principal achievement of his last year in office before retirement. Nobody should get their hopes up about this performance audit disclosing anything Team Sound Transit doesn’t want disclosed. ...

Posted Mon, Feb 13, 1:57 p.m.

"Sound Transit, like religion, is best not mentioned at a dinner party." I disagree completely. Talking about it is a way to advance beyond the denial stage. Sound Transit is an unaccountable, secretive government. It is using the most abusive regressive-tax-based financing plan that any local government ever has employed. ...

Posted Wed, Feb 8, 9:11 a.m.

Mr. McKenna has been a clear thinker on issues going back to the King Co. Council, and his term on the Sound Transit Board. McKenna has backed the positions taken by Sound Transit's leadership every step of the way. That includes what he did and said while on its board. ...

Posted Mon, Feb 6, 9:36 p.m.

That "protecting corporations' liberties" slogan sure has been expressed louder recently.

Posted Sun, Feb 5, 8:17 a.m.

From the piece: So generally the Seattle area is doing quite well Talk about cherry-picking statistics. This piece notes BA, AMZN, SBUX, MSFT and Costco are hiring and profitable. That’s because none of them depend on local economic vigor. Moreover, none of the must “collect and remit to the WashDOR” ...

Posted Sun, Feb 5, 7:35 a.m.

Well if this is state-wide state/local taxing that is being measured then it isn't even counting the regressive 1.8% sales tax and car tab taxes that are imposed around here for bus and train service. In response (kind of) to the previous poster . . . TRANSIT is where taxes ...

Posted Thu, Feb 2, 12:13 p.m.

Fifty-eight grants totaling $6.6 million went to organizations throughout the five states that comprise the foundation's traditional focus $6.6 million is one-tenth of Allen's personal yacht/aircraft O & M expenses each year.

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 8:40 p.m.

4 of 4 What should an audit now of Sound Transit encompass? It should have a scope that will provide the public, state legislators, local government officials, and the press with some useful financial information – information that local government refuses to disclose: -- It should quantify a range of ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 8:40 p.m.

3 of 4 This upcoming performance audit is just another whitewash effort by Brian Sonntag. The SAO hired the same two-bit accountants from Portland that produced the previous deceptive and useless audit report (in 2007, link above). What these accountants do for their money is called “MAI” – Made As ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 8:39 p.m.

2 of 4 Why does Miloscia play dim about those particular issues? Because statements such as he made mislead people into believing that is how Sound Transit might be acting improperly. Meanwhile, the significant financial abuse is going on elsewhere. The ways in which Sound Transit operates that are improper ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 8:39 p.m.

1 of 4 Public officials around here have been displaying a particular type of anti-social behavior. You can see it cropping up in appellate court opinions and in press releases from state and local legislature sources. Officials regularly play stupid about taxpayers’ rights. Their pronouncements suggest they believe abusing poor ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 10:34 a.m.

4 of 4 Not only have previous performance audit reports been misleading, this new one due later this year almost certainly would focus just on meaningless aspects of Sound Transit’s policies and practices. This piece says it will look into some areas that are not significant at all in terms ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 10:33 a.m.

3 of 4 This new performance audit the SAO is about to undertake will be another cover-up job designed to mislead the public about the aberrant financing practices this local government employs. Brian Sonntag’s m.o. is failing to audit Sound Transit properly. Here are two examples: -- In annual accountability ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 10:31 a.m.

2 of 4 There is no need for legislation requiring annual “performance audits” of this local government. First, Appendix B of ST2 already specifies that Sound Transit will implement a performance audit program. Second, at the Audit and Reporting Committee meeting on June 17, 2010 staff noted it is: “the ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 10:29 a.m.

1 of 4 Here are several misleading and incorrect assertions in this piece: An underlying factor in the current and possible future audits is that the public approved an $18 billion 2008 Sound Transit bond issue that included extending Seattle's light rail line to 272nd Street in Federal Way by ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 7:04 a.m.

Based on the makeup of the City Council, and the expected departure of Mayor McGinn after the 2013 election, there simply isn't the political will to forcefeed density to the neighborhoods. There seems to be the political will in Olympia to "forcefeed" density into Seattle neighborhoods though. A number of ...

Posted Fri, Jan 27, 8:02 a.m.

Roger, spot upzones are disfavored for a host of good reasons. People living in that particular well-established neighborhood apparently don’t share your sanguine take on massively increasing its density. Are you aware that sudden increases in density result in adverse social dynamics? http://www.ratbehavior.org/WildRats.htm There are economic arguments as well against ...

Posted Tue, Jan 24, 9:31 a.m.

Jan sets out the usual (metaphysical) argument for our light rail efforts: Light rail service will make the distance closer. In contrast, this piece alludes to the very concrete economic reason for them: “Wright Runstad and other developer interests”. What sets Sound Transit apart from all other rail service providers ...

Posted Fri, Jan 20, 8:15 p.m.

Government employment is UP around here – this piece is misleading in that it describes the trend nationwide (a decrease in public sector jobs) and implies that’s what’s going on here. The fact of the matter is that government sector employment in the 2000-2010 period increased by 4 percent in ...

Posted Wed, Jan 18, 8:11 a.m.

Dick Nelson notes: "In 2007, when the regressivity study numbers were collected, . . .." Those "regressivity" numbers then do not include a number of local taxes targeting individuals and families (and hitting those with the least disposable income the hardest) that have been imposed since 2007 here. Those recent ...

Posted Tue, Jan 17, 4:24 p.m.

The state and local government heads should stop targeting the middle class and lower-middle class with general taxes. Let’s see them look for new revenue in a different place. The state legislature should enact laws that will end some of its ill-advised delegations of taxation authority to local governments. Some ...

Posted Mon, Jan 16, 1:13 p.m.

Hey that's funny, Matt. You expected I'd comment on a story about the financial implosion of a huge West Coast rail system plan, right? Matt knew I'd point out we've got a local example of a rail system plan that's turning into a financial disaster. There seem to be political ...

Posted Mon, Jan 16, 11:58 a.m.

Pssst . . . can you keep a secret? Sound Transit's never-ending and abusive bond selling scheme likely would indebt generations around here to significant amounts of regressive taxation. The bond sale contract security pledges likely will end up costing individuals (mostly) and businesses something like $85 billion through 2053. ...

Posted Tue, Jan 3, 5:41 p.m.

Whatever's bringing people here it isn't jobs downtown. In the 2000 – 2010 period the private sector here has taken a big employment hit. Downtown saw a 15 percent loss of private sector jobs that decade. The rest of the region didn’t do well either (9 percent loss city-wide, 4 ...

Posted Fri, Dec 30, 1:56 p.m.

I suggested that it was cheaper and more sustainable than building new highways and expanding existing ones. You’ve put forward a false choice there, and you are flat wrong about light rail being “cheaper and more sustainable”. Around here neither WSDOT nor any local government engages in any “either/or” decisions ...

Posted Thu, Dec 29, 12:55 p.m.

From a seemingly-ignorant commenter: Monorail, light rail and streetcar are cutesy wastes of money despite costing less than the boondoggle of a tunnel being built on the waterfront. There is no new general taxing associated with the SR-99 tunnel project. In that sense it does not cost people here anything. ...

Posted Tue, Dec 27, 11:34 a.m.

A couple of points about this piece. First, the lousy financing plan for Brightwater was based on lots of new SFD subdivisions going in up in Snohomish County. That was the bet – with county rate-payers’ money – that Sims and his finance gurus made. That didn’t pan out, so ...

Posted Mon, Dec 26, 9:37 a.m.

The old-guard pundits and editorial writers around here still are trying to paint “Eyman” initiatives as legitimate threats to worthy social undertakings. Fortunately enough people now look behind the curtain. It’s obvious who really pulls the levers. The voters’ rejection of I-1125 in November indeed was a good thing, but ...

Posted Fri, Dec 23, 8:28 a.m.

Two comments on this piece: 1) The Sound Transit apologists point to Vancouver’s grade-separated rail as a shining example of what we supposedly “need” around here. This piece illustrates that populist arguments for light rail (i.e., it supposedly helps poor people get to jobs, it will increase the economic pie, ...

Posted Mon, Dec 19, 2:13 p.m.

Data from around here show that supposed correlation is false. The East Link FEIS (page 7 of chapter 3) says this: “On the floating bridges, the average daily traffic volume is 140,000 to 150,000 vehicles. This consists of about 135,000 vehicles per day in the eastbound and westbound mainline lanes ...

Posted Sat, Dec 10, 8:37 a.m.

2 of 2 On your question about the "before and after study" of Light Rail Initial Segment, the "before" survey was done by a contractor in October 2008 and the "after" was just done by a different contractor in October 2011. The “before” data points for that required study would ...

Posted Sat, Dec 10, 8:36 a.m.

1 of 2 I just pulled up Sound Transit Resolution 2008-10 and don't see any reference to Federal grants, nor do I have any memory of Board direction to ST staff to obtain "a large FTA grant for East Link." Help me out. It’s on page A-16 of “Appendix A: ...

Posted Thu, Dec 8, 5:10 p.m.

After the rest of the country wrote off monorails, the political leadership around here decided they'd be great. The same entities that put together Sound Transit pushed for and obtained all the enabling legislation (state and local) for the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority in 2002. The Seattle Popular Monorail Authority ...

Posted Wed, Dec 7, 11:08 p.m.

Tom, your post begs the question: How should Sound Transit now "align the talk with the walk ? It's the biggest "practicing regional actor" -- what's your suggestion for how it should change? TIA for your thoughtful response.

Posted Wed, Dec 7, 7:48 a.m.

What is this supposed to mean: ST has applied for FTA grants on its lines that are cost-effective and competitive for FTA funds. That may not be the case with East Link.? The board's resolution 2008-10 directs staff to try to obtain a large FTA grant for East Link. Why ...

Posted Mon, Dec 5, 7:21 a.m.

Well now we've got "eddie" saying the same thing John did (essentially that they think Sound Transit won't apply for federal grants for East Link). I have no idea who "eddie" is, but I don't remember him posting anything about Sound Transit before, so the fact that he cites to ...

Posted Sun, Dec 4, 8:54 a.m.

Interesting piece. It describes how the rest of the country approaches regionalism as “a boundary-crossing activity exercised at a broader scale than the more usual partnerships within a jurisdiction”. This makes sense: ad hoc groups can change in light of unfolding realities, and address developing problems in ways local governments ...

Posted Fri, Dec 2, 10:36 a.m.

3 of 3 More evidence nothing Sound Transit and the entities benefiting financially from it are doing is “smart”: -- The McMansion phenomenon in exurbs this piece condemns isn’t going to continue around here because 1) cheap credit for such subdivisions no longer is available, and 2) the employment picture ...

Posted Fri, Dec 2, 10:35 a.m.

2 of 3 I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on this: Smart-growth is another name for efficiency, by avoiding the high infrastructure costs of far-flung development. . . . [S]mart growth is now a very mainstream concept, and one that many business interests would support. Density is, in one ...

Posted Fri, Dec 2, 10:35 a.m.

1 of 3 I wouldn't expect [Romney] to [say things he can't really believe] in very high profile areas such as abortion, but low-profile issues such as land use would be more plausible. I wouldn’t expect Romney to say anything about land use as a candidate for his party’s nomination ...

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 9:56 p.m.

Let's recap what's in this thread so far about the financing for East Link. East Link is the Sound Transit light rail megaproject crossing Lake Washington that's been in the works since around 2002 (that's when the EIS materials referencing it were submitted -- they resulted in the 2004 RoD ...

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 1:26 p.m.

@ Dick Nelson – When light rail projects are designed and financed properly there is plenty of federal money available. That’s always been the case and it’s not likely to change. For example, two days ago the FTA awarded $900 million in grant money to Houston for the light rail ...

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 10:09 a.m.

Nick Hanauer's name will remain in ignominy for his wrongheaded support of the Seattle popular monorail authority, Joel Horn, and that 2002 ballot measure. Nevertheless, he's 100% correct on a number of counts in this piece. The taxing regime here is punishingly regressive; it is designed to remove a huge ...

Posted Wed, Nov 30, 10:11 a.m.

Check his travel records and expenses from Sound Transit as well. He's been on its board -- having fun on junkets on its dime -- for years. Was he travelling with females? Did he visit anyplace more than once? Chances are he was ripping off Sound Transit taxpayers as well ...

Posted Wed, Nov 30, 10:02 a.m.

2 of 2 From the piece: Washington's premier opponent of new taxes, Tim Eyman, told Crosscut that [ ]. Nothing attributed to Eyman in this piece could further the interests of the people (and businesses, to a much lesser extent) being targeted with the new proposed taxes and fees. Eyman ...

Posted Wed, Nov 30, 9:58 a.m.

1 of 2 This approach (create a new taxing scheme targeting individuals for the most part, to be spent in ways recommended by a “task force” comprised of established interest groups) will produce lousy results. Seattle voters just rejected this same approach when we voted down Prop. 1 earlier this ...

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 11:37 a.m.

We've got the most regressive state and local taxing regime in the country. That is a cause of the poor local economy, not merely a reflection of it. Heavy sales taxes depress consumer spending, and it is consumer spending that provides the engine that can power regions out of recessions. ...

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 6:53 a.m.

Hey Keith: Is it some kind of prerequisite to working for Sound Transit that you can not discuss in the open tax costs or financing plans for megaprojects? What would be the best way to pay for this "spur", in your opinion? Hike regressive taxes on Seattle families, like Sound ...

Posted Mon, Nov 28, 9:23 a.m.

A commenter above posted this nonsense: The local transit agecies are in fiscal crisis. So, even if the state cannot achieve the revenue votes, they should allow the regions, counties, or transit agencies the tools to solve problems and prosper. The LAST thing transit agencies around here need is more ...

Posted Mon, Nov 28, 7:43 a.m.

The piece notes: in the real world of air and water, of urban transportation and economies, city regions function in ways our American political systems may not recognize. The grand experiment in new American political systems here is the Ch. 81.112 RCW "regional transit authority". It was given vast, unchecked ...

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 9:26 a.m.

5 of 5 Want to elect smarter, more frugal individuals onto Sound Transit’s board to get better results out of that local government? Tough nuts. It was designed to be entirely unaccountable to people. That means its treatment of the public – especially in a financial sense – will deteriorate. ...

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 9:26 a.m.

4 of 5 Metro, the transit governments in Pierce and Snohomish counties, and Sound Transit will confiscate something on the order of $1.5 billion in local tax revenue this year alone. All the peers do a great job of providing bus service, and expanding train systems, with far less annual ...

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 9:25 a.m.

3 of 5 It should be noted taxing in the name of “transit” already is FAR too high around here, in comparison to peer metro areas. Sound Transit’s abusive financing plan in particular is unnecessary and without precedent. No other government leaders do what it does to the people and ...

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 9:25 a.m.

2 of 5 It’s been over three years since ST2 was approved and the public tax cost estimates still have not been disclosed. A story over a year ago said Sound Transit’s staff still wasn’t ready to disclose the extent of the regressive tax hit it would deliver if billions ...

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 9:24 a.m.

1 of 5 The author of this piece ignores the glaring faults with Sound Transit’s financing plan. The commenter above touting the supposed benefits of light rail misleadingly suggests the nasty financing plan employed here is comparable to how light rail is financed in “dozens of other municipal transit systems ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 3:31 p.m.

As "Mr. Baker's" posts suggest, local self-interested entities will fight to preserve the taxing powers they were delegated. That dynamic unduly ties the state legislature's hands, and prevents it from allocating revenues wisely as both revenue streams and and public needs evolve. Does "Mr. Baker" care one jot about the ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 1:35 p.m.

HELL YES this huge problem for our state needs examination and follow-through to correct the excesses! The delegation by the state legislature of taxing authority to municipal corporations -- especially since 1957 when old-Metro supposedly provided a "good" paradigm -- has been haphazard and grossly excessive. Moreover, the justices have ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 1:12 p.m.

smacgry writes: I think that the Seattle public is actually totally on board with the pro- nvironment/pro-transit/pro-biking agenda ("anti-car agenda"). . . . . . . However, whatever projects a levy would fund should be well thought-out and the legislation written in such as way that it is concrete, not ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 10:42 a.m.

Lincoln writes: So, next year Seattle car owners will be paying $40 more per vehicle per year than they paid in 2010. When they actually have to start paying this extra $40/vehicle -- which many people are not even aware is going to happen -- the mood of Seattle voters ...

Posted Thu, Nov 17, 12:15 p.m.

Great piece! The political leadership here has been responsible for exactly the same problems: "snuffed-out start-ups, unproductive big cities, poorer jobs, and tinier, weaker, or fleeing companies". One factor driving the bad economies around here and in LA and SF is the very high sales tax rates in those metro ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:08 p.m.

7 of 7 Give us your best argument about why article II sec. 40 would not bar this proposed handover as well. You agree that provision of the constitution limits not only how the state may spend MVF assets, but also how infrastructure in which MVF investments have been made ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:08 p.m.

6 of 7 It’s evident the justices think McKennna’s argument about how RCW 47.12.120 supposedly applies to the kind of infrastructure handover WSDOT wants is lame. In the _Freeman v. Gregoire_ majority opinion they went so far as to offer up some (tongue in cheek) alternatives. This is from page ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:07 p.m.

5 of 7 RCW 47.12.120 also doesn’t authorize the property assignment WSDOT and Sound Transit are contemplating because the rights in the improvements and land Sound Transit would obtain would not be “subject to the provisions and requirements of zoning ordinances of political subdivisions of government”. That is because Sound ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:07 p.m.

4 of 7 RCW 47.12.120 also doesn’t authorized the property assignment WSDOT and Sound Transit are contemplating because that proposed transaction is not a “lease”. WSDOT would be transferring away all of its rights in that infrastructure, and not retaining any reversionary interest. Even a 40-year term would extend beyond ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:06 p.m.

3 of 7 RCW 47.12.120 doesn’t authorize the property assignment WSDOT and Sound Transit are contemplating because the lands and improvements at issue are not “unused” and they are “presently needed”. Tens of thousands of drivers operate vehicles on the parts of that I-90 corridor highway infrastructure Sound Transit wants ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:06 p.m.

2 of 7 Want to try explaining how the “surplus property” statute the state says it would rely on for legal authority to hand over all that infrastructure might justify the type of property assignment Sound Transit would need? The state identified RCW 47.12.120 as the particular “surplus property” statute ...

Posted Tue, Nov 15, 7:05 p.m.

1 of 7 Do I really need to spell this out for you? The majority noted at the end of that opinion that “the statutory provisions authorizing transfers of highway land do not generally violate article II, section 40”. It made that point because after the state has invested hundreds ...

Posted Sun, Nov 13, 8:04 a.m.

I very much doubt that light rail on I-90 is on shakey grounds given that all of the agencies involved seem to agree it's legal. The state's political leadership not only recognizes the legal problems with the proposed handover it has delayed East Link because of them. This is from ...

Posted Sat, Nov 12, 9:12 a.m.

Richard: That 1976 agreement is just a contract. It would not allow WSDOT to act in ways that would harm the public’s interests that article II sec. 40 protects, nor would it allow WSDOT to act in excess of its statutory authority. Maybe your group should have included a lawyer? ...

Posted Thu, Nov 10, 12:38 p.m.

Thanks for your comment, Richard. There’s certainly no need for us to speculate now about what changes I-1125 might have brought about! It failed. I was hoping we could discuss the current legal framework within which WSDOT must operate, and whether those statutory and constitutional limits would allow the property ...

Posted Thu, Nov 10, 10:11 a.m.

Hey Crossrip, Could "Sound Transit" buy out the state's interest in the I-90 corridor? Thanks for the question. The short answer is “no”, no payment of money to the state would allow the state to transfer to Sound Transit all the I-90 corridor highway infrastructure it wants. That is because ...

Posted Wed, Nov 9, 10:52 a.m.

2 of 2 The real legal barriers to the proposed infrastructure handover from WSDOT to Sound Transit are the same now as they always have been. State law prohibits the proposed handover of I-90 corridor highway infrastructure from WSDOT to Sound Transit. Article II sec. 40 of the state constitution ...

Posted Wed, Nov 9, 10:51 a.m.

1 of 2 From the piece: Specifically, Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1125 threatened to put a roadblock on light rail crossing Lake Washington . . .. In the Bellevue City Council races, light rail to the Eastside is winning big as well . . .. Really? Jordan Royer is seeing things ...

Posted Wed, Nov 2, 10:52 a.m.

3 of 3 This state is the poster child for how exceedingly heavy regressive taxing (especially in the name of transit) is bad for a local economy. Who is doing well around here? BA, AMZN, MSFT . . . those corporations are very profitable. They don’t have to rely on ...

Posted Wed, Nov 2, 10:47 a.m.

2 of 3 In case some Crosscut reader might be ignorant of the reality regarding how transit costs are covered everywhere else . . . having good bus and train service does NOT mean the people of a metro region should be forced to pay a 1.8% sales tax rate ...

Posted Wed, Nov 2, 10:47 a.m.

1 of 3 From the piece: The creation of Sound Transit, The Prosperity Partnership, and the Trade Development Alliance were examples of coordinating steps in our region that I gave as local examples. Sound Transit is a disaster by all financial performance metrics when compared to its peers. Holding it ...

Posted Tue, Oct 25, 7:07 a.m.

staybailey writes: "In other words, because the Seattle area governments signed off on these agreements on the presumption that they could convert the lanes to transit, it should be their choice to choose when and how to do so." You've been misinformed, staybailey. Those agreements (in 1976 and 2004) do ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:13 a.m.

8 of 8 Here’s I-1125’s ballot title: ------- Initiative Measure No. 1125 concerns state expenditures on transportation. This measure would prohibit the use of motor vehicle fund revenue and vehicle toll revenue for non-transportation purposes, and require that road and bridge tolls be set by the legislature and be project-specific. ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:12 a.m.

7 of 8 Let’s discuss now how I-1125 was designed to violate one of the provision of the state constitution -- “No bill shall embrace more than one subject . . ..” That’s part of Article II sec. 19. The point of this initiative is to buy delay time for ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:12 a.m.

6 of 8 Eyman and Freeman are tools that the interests behind Sound Transit use. This story is designed to inflate the false image of them as opposed to that taxing district. Here’s how an earlier initiative that also involved Eyman acting as a shill (I-776) played out. Eyman also ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:12 a.m.

5 of 8 Here is section 2 of I-1125: “State government, the department of transportation, and other agencies may not transfer revenues in the motor vehicle fund or any toll fund to the general fund or other funds and used for non-transportation purposes.” http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i1125.pdf No, re-reading that won’t help. The ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:11 a.m.

4 of 8 The litigation that would start up if this initiative passes would provide a convenient excuse for the years of delay Sound Transit’s management now wants. The lawyers behind this initiative also must believe the justices again will act dishonestly and provide unwarranted case law relating to Article ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:11 a.m.

3 of 8 This story says that I-1125 would stop light rail over I-90. State law ALREADY prohibits the proposed handover of I-90 corridor highway infrastructure from WSDOT to Sound Transit. I-1125 wouldn’t add anything of significance to the law in that regard. Article II sec. 40 of the state ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:10 a.m.

2 of 8 Nobody believes Eyman genuinely opposes taxing districts' plans, right? He’s one of the pretend-enemies Sound Transit’s PR team uses. Fake enemies with straw-man arguments are useful to taxing advocates, when, as here, stories in the press portray those individuals as sincere in their supposed opposition to governments’ ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 10:10 a.m.

1 of 8 Nobody should think about voting for this measure unless and until they’ve read it through and become convinced it would set good new policies. Here’s a link to I-1125’s text, its ballot title, and an explanatory statement written by the state AG. The statements “for” and “against” ...

Posted Wed, Oct 19, 7:15 a.m.

3 of 3 The litigation that would start up if this initiative passes would provide a convenient excuse for the years of delays Sound Transit’s management now wants. The lawyers behind this initiative also must believe the justices again will act dishonestly and provide unwarranted case law relating to Article ...

Posted Wed, Oct 19, 7:14 a.m.

2 of 3 If anyone who matters in politics in this state truly believed the passage of I-1125 would prevent the proposed WSDOT-Sound Transit infrastructure handover that deal already would have been done. Hammond would have declared the infrastructure surplus, and she (as WSDOT head) and Sound Transit’s board would ...

Posted Wed, Oct 19, 7:14 a.m.

1 of 3 Two posters above in this thread say they like I-1125, ostensibly because it would prevent “cross allocation of toll revenue from one project to another”. State law ALREADY contains that prohibition; I-1125 wouldn’t add anything new to the law in that regard. RCW 47.56.820(2) states “All revenue ...

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 11 p.m.

The talking points MacDonald and Eyman used there were written by Sound Transit's lawyers. Those lawyers also drafted the key provisions in all the previous "Eyman" initiatives. Nobody believes Eyman genuinely opposes taxing districts' plans, right? He's a pretend-enemy the taxing advocates employ to distract the public. Sound Transit's lawyers ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 10:38 p.m.

orino writes: "TriMet's revenue from said head tax has nosedived in the last couple of years, forcing the agency to cut service and raise fares." It's not that I don't believe you, but I sure haven't seen credible information that would support those assertions. Can you back them up, perhaps ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 6:51 p.m.

Actually David, Oregon has no economy to speak of. Hyperbole much? The three counties around Portland (the TriMet region) have enough of a private-sector economy that the very modest tax on employers imposed there has been enough local taxing to support scores of miles of light rail build-outs, and expanding ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 2:25 p.m.

Somebody up above ("Urbanist") wrote this: "PSRC projects that this region will add another 1.7M people by 2040, representing average growth of over 50,000 people per year." PSRC estimates are not reliable. The PSRC is, for the most part, just reps of local governments charged with distributing federal grants. Those ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 11:07 a.m.

Sales taxes might be regressive, but they are taxes on consumption, therefore ways of steering more money into savings and investment. Sales taxes target what little discretionary spending power individuals and families in the lower half of the wealth continuum possess. When an underemployed mother buys the new shoes, pants, ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 10:03 a.m.

"New figures for the metro areas put Seattle's transit-commuting at 8.7%, versus 6.1% in Portland area." Portland is far better off with its lower percentage. That's because its transit ridership represents savings to the local economy. People don't pay direct transit taxes, and transit riders save money over driving costs ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 9:43 a.m.

Part 3 This area is the poster child for how exceedingly heavy regressive taxing (especially in the name of transit) is bad for an economy. Metro, the transit governments in Pierce and Snohomish counties, and Sound Transit will confiscate something on the order of $1.5 billion in local tax revenue ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 9:42 a.m.

Part 2 The state and local political leadership around here has implemented really high sales taxes for the past several decades. It has resulted in an oppressive tax regime that harms the least well-off and encouraged a growing gap between the rich and the poor. Nowhere has this been more ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 9:40 a.m.

Part 1 From the piece: In Vancouver, one intriguing explanation for the recent referendum defeat of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is that lower-income voters were fighting back against the growing income split. A key feature of the revenue-neutral tax was that it would shift some of the tax burden ...

Posted Fri, Sep 23, 6:40 a.m.

"If Seattle is pursuing "green" strategies, why aren't we considering a car tab fee of this kind rather than the regressive fee that is actually on the ballot?" For exactly the same reason we already have the most regressive tax regime in the country - individuals and families don't have ...

Posted Tue, Sep 20, 9:07 p.m.

OT: Hey Chuck, would you consider doing some writing for Crosscut regarding whether the East Link EIS submissions might comply with the relevant environmental laws and regulations? I ask because you hold yourself out as an ethical land use and environmental lawyer. Here's a link to the "alternatives considered" section ...

Posted Mon, Sep 19, 10:56 a.m.

From the piece: "On the other side are advocates of light rail who argue that without appropriate land use, including density, light rail won't work." I don't get this argument. What kind of "logic" holds that several hundred more condos near a handful of light rail stations will justify this ...

Posted Thu, Sep 15, 7:26 a.m.

Gorton knows better than to recommend McCaffree's book as a useful primer for enacting legislation in Olympia. That's like handing a Model A Ford parts list to the owner of a Honda Civic that won't start. Gorton should have sat Zeiger down and told him how Gorton's client Sound Transit ...

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 5:24 p.m.

Capitol Hill: now experiencing the unfortunate changes Belltown went through after 1995.

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 10:35 a.m.

We’ve known for thirty years that putting in new high-rise housing developments because there's a nearby train station is a huge mistake: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/world/europe/07banlieues.html?pagewanted=all The urban theorists try to justify those projects on economic, social welfare, and environmental grounds. The fact remains though that when large-scale apartments/condos go in next to ...

Posted Thu, Sep 8, 11:25 a.m.

From the piece: “Almost every constitutional scholar who’s analyzed the issue has concluded that, if precedent is followed, health care reform is constitutional.” That common belief probably says more about the dogmatism endemic in academe than anything else. The concept of “stare decisis” certainly is important (it is a legal ...

Posted Wed, Sep 7, 8:52 p.m.

Anyone who would link to “Seattle Transit Blog” from Crosscut - for any reason - is irretrievably dim or angling for credit as an advocate for corrupt government practices.

Posted Wed, Sep 7, 1:29 p.m.

Part 2 Metro, the transit governments in Pierce and Snohomish counties, and Sound Transit will confiscate something on the order of $1.5 billion in local tax revenue this year alone. All the peers do a great job of providing bus service, and expanding train systems, with far less annual local ...

Posted Wed, Sep 7, 1:28 p.m.

Part 1 “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” - Mark Twain The references to the Twin Cities and Portland are appropriate. Those metro areas’ leaders do a great job of providing transit – especially light rail – to people and businesses. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 30, 10:07 a.m.

"Locally, everything we do now — including such big ventures as the deep-bore tunnel, Sound Transit light rail, and other pending capital projects — must be begin with the question: What level of debt will be incurred for what level of public benefit?" This is meant as a joke, right? ...

Posted Mon, Aug 29, 7:04 a.m.

Part 2 I-1125 was drafted by Sound Transit’s lawyers, in the same way they drafted I-776 and I-1053. Eyman is their front-man for these essentially-deceitful litigation-magnets. He only plays the part of an enemy of that taxing district. Freeman also is a friendly-enemy of that taxing district, as can be ...

Posted Mon, Aug 29, 7:01 a.m.

Part 1 “The fight over Sound Transit's coming to the Eastside, which Freeman-backed I-1125 would jeopardize, is a proxy battle in this bigger war.” There are two real legal threats to the East Link plans, and neither of them has anything to do with I-1125. Section 3 of I-1125 supposedly ...

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 5:38 a.m.

Somebody wrote: "People complain about Link light rail but its costs . . . are matched or exceeded by several individual freeway projects". The numbers used in that post to try to make that point are projects' capital costs, which in the case of Sound Transit projects essentially are meaningless. ...

Posted Sun, Aug 21, 6:17 a.m.

We've got the most regressive tax regime in the country - this is the taxing philosophy the political leadership here has been embracing for two decades (minus the humor).

Posted Tue, Aug 16, 6:24 p.m.

The author cautions: "And don’t forget the financing." Too bad he failed to describe the abusive financing plan Sound Transit employs! I like trains as much as the next guy, but not at the cost of grossly excessive and regressive taxing. The capital costs of ST2 were estimated at $13.5 ...

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 4:35 p.m.

“You're no fun anymore Seattle.” Riiiight . . . this isn’t fun, like the monorail authority and Sound Transit were fun. Has everyone noticed how the same individuals and groups behind the monorail authority and Sound Transit are pushing this AWV tunnel megaproject? The Seattle Popular Monorail Authority was designed ...

Posted Sun, Aug 7, 8:04 a.m.

Sound Transit owns properties around its stations. It just sold one off adjacent to the Mt. Baker station so a subsidized condo building for artists could be built. It will sell Seattle Central Community College some property next to the Capitol Hill station, for community college purposes. This piece reinforces ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 9:25 a.m.

Somebody above asked this: “What portion of financing is bond interest, and how is that accounted for? I don't see reference to the actual cost of bonds anywhere in the FEIS nor in any documentation WSDOT has released.” Pretty sure I can explain why the FEIS doesn’t set out the ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 9:15 a.m.

"[P]ragmatic to me is seeing the folly of pushing ahead with major public projects that a brutish, risky, of questionable long-term value, based on out-dated assumptions about the depth of our pocket-books and the future of highways." That's a pithy, spot-on critique of Sound Transit's financing plan - in every ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 8:52 a.m.

Describing this project in terms of what individual politicians said about it over the years ignores the forest for the trees. As with all megaprojects, you need to follow the money to understand what’s going on. The $1.9 billion in expected capital costs will be covered (for the most part) ...

Posted Fri, Jul 29, 9:07 a.m.

"Light rail in not being built on on the basis of a forward thinking discussion about how society might adapt to increasingly scarce hydrocarbon resources (new energy sources, super-efficient personal vehicles, telecomuting, high speed interurban rail) but rather on the basis of a dogmatic determination to right perceived mistakes of ...

Posted Tue, Jul 26, 10:52 p.m.

Aaron Reardon is the "Sno. Co." county executive, and a ranking Sound Transit board member. He's a big pusher of sales taxes and car tab taxes. It'd be great if Reardon would log on here, and explain why he thinks the regressive taxing and spending policies of those two governments ...

Posted Wed, Jul 20, 10:43 a.m.

This story notes that “Passage of I-1125 will likely put major crimps in oxygen hoses for two huge transportation mega-projects that are still not fully funded [SR-520 and SR-99]”. Another thing I-1125 purportedly would do is prohibit WSDOT from transferring I-90 corridor highway infrastructure to Sound Transit (as ST2 calls ...

Posted Tue, Jul 19, 10:04 a.m.

This Elizabeth Campbell comes off as a loose cannon. If replacing the viaduct with a new and improved version has merit then somebody with some credibility needs to step up and get out in front of the effort to push for it. Campbell seems to be a ditz, as evidenced ...

Posted Fri, Jul 15, 1:59 p.m.

"Maybe people . . . should focus their efforts instead on convincing voters to be more supportive of funding transit in a more equitable way than sales taxes?" Heh! Dow Constantine, Larry Phillips, Julia Patterson, Greg Nickels, Ron Sims . . . all of them built their careers on pushing ...

Posted Fri, Jul 1, 8:13 a.m.

Anyone want to discuss how good a state auditor Brian Sonntag has been? Here's an example of his office's output - it's the 2007 I-900 "performance audit" report of selected aspects of Sound Transit's operations: http://www.sao.wa.gov/auditreports/auditreportfiles/ar1000005.pdf That's a real piece of work. We could start by looking at page 22. ...

Posted Mon, Jun 20, 9:41 a.m.

So WHY isn’t the local economy doing well? Let’s look at tax structures fostered by our state government leaders (and their local enablers). It appears the favorable tax treatment provided to big local companies is helping them succeed, while the taxes targeting individuals and families around here harms them and ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 10:32 a.m.

Doug MacDonald writes: "I was not on the Sound Transit board of directors that developed the so-called ST2 plan that was sent to voters in 2008 and indeed the Crosscut archives contain three highly skeptical articles about the ST2 plan that I wrote in mid 2008. So leave me out ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 9:34 a.m.

From a comment at the top of this thread: “It is the citizens that voted for a light rail system that is so expensive (many many times the cost of the waterfront tunnel) that it will never pay its way.” Don’t try blaming the voters for the abusive financing plan ...

Posted Mon, Jun 13, 9:15 p.m.

So who REALLY thinks Brian Sonntag is doing a good job as state auditor? “The estimated cost for Link Light Rail is $2.6 billion.” That’s on page 22 of Sonntag’s most recent performance audit report of Sound Transit: http://www.sao.wa.gov/auditreports/auditreportfiles/ar1000005.pdf Anyone think that’s even close to an accurate estimate? Try defending ...

Posted Fri, Jun 10, 5 p.m.

Roger: You make a point that I’ve heard other new-urbanism and land-use change advocates make: "At the same time, given the investment in light rail, McGinn called for a closer look at heights above the limits of 40 feet, such as 65 and 85 feet. This is a position echoed ...

Posted Thu, Jun 9, 10:08 a.m.

Now hold on, David . . . you’ve mischaracterized McKenna’s ideology: “McKenna, an Eastsider, has long been an artful presenter of his reasonable centrism while actually being a fairly conservative libertarian.” He’s not a “conservative libertarian”, he’s an avowed statist. As AG he always backed heavy taxing schemes by governments ...

Posted Sat, Jun 4, 8:37 p.m.

"So, David, these cities have leadership. They see a problem and then decide to do something about it." You don't get it. Everyplace else has competent leadership. We do not. Forget lawyers, Mr. Baker. They're irrelevant. Sound Transit got even more taxing power in 2008 than the transit services provider ...

Posted Thu, Jun 2, 3:01 p.m.

"Led by Mayor Antonio Vallaraigosa, the city leadership has put together a plan to build 30 years of transit projects in the next 10 years. It will use a new half-cent sales tax, passed in 2008, as collateral to sell long term bonds and secure a low-interest federal loan. It ...

Posted Thu, May 26, 6:36 a.m.

Roger - it isn't just the governor. The entire "D" leadership acts like "R's", especially when it comes to taxation. We've got the most regressive tax structure in the country. It relies on an abusively high sales tax, one that is designed to hit the least well-off in our community ...

Posted Wed, May 25, 9:53 p.m.

This has the smell of bad propaganda: "Actually, the tunnel seems to be going like clockwork. On budget, on time, etc., aside from a small hiccup with this vote. — mhays" Heh! You ARE just blowing smoke there, "mhays". You CAN NOT link to one single fact to substantiate your ...

Posted Wed, May 25, 10:23 a.m.

This has the smell of bad propaganda: "Actually, the tunnel seems to be going like clockwork. On budget, on time, etc., aside from a small hiccup with this vote. — mhays" Well SOMEBODY must have access to inside-information. I've been trying to figure out for months how the public will ...

Posted Wed, May 25, 7:34 a.m.

David Brewster is a savant! Just a couple of days ago he wrote – on this very website! – that one of the tactics the pro-megaproject, pro-bond-selling special interest group in town would use is the following: “Wrapping Tim Eyman, who showed up in support of the referendum, around the ...

Posted Mon, May 23, 8:44 a.m.

Part 2 Contrary to the message the proponents have been pumping out about how “the statute is ineffective”, the legislature wouldn’t need to enact anything else for a LID to be created to make those annual assessments start happening once WSDOT announces it’ll max out under its spending cap. Gregoire ...

Posted Mon, May 23, 8:43 a.m.

Part 1 This piece does not mention how the financing plan has morphed over time, and how it still is both inadequate and subject to abuse by WSDOT's managers. The first announcement about plans for a deep bore tunnel under Seattle’s downtown was made in 2008, by the Cascadia Center: ...

Posted Mon, May 23, 8:17 a.m.

Thanks for painting this vote into such a big picture, David. I’d like to address one of the tactics you suggest the pro-megaproject, pro-bond-selling group will use: “Wrapping Tim Eyman, who showed up in support of the referendum, around the mayor's neck.” The entities that make money off public financings ...

Posted Wed, May 18, 6:39 p.m.

A $548 million bond sale is "huge", a "record setter" and "colossal"? That's nothing. Sound Transit plans to sell $7 billion in long term bonds. The people and businesses here would end up with about as much light rail (similar numbers of miles and stations) as the people and businesses ...

Posted Sat, May 14, 11:18 a.m.

Duh. It simply means that he has financial interests that are identical to those of the entities that get rich off local government tax and spend ballot measures. He, and those special interests, make money off local ballot measures.

Posted Wed, May 11, 8 p.m.

"the benefits of linking these neighborhoods . . . will be felt for generations." What "benefits" are you talking about? What will be felt for decades is the excessive and regressive tax hit this abusive financing scheme will impose on people and the local economy. THAT can be quantified: about ...

Posted Tue, May 10, 7:38 p.m.

From the piece: "Now, with the emergence of light rail and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) as strategies to make the city more sustainable, the neighborhood [Chinatown - I.D.] once again is in the middle of change and opportunity." That makes no sense. Fifteen light rail stations have been sited for ...

Posted Tue, Apr 19, 7:30 a.m.

Somebody posted this above: "And yes [McKenna] did "hide" the clause that allowed ST to change the plan and collect taxes on the plan for ever." The provision in Sound Move allowing permanent taxing at a level needed to subsidize operations after the construction period never was hidden. It is ...

Posted Mon, Apr 18, 9:18 a.m.

"So, can McKenna take the hits? Yes. He did during his days on the King County Council when he was bushwhacked for asking inconvenient questions about Sound Transit, and he emerged stronger for it." While on the county council, and ST's board, McKenna released nothing but deceptive, pro-Sound Transit sound ...

Posted Sun, Apr 17, 11 a.m.

Very interesting. This runs counter to a lot of what we hear from the proponents of big public works projects in this region. They claim overbuilding infrastructure always is the proper course ("so we'll be poised for economic and population growth"). This story points to the bad effects of spending ...

Posted Sun, Apr 10, 3:30 p.m.

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." -- James Madison Madison is on the mark there. You can see that dynamic around here in spades. The latest example ...

Posted Fri, Apr 8, 10:41 p.m.

. . . Obviously the guy with the byline is incapable of responding to that question. Anybody else think they might be able to figure it out?

Posted Fri, Apr 8, 10:38 p.m.

From the story: "The Washington State Department of Transportation signed documents today (April 8) with the Federal Railroad Administration . . . [committing WSDOT to pay unlimited amounts]." Can anybody estimate what the current value of the state's new financial obligations is? Those "documents" WSDOT just signed could be really ...

Posted Sun, Apr 3, 9:29 p.m.

Why do they publish stories about bond issuances in Oregon, but up here it's a taboo subject? I can't remember the last time Sound Transit, Metro, the City of Seattle, King County, or the Port of Seattle crowed about selling some long-term debt. They do it all the time though.

Posted Wed, Mar 30, 10:14 a.m.

Conlin really messed this one up. Here's the timeline. The three proposed MOAs from the state arrived in Seattle on 1/28/11. City staffers wouldn't sign off on them, as they would have created new city policy. So the city council had to formally agree to them (on 2/7/11). That's the ...

Posted Wed, Mar 30, 10:04 a.m.

Jan writes: “The people pushing a surface alternative at all costs now (a small crowd) appear to be the same people who radically and tragically pushed to multi-year waste of time and money called the Monorail.” Jan is attempting to cover up the truth (and not doing a good job ...

Posted Mon, Mar 28, 10:56 a.m.

When's the last time a story about transit in this region featured: 1) public officials with differing views on the cost vs. benefit ratio of a rail project, 2) information about the status/likelihood of federal grant money for projects, 3) analysis of the relative costs of bus vs. rail, and ...

Posted Sat, Mar 19, 5:29 a.m.

lorenbliss writes like a macaroon: too much air; all confection. - "the 'government managers' against whom he rages so furiously are merely following the orders of the politicians" I was referring to politicians as well as senior staff when I used the term "government managers". But you knew that . ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 2:26 p.m.

"here are four points in response . . ." None of those respond to the three items I asked you to address. Try backing up these new assertions you just came up with: “At least half the reason local transit costs are so high is [rejection of two ballot measures ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 12:02 p.m.

Matt, ST's additional costs due to right-of-way acquisition and building several tunnels/bridges do not come close to explaining why the intergenerational tax costs it imposes on families and individuals here are many, many times higher than what light rail providers impose on people elsewhere. Aren't you in the construction contracting ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 11:14 a.m.

@ lorenbliss: It boggles the mind how far off-base your comment there is. Buses and trains are very popular with people here, and a relatively high percentage of the population uses them (at least occasionally). Your belief the people around here harbor “bigoted hostility” toward transit is nothing short of ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 7:42 a.m.

@ ruffner: The "IKEA" model is better than the Sound Transit model of government. With Sound Transit you have massive regressive taxing, staggeringly high up-front and ongoing costs, and absolutely no chance of "moving it or having much adaptability". Couple those flaws with how it provides marginal (at best) utility ...

Posted Mon, Mar 14, 9:13 p.m.

The issue for lots of people in Japan isn't "eliminating all risk", it's getting the hell out of Dodge: _____ Japanese ordered indoors in radiation leak crisis Radiation leaked from a crippled nuclear plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third reactor was rocked by an explosion Tuesday and a ...

Posted Sat, Mar 5, 2:49 p.m.

" sell Product A (20th century rail) to justify Product B (21st century density)" What "Product B"? There may be a few new condo complexes that go in near some of those stations, but that isn't anywhere near the magnitude of the density that would warrant either this kind of ...

Posted Fri, Mar 4, 7:14 p.m.

Gregoire and the legislature have lots of experience “securitizing” (i.e., going to the bond market to get cash now in exchange for trading away exceedingly large future tax streams). They abuse their power in that regard. Just look at how they delegated all that bond selling and taxing authority to ...

Posted Thu, Mar 3, 8:12 p.m.

"The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist ...

Posted Mon, Feb 28, 10:13 a.m.

Hear hear KB. Connelly and his friends in the local media/governing class now embrace a condescending attitude toward outsiders. They want to perpetuate the social orthodoxy of the local party machine - the one set out in the policies and blandishments of Nickels, Constantine, Drago, Conlin, etc. What that group ...

Posted Tue, Feb 22, 12:14 p.m.

@ afreeman writes: "crossrip, ST (and PSRC) political appointees ARE accountable. They are hired by and accountable to those we elect and allow to appoint themselves as executive board." First, the PSRC doesn't have taxing power, so whether or not it is directly accountable to people is not relevant to ...

Posted Tue, Feb 22, 10:32 a.m.

Dick Nelson asserts several incorrect points above when he references the Sound Transit bond selling. When he says this - "Ditto Sound Transit’s various capital projects." - he is incorrectly positing that Sound Transit's financing practices are comparable to how several other capital project sponsors use "tolls or fees" to ...

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 8:55 p.m.

From the piece: "Grind told the luncheon gathering, 'Washington Mutual’s failure was essentially political.'" Grind's way off base there. The failures at WAMU stemmed from a corporate culture of hubris and disdain for the regulating authorities. WAMU's management thought by flouting the lax rules relating to thrifts they could abuse ...

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 9 a.m.

This piece proposes special zoning dispensations for Royer's associate Greg Smith. The proposed spot-zoning allowing greater height for a condo project on the parking lot Smith owns is a bad idea, as is the proposed waiver of the Incentive Zoning requirements for condo developers in that part of the city. ...

Posted Fri, Feb 18, 8:59 a.m.

From the piece: "On balance, looking at all aspects, I say support the Families and Education levy. Support it because the city does a far better job in oversight, accountability, and transparency of dollars spent than the district does with its own levies." Let's see if this holds up to ...

Posted Thu, Feb 10, 7:01 a.m.

"Seattle is now a city that likes consensus more than cowboys. The company's corporate culture might become too Seattleized. Already, we've seen new projects like the 787 slow down and stumble, just like every other Seattle transportation project." That's apples and oranges. The 787 delays are due primarily to engineering ...

Posted Tue, Feb 8, 6:18 p.m.

I might argue one reason we're doing so poorly in terms of relative real property price trends (despite a fairly low proportional number of foreclosures) stems from the highly regressive tax structure. Keep in mind that not that much of those revenues are spent in the Puget Sound area. Cash ...

Posted Wed, Feb 2, 6:49 p.m.

What a coincidence! I think a train service provider around here needs far more critical scrutiny as well. I’m not sure when Doug MacDonald found religion on that issue. He acted oblivious to the grossly excessive regressive taxing involved with the taxing and spending resolutions he rubberstamped for years as ...

Posted Thu, Jan 20, 9:01 p.m.

Wow Dan Bentler - you’re obviously a big fan of the state ferry system. Heck, you’re not even above putting on some platform shoes and pimping for some more tax revenue for ferries: “So all you micro managers get out of the way of people who are doing a fine ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 8:48 p.m.

What is described in this part of the piece is the opposite of what Metro and ST are doing: “In addition, local and regional system alignment and station siting decisions should optimize the potential for high-performing TOC. This means favoring transit investments in mixed-use centers and neighborhoods over areas with ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 8:47 p.m.

Here’s a gem from this piece: “The state must provide additional funding authority for local and regional transit agencies.” That’s Steinbrueck’s clarion call for more delegations of taxing authority to Metro and Sound Transit. Is he trolling for contributions in advance of a campaign for mayor? Looks like he may ...

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 12:45 p.m.

The lawyers who act as bond counsel and general counsel for local governments such as the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority and Sound Transit draft the state and local enabling legislation for those taxing districts. That's even worse, because their personal interests are directly adverse to those of taxpayers.

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 9:22 a.m.

This theory of governance was tried - the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority. Nick Hanauer put tens of thousands of dollars into promoting that 2002 effort. What were the results? $200 million in tax revenue confiscated and then completely wasted. Another example is Sound Transit. It is completely unaccountable to people. ...

Posted Mon, Jan 3, 7:26 p.m.

Oh come on - the government managers didn't have to always say "yes" to represented labor's representatives. Heck, the government managers are MORE at fault. What don't you get about that, Adam? Wagging your finger only at the unions makes you look dim.

Posted Sun, Jan 2, 8:52 a.m.

Ross Hunter - Thanks for your post and providing those links. That September, 2010 study out of DC is interesting and is worth a few comments. It is the one that compares tax burdens as a function of income, on a family of three, with both spouses employed. One thing ...

Posted Thu, Dec 30, 6:44 a.m.

@ bubbleator: Haven't you figured it out yet - "Cameron" is a straw-man sock puppet. Here, I'll prove it. I'll comment on something from the story, and ask Cameron to respond. He won't comment in a cogent manner about this, because he's paid by the beneficiaries of the craptastic taxing ...

Posted Wed, Dec 29, 7:40 a.m.

Responding to the points about raising local taxes in #’s 3 & 4: First, the state legislators have been heaping new taxing powers at local governments for decades. The local tax burdens on people (especially) and businesses have shot up, to unprecedented levels. That will continue, because the taxing class ...

Posted Mon, Dec 20, 9:32 a.m.

"For example, are people in King County paying a higher percentage of their income in local and state taxes than 10 years ago?" That wouldn't provide useful data, for several reasons: - Ten years is too short of a time frame to measure, make it 40 years (that's when the ...

Posted Fri, Dec 17, 10:57 a.m.

"It's pretty safe to assume that neither Boeing nor Microsoft would be as prosperous without their tax breaks. Or, they might be prosperous, but no longer based in Washington." Are those just some idle musings? Try backing your opinions there up. Those tax breaks are NOT why those companies still ...

Posted Fri, Dec 17, 8:42 a.m.

BA and MSFT are profitable, apparently. They've received tax breaks from the state legislature (called "tax expenditures" by some). From what I read, none of those sanctioned loopholes were closed during the special session that just wrapped up. What are those tax expenditures, exactly? How much tax revenue will state ...

Posted Wed, Dec 15, 10:28 a.m.

Thank you for posting and sharing what you know about these events in Bonny Lake, DAM. I agree with your final paragraph. Here's something you wrote above that I don't agree with though: "Whether a judge is appointed or elected makes no difference as to their independence." I disagree with ...

Posted Tue, Dec 14, 4:37 p.m.

This piece was devoted entirely to the effects of federal taxing policies. It ignores the class warfare being practiced against the lower half of the population in this community by state and local government managers. Here’s something the author got partially right: “Short-term tax cuts for people who spend most ...

Posted Mon, Dec 13, 6:23 p.m.

The premise that an elected judge or justice acts more ethically is ridiculous. It doesn't matter whether it's a municipal court judge, a superior court judge, or an appellate judge/justice. The truth of the matter is that having to run for reelection increases the likelihood a judge will decide cases ...

Posted Mon, Dec 13, 11:32 a.m.

pepper2000 - you wrote: "In the past I've focused more on the problems of an elected judiciary: judges who have to engage in partisan politics in order to be elected or maintain their positions." Here's the thing - dishonest judicial officers who want to suck up to one side in ...

Posted Mon, Dec 13, 11:14 a.m.

Harris - you wrote: "The first is how the U.S. constitutional system is supposed to operate, with legislatures making the law and judges applying and interpreting it." Just to clarify, judges are to apply and CONSTRUE laws that state and local legislators enact, not INTERPRET them. Those terms have very ...

Posted Mon, Dec 13, 7:03 a.m.

"Oh, and crossrip, WE KNOW THE FUNDING FOR SOUND TRANSIT'S LIGHT RAIL IS ALL @#$%ED UP!! You don't have to keep posting the same bile in EVERY SINGLE STORY. Put a sock in it!!" Hi Orino: I disagree with your assertion. The fact that ST's financing plan is abusive, and ...

Posted Sun, Dec 12, 4 p.m.

The taxing for transit around here is grossly excessive. The poster above states the rate of one of the ST taxes in his post. He ignores how much tax revenue that generates each year, he ignores how many years those tax confiscations would continue, and he ignores how nowhere else ...

Posted Sun, Dec 12, 8:02 a.m.

From the piece: "Turin built and executed an Urban Master Plan and two stages of strategic planning. Local banks joined with Italy, the European Union, and the Turin-based Compagnia di San Paolo (a foundation with $8 billion in assets) to fund hundreds of millions of dollars toward a stronger city ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 11:19 a.m.

Ross - thanks for clarifying. Thing is though, a new Seattle county would be able to use the revenues the people and businesses from Seattle now pay to King County for the required county services. Obviously there'd be additional needs if the city government were to expand to take over ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 10:14 a.m.

Ross Kane writes: “Nearly 70% of present County revenues in the big Counties is consumed by law and justice programs.” Ross – you’ve been out of the game a while. Things have changed. Take a look at what a sitting King Co. Councilman had to say about that issue last ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 6:57 a.m.

From the piece: "Others have pointed out that multiple transportation agencies in Puget Sound don't make sense: why not find a way to consolidate Sound Transit and Metro?" The primary difference between those two is their governance structures. Sound Transit is managed by an appointive board of legislators. ST has ...

Posted Mon, Dec 6, 1:48 p.m.

Tiresome diatribe? One of Valdez' suggestions was diverting even more tax revenue to transit (via repealing 18th Amendment). Look at how much more tax revenue the transit services providers get here than their peers. They should be doing well with less, not need more. And Wilbur got his facts wrong ...

Posted Mon, Dec 6, 9:57 a.m.

Wilbur wrote: "voters have already approved ~$20 billion for Sound Transit". Wow – Wilbur forgot to mention the financing costs! Talk about somebody with their head stuck in the sand . . .. To fully appreciate what a lousy job of managing public resources the government managers here are doing ...

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 1:05 p.m.

Mickey Mouse writes: “I'm not sure I would blame local leaders in Seattle for utilizing the only tax options that Olympia will give them or that the public supports. “Sales tax is simply the main tool available for transit agencies to use here. You don't think Metro or Sound Transit ...

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 9:32 a.m.

Interesting idea Gary! Leave aside for the moment that the capital spending plans are many times too high in light of the benefits the ST rail could deliver to the region. The financing plan selected to impose on people here is what truly is brutal. The state bank idea could ...

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 7:03 a.m.

So the people in Vancouver want more train transit, and they are debating how to pay for it? Well they DEFINITELY should look at how the government managers here pay for it and contrast that with how TriMet in Portland pays for transit. We are doing a super-lousy job of ...

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 2:36 p.m.

seebee - Below is a "fact sheet" document that lays it all out re: how TriMet pays for its light rail. The light rail in Portland has come on line gradually, and all of it was well after Carter left office. You are right though, federal funds covered a lot ...

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 7:15 a.m.

Somebody with knowledge deficits wrote: "Other conservatives complain that our government doesn't do as well as other governments do, one commenter referring to the fact that Portland's voters don't have to cough up as much for transportation. But Oregon has an income tax" TriMet doesn't use income tax revenue to ...

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 7:08 a.m.

You still are trying to blame the voters: "And let me repeat, if the voters shared your beliefs, surely they would've joined you in voting NO on the regional transit plan and the tax increase necessary to fund it." The fault lies with the government managers who put the abusive ...

Posted Tue, Nov 30, 8:09 p.m.

Here's a reason not to trust the government managers around here: they put the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority ballot measure up to voters, then they blew it with the financing plan. Here's another reason not to trust government managers around here: they designed Sound Transit's state and local enabling legislation ...

Posted Tue, Nov 30, 5:58 p.m.

R on Beacon Hill wrote: "Those terribly regressive sales tax increases were not imposed by Metro and Sound Transit, they were authorized by the voters! And why do voters up the sales tax to fund local needs? Well, it's virtually the only tax available." Those unreasonably high sales taxes - ...

Posted Tue, Nov 30, 7:33 a.m.

The state and local government managers here have imposed the most regressive tax regimen in the country. They show contempt toward people. It is a political culture that thrives on abusing individuals and families with excessive sales taxes. The political class around here is comprised of tax pimps. They push ...

Posted Fri, Nov 19, 9:33 a.m.

GREAT piece. "Modern-day liberalism, however, is often ambivalent about expanding the economy — preferring a mix of redistribution with redirection along green lines. Its base of political shock troops, public-employee unions, appears only tangentially interested in the health of the overall economy." That's putting it mildly. Here in Washington state ...

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 2:52 p.m.

Could be that this new initiative requires the state legislature to set tolls. Other than that nobody thinks the statutory financing plan as is is incomplete or improper. A LID could be formed and assessments collected from benefited property owners sufficient to cover all of WSDOT's costs over $2.8 billion ...

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 9:37 a.m.

From somebody above: “this tunnel decision, good or bad, has gone thru a process over YEARS w/ massive public input & negotiation from all parties involved” Not even close. It was announced that there would be a deep bore tunnel in October 2008, about a year and a half after ...

Posted Sun, Nov 14, 3:16 p.m.

This has nothing to do with how many cars were sold eighty years ago. Why are you suggesting ST's light rail is some kind of "experiment"? Your arguments are nothing but hot air: -- Housing prices and rents have gone down near light rail stations. You have no data to ...

Posted Sun, Nov 14, 11:08 a.m.

Some government propagandist hiding behind a screen name posted some real garbage up above: ------ But we may have actually found it [a way to 'expel' the poor by 'gentrifying'] when we built the Link light rail line to the airport. It's no surprise that property values rise, and rents, ...

Posted Sat, Nov 6, 10:38 a.m.

Aubrey: The public can tell very little about how the managements of Sound Transit and Metro operate in terms of providing transit. What we know about the revenue side are bad facts. TriMet does not need to target families with any direct taxes, whereas here the average family of four ...

Posted Sat, Nov 6, 9:25 a.m.

"In your complaint against the Municipal League report you seemed to blame the transit operators for their taxing systems." No Aubrey, the legislators, and the lawyers who handed them those draft statutes to enact, are to blame for the transit taxing system. I've never suggested otherwise. I disagree with your ...

Posted Fri, Nov 5, 2:37 p.m.

Good question. If you look at page 79 of the TriMet 2010 Transit Investment Plan you can see the pie chart of revenues. No property tax is shown there. A newspaper article said that some 1990 bonds TriMet issued were “backed” by some kind of property tax, but again no ...

Posted Fri, Nov 5, 11:13 a.m.

"So why you need to take pot shots at ST and a 2-year old Muni League position is beyond me. Irrelevant attacks on the writer and changing the subject are lame ways to conduct civic discourse." I'll tell you exactly why I brought up the muni league's baffling endorsement of ...

Posted Fri, Nov 5, 10:08 a.m.

What’s quoted here is from Kathy Elias’ posting: “Anti-taxers like you got rid of the MVET”. No, the state MVET was eliminated by the legislature and Gary Locke. I-695 was struck down as unconstitutional. “I'm not defending Metro management, but it's certainly not their fault that the legislature gave them ...

Posted Fri, Nov 5, 9:22 a.m.

From the piece: “Like transit operators across the country, Washington's providers find themselves in a tough spot.” The bus and train services providers here have revenue structures that are different, and far worse, than in peer regions. The heavy sales taxes for transit employed here aren’t how others do it. ...

Posted Thu, Nov 4, 1:08 p.m.

Here's a group of LOSERS: the dwindling minority in this state that thinks judicial elections are a good way to select judges. On my ballot there were 17 judicial “races” listed. Only 3 of those had a choice of names. Voters had no choice in the other 14. Judicial elections ...

Posted Thu, Nov 4, 1:02 p.m.

"Eyman logic would do away with a representative form of government entirely." Sound Transit's legal architects already did away with the representative form of government, in case you hadn't noticed. It's a major flaw with that government. People now have no ability to exert any control over that exceedingly powerful ...

Posted Wed, Nov 3, 5:54 p.m.

R on Beacon Hill writes: "And even more importantly, the Port is governed by 5 elected commissioners who are not going to expend that much political capital to gore Seattle taxpayers; they get too many votes from us to do that. The Port is not going to pull the State's ...

Posted Wed, Nov 3, 9:34 a.m.

R on Beacon Hill writes: "Yes, the Port supports the deep-bore tunnel, but that does not make it a Port project of the type listed in the law giving the Port LID authority. Best to read the whole law, not just one section that you like. It would be a ...

Posted Wed, Nov 3, 9:07 a.m.

Apparently Kathy Elias isn't interested in discussing this. Anyone associated with the muni league or this "task force" want to explain why taxpayers' interests have been abused by bus and train service providers up to this point, and why this new report calls for making that situation worse? From this ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 5:49 p.m.

Notice how the self-identified "good government" group around here also happens to be a reckless tax pimp? The muni league is a reckless tax pimp because it advocates for taxing schemes that lack any reasonable taxpayer protection provisions. Examples of true procedural safeguards that would protect taxpayers include taxing amount ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 1:20 p.m.

Kathy - You need to back up a few steps. Your piece does not identify why the managers of the bus and train service providers around here are doing such a poor job. Why is the management of public transit here now performing so poorly in comparison to the peer ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 9:52 a.m.

R on Beacon Hill writes: “Where is it written that the State has the authority to establish, to impose, an LID inside of a city for purposes of partially funding a State project? Where? Cite, please.” Are you Roger Pence, Community Outreach Director for Sound Transit? You are full of ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 6:38 a.m.

The simple truth is Gregoire can not be trusted on this issue. We know that because she's not telling the truth about how that 2009 statute is designed to operate. The statutory financing scheme the legislature and governor enacted in 2009 is perfectly legal and enforceable as is. There is ...

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 7:03 a.m.

From the Herald piece: "If funding for the Sound Transit plan falls short, the text of the measure calls for the agency’s board to build the part of the system it deems the most necessary and to adjust the plan as appropriate." OK, I'll bite - how about somebody posts ...

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 8:16 p.m.

The reference above to the local government bond seller "LIDS" should be to a different kind of entity, called a "PDA" - a Public Development Authority: www.seattle.gov/html/citizen/pda.htm

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 1:07 p.m.

From the story: "Our state's per capita debt of $9,658 is cited as the main reason for its ranking below such well-governed states as Wyoming, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Vermont." To get a fuller appreciation of that negative attribute burdening people you'd need to factor in all the local ...

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 10:49 a.m.

knute000 you gasbag - Conlin didn't sign that DEIS under the auspices of Art. V sec. 9. He explained to city attorney Pete Holmes he signed it as a political gesture. DEIS filings usually are signed by government staffers, generally environmental compliance officers. What a signature on those documents is ...

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 7:40 a.m.

From a comment above: "We suffer from tax aversion at all levels of government." What a crock. All levels of government crave taxing. They've found that transportation issues afford an effective means of obtaining vast amounts of new tax revenues - far more than what their peers confiscate. It’s fair ...

Posted Mon, Sep 27, 1:17 p.m.

From the piece: "[The city charter says] the mayor “shall direct and control all subordinate officers of the City.” Actions of the legislative branch, the Seattle City Council, “shall be by ordinance.”" Let's assume that's a correct statement of the law, and let's put it in these terms: the mayor ...

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 7:19 a.m.

If WSDOT wanted to be able to transfer a large portion of the I-90 highway infrastructure to a local government for train use it could have ensured it would have that ability. All that would have been required is no spending of state highway trust funds on that infrastructure. General ...

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 7:11 a.m.

"They essentially argued that, even with Sound Transit paying the full cost of replacing the HOV capacity in the I-90 center lanes with new 2-way HOV lanes on the outside of the bridge, the state could not possibly declare that the inside lanes were no longer needed because gas tax ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 2:06 p.m.

"andy" wrote: "First, crossrip: I am pretty sure our state 18th amendment only applies to state gas tax--not federal" I agree. Nothing in my postings assumes otherwise. I actually point that fact out in the first of the two postings ("The 18th Amendment still makes sense, and it should remain ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 10:24 a.m.

A poster above notes: "I-90 across Lake Washington wasn't financed by MVET and gas taxes. 90% of it was paid for by the Federal government." The facilities ST wants to obtain for train use from WSDOT extend from Bellevue to Rainier Ave. in Seattle - it's a whole lot more ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 10:12 a.m.

“It's time to repeal the 18th Amendment to the state's constitution.” No, the time to have done that would have been before a transit measure like ST2 was put before voters. ST2 calls for trains to use the I-90 highway infrastructure, and that provision of the constitution prohibits train use ...

Posted Sat, Aug 28, 7:32 a.m.

There are good details about the UTA’s transit plans and practices at its website. Any of Sound Transit’s “fans” or “community outreach specialists” want to compare how ST finances transit and delivers bus/train service to how it’s done in and around Salt Lake City? Try identifying anything ST does better ...

Posted Wed, Aug 25, 5:43 a.m.

McGinn’s predilections may well trend toward fiscal conservatism. He was a partner in a relatively small business (a law firm), and careful stewarding of resources is a necessary skill in the private sector. McGinn’s background in that sense is completely alien to the members of our political class (and those ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 6:16 a.m.

“ST has the option to keep the lease in place for 75 years, for a price certain." You are making assumptions that can not be supported by any laws or agreements between those two governments. At this point there is no lease. ST’s board hasn’t even been shown a draft ...

Posted Sun, Aug 22, 11:28 a.m.

sjenner - could you explain your thinking about this? You are correct about a couple of things. The I-90 floating bridge will need to be replaced by about 2060 (whether or not it is modified so trains can use it). You also are correct about how it will be an ...

Posted Sun, Aug 22, 5:19 a.m.

I didn't find the "cost" statistics used in this piece helpful. The author says light rail here costs $7 per trip. How does that compare to the costs of the peer train services providers? That would be a meaningful comparison. If, as the author seems to suggest, ST is not ...

Posted Tue, Aug 10, 10:09 a.m.

The fact that we are “lagging the nation in personal income growth” puts the lie to the assertions of the supporters of the big tax hikes “for transit” that they would pay dividends for people and local businesses. The fact is the massively high regressive transit taxes imposed in this ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 12:11 p.m.

Let’s turn the tables. --- It just chaps my hide how Jean Godden and other propagandists are trying to sell this megaproject: Simplicity and repetition. Make the issue something easy to grasp and repeat it over and over. In time, it will be accepted by your audience. In other words, ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 10:04 a.m.

It would be one thing if the deceitful proponents of the Sound Transit ballot measures were financing that grossly expensive and largely-useless infrastructure the way peer regions do. Everyplace else uses mostly federal grants, and maybe some modest new progressive taxing. Then the pre-vote lies and deceptive half-truths would amount ...

Posted Mon, Jun 28, 9:22 a.m.

The problems mentioned here with initiatives exist in spades when it comes to propositions from governments. Every year there are one or more tax hike propositions hawked by self-interested groups that are on the ballot. Those cause just as much, or more, damage than initiatives. Here are some examples of ...

Posted Fri, Jun 18, 10:56 a.m.

I'll add a couple of things to the list that jmrolls sets out. The tunnel is not green, not by a long shot. The gargantuan amount of spoils would have to be trucked and then dumped somewhere. Also, the perpetual operating and maintenance costs for the huge ventilation and lighting ...

Posted Thu, Jun 17, 9:25 a.m.

It’s no wonder Gov. Chris Gregoire didn’t want the press or project opponents near her when she was holding forth on that subject – she appears completely out of it whenever she opens her mouth on the subject of the AWV replacement megaproject proposal. Everything she has been saying about ...

Posted Thu, Jun 10, 9:16 a.m.

Mr Baker - in your opinion, what is the clearest and most complete recent statement of what WSDOT plans to do with the $2.8 billion the legislature said it could spend? WSDOT apparently has agreed to do soils testing, mitigation relating to the tunneling work, EIS preparation, remove the viaduct, ...

Posted Thu, Jun 10, 9:07 a.m.

Here's something from Licata's e-mail that is incorrect. It is incorrect because it fails to account for the cost-shifting provision in the current statutory financing scheme: "The State funding toward viaduct removal and rebuilding Alaskan Way is $290 million, but the State could use this money to cover any additional ...

Posted Wed, Jun 9, 6:40 a.m.

"Yes, I dissagree with that. Just because the Port can impose another LID does not mean they can be compelled to do so by the State or County." No one is arguing the State or the County could compel the Port to do that. The Port commissioners are eager to ...

Posted Tue, Jun 8, 9:59 p.m.

You didn't pen that headline, did you Joe? It's very incorrect. WSDOT only has statutory authority to spend up to $2.8 billion. No other organ of the state has any legal authority to spend over that amount NO MATTER WHAT ANY CONTRACT SAYS. Look, how about you just admit it, ...

Posted Tue, Jun 8, 6:59 p.m.

Nick is correct: the City of Seattle would not be on the hook for WSDOT’s cost overruns. What the statute says is benefited property owners in the Seattle area would be on the hook. That is local improvement district (“LID”) language. What that means is that a local government with ...

Posted Mon, Jun 7, 11:07 a.m.

I can see that property developers would like Fred's plan. The costs associated with putting up big retail/condo mixed use projects would go down. To the extent the glut of such properties now on the market decreases (7 years from now or so), the developers would turn bigger profits than ...

Posted Tue, Jun 1, 5:58 p.m.

In the 1994 - 2002 period our local economic growth and activity was better than in most parts of the country. Things haven't changed much here since then in terms of "freeway gridlock, regulatory burdens, zoning, environmental zealotry". That suggests those factors you are pointing at wouldn't cause 1) local ...

Posted Tue, Jun 1, 3:55 p.m.

Why not try spelling out this causal correlation you see between your list of horribles ("freeway gridlock, regulatory burdens, zoning, environmental zealotry") and local banks doing poorly? I don't follow your reasoning. Freeway gridlock could indicate a good economy - lots of trucks and cars going lots of places to ...

Posted Tue, Jun 1, 3:33 p.m.

Regarding the Forbes rating: I don't know what factors were chosen for that rating, and how each was weighted. If this was such a relatively good place for business then it would lead other regions out of this recession. Instead we know sales tax revenues are way down, and the ...

Posted Tue, Jun 1, 9:25 a.m.

You say governments foster a "hostile business climate". What are you referring to? That is a catch-phrase, not a reasoned argument for why the local economy might underperform its peers. There was a modest per-employee tax in Seattle that was part of "Bridging the Gap" but it was repealed. Businesses ...

Posted Tue, Jun 1, 6:33 a.m.

. . . The ticker symbol for that bank's shares is COLB. Two years ago it was trading at $26.40 per share, now it's at $22.30 a share. dbreneman - do you think the local economy will lag behind the rest of the country in pulling out of the recession? ...

Posted Tue, Jun 1, 6:24 a.m.

"Columbia Bank . . . seems to be doing very well." Not really. In Q1 of this year the dividend declared was a penny a share: http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/finl.aspx?iid=100754 That is down substantially from the dividend the year before.

Posted Sun, May 30, 9 p.m.

David posits local banks won't be very profitable. He suggests the local economy will do poorly going forward, compared to how other regions perform. The big private employers around here don't rely on the local economy. They could do OK. They don't use local banks much though, so their "success" ...

Posted Sun, May 30, 7:05 a.m.

David refers to "the historic way the local recovery lags the national pattern by a year or so." I've read that a number of times, in a number of publication (on-line and in ink). Seems like everyone and their brother has a different explanation for why that pattern seems to ...

Posted Thu, May 27, 6:33 a.m.

There’s a big difference between 1) someone who questions and challenges government officials and policies using a pseudonym, and 2) an anonymous government flack paid to fill comment threads with dissembling nonsense and post snide personal rebukes aimed at those who don’t mouth the party line. The former serves an ...

Posted Sat, May 22, 6:07 p.m.

From the piece: “It's easy to see why they slip the trap.” Not even close, David. Nobody - and especially not McGinn - set any traps. Richard Conlin is slinking away from a fight he knows he’d lose. That “Clibborn amendment” is perfectly enforceable against Seattle property owners. Conlin was ...

Posted Tue, May 18, 9:10 a.m.

I’d say that State AGs’ suit challenging the new health care reform statute needs an additional cause of action. The 10th Amendment claims are ok, but there’s a better claim. The objectionable aspect of this new law is everyone (not covered by employer plans) will be required to buy health ...

Posted Thu, May 13, 11:11 a.m.

From the piece: “The crisis of rising costs and falling revenues staring Metro in the face is a national transit epidemic.” We face a unique problem here though: excessive regressive taxing for transit. People in this neck of the woods are taxed far too heavily for bus and train service. ...

Posted Sun, May 9, 11:04 a.m.

David asks: “The city of Seattle is not on the hook; rather the legislation says "Seattle area taxpayers" who directly benefit. How exactly would you get this vague group to pay if they didn't want to? Who does the state call to present the bill?” The overrun provision is perfectly ...

Posted Tue, Apr 27, 11:58 p.m.

“[Y]ou eat somewhere at the light rail trough yourself. Why not tell us your name and place of employment?” Fat chance he’d give that up. Anonymity gives him whatever power he thinks he has. If told everyone his name, or disclosed who pays him, we’d see the little man behind ...

Posted Fri, Apr 23, 6 p.m.

MacIsaac took what he says is Sound transit data, and displayed it in several charts. Let's hear from Sound Transit now on these financing issues. Is this really another monorail financing debacle, writ large? Brian McCartan said the bonds would be paid off by 2038, but one of MacIsaac's charts ...

Posted Fri, Apr 23, 9:21 a.m.

Whenever the abusive financing plan Sound Transit uses is criticized the peanut gallery shouts out “we could have had several hundred million dollars from the federal government for light rail in the 1970’s”. That argument ignores reality. Voters may have done the best possible thing by rejecting that bond measure. ...

Posted Thu, Apr 22, 6:38 a.m.

"rail changes where people live and where businesses are built over time. Rail shapes how a city and a region develops by defining long-term where people opt to build houses, to live, to work, to open businesses, etc." This argument holds no water in the case of ST's light rail ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 8:24 p.m.

Sound Transit just sprang its monorail-style abusive financing plan on us. Before the monorail vote, the public was told there would be 23 years of the taxes: ============ Local News: Saturday, October 19, 2002 Are taxpayers protected from monorail overruns? By Mike Lindblom Seattle Times staff reporter * * * ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 4:08 p.m.

Take a look at that 1997-2040 financing plan document (link in the story). It shows the capital costs of ST1 and ST2 now would be $18 billion. The total revenues of the financing plan through 2040 are shown on that document as $65 billion. As there is now expected to ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 10:37 a.m.

This is a financing plan designed by sociopaths. No place else pays for transit like this – for good reasons. The reason it stinks like the monorail authority’s abusive financing plan is it was designed by the same lawyers and finance consultants. The regressive tax cost to people and families ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 8:35 a.m.

Who is missing from this hand-picked group of stakeholders? A representative of the less-well-off individuals and families living here. People are taxed far too heavily for transit in this neck of the woods. Peoples’ interest in the local transit services providers taxing modestly – as their peers do – never ...

Posted Mon, Apr 19, 8:30 a.m.

From the piece: “We are 30 years behind on building a regional light-rail system”. That is a popular line in some circles, but does it mean anything? The thirty years ending in 2006 were relatively prosperous, for most people and many businesses around here. There wasn’t any light rail during ...

Posted Tue, Apr 13, 9:46 a.m.

From the story: “[The contract for] the remedial work of finishing the excavation of the troubled tunnel section [includes] no fixed price, no firm completion date, not even a firm promise that the work can be done at all. The bottom line for the public: Hold your breath to see ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 10:02 p.m.

Here’s an argument that it might not be legal. Anyone want to try taking it on? Try pointing to any comparable federal legislation. Something like this that has been upheld by the courts against a fifth amendment due process claim. We’d have a nationwide mandate to enter into annual insurance ...

Posted Fri, Mar 19, 8:26 a.m.

The "other side of the argument" is that governments have a leg-and-a-half up on people in court. There are a couple of assertions in this piece that end up painting a picture that doesn't match reality. "Expensive lawsuits would become far less common." There are very few expensive records requests ...

Posted Fri, Mar 12, 10:59 p.m.

"Burgess seems like a sensible fellow and promising politician." Well, maybe. The really dim bulb there is Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. Anyone disagree? He chairs the city council't Transportation Committee. He's never said anything smart about how "transportation" in the city should progress. Someone said he's mush-for-brains. I've never ...

Posted Mon, Mar 8, 9:20 a.m.

"a rebuild of the entire street, purchasing a lot of additional properties (at Seattle's high land costs), and all sorts of mitigation for construction." Those are not big-ticket items in terms of ST's financing. Plus, you are pointing at those things without making ANY effort to quantify their costs. Your ...

Posted Mon, Mar 8, 7:31 a.m.

mhays: You want to focus on "comparing Seattle's system with at-grade systems"? Fine. Explain how much you think ST has spent on "not at grade" that it would not have spent if light rail were "at grade." Whatever number you come up with, it will in no way explain the ...

Posted Sun, Mar 7, 10 a.m.

From the story: "If someone were intent on preventing the Eastside from getting light rail, few proposals would be more entirely effective than the so-called Vision Line. . . . Advanced by a group of people associated with Eastside business real estate, notably developer and property manager Kevin Wallace . ...

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 6:36 a.m.

Richard: Here are some facts about TriMet that show how ST is not doing well. The revenues needed by TriMet for excellent bus and light rail service are much less than what ST and its sister transit providers (Metro, Community Transit and Pierce Transit) haul in. TriMet uses a financing ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 10:32 p.m.

[i]Portland's rail system was built back in the 70s[/i] No, it wasn't. It was paid for concurrently with ST’s lousy system, only TriMet spent much less and the people and businesses there received much more. TriMet uses an excellent financing method. Businesses with the most employees pay for it, not ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 9:41 p.m.

"As for the voters, look what they did in 2008." What on earth is that supposed to mean? Explain yourself.

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 6:28 p.m.

"It sounds like you disagree with voters about rail overall." Hardly. It's not the voters' fault the financing plan presented was abusive and the execution poor. Do us a favor - try addressing the important issues I've raised here in a cogent manner. I understand that won't be easy. It ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 3:19 p.m.

You want to talk “forest”? By my reckoning ST has hauled in something like $5 billion in regressive taxes, and sold something like $1.2 billion in long-term bonds. That is a staggering amount – far greater than its peers. What have we obtained in the “big picture” as far as ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 1:30 p.m.

mhays writes: “For many years (after the initial debacles of the 90s), ST has budgeted conservatively and delivered on budget and on time.” Ha! You’re a real comedian. If you look at page 14 of the 2Q '09 Financial Report that came out two months ago it says Phase I ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 12:35 p.m.

Richard Conlin writes: "Dispassionate review is always a good idea." No kidding! So where's the big I-900 audit report of ST's financing and contracting practices we were told we could expect over a year ago: http://www.seattlepi.com/transportation/364477_soundaudit24.html ? That audit report was supposed to be a far more comprehensive review than ...

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 3:45 p.m.

Lincoln - You're not being consistent at all. You write: "Brewster generally seems to have a pretty good take on what's going on around here." Yet at the same time you point out how "light rail is an utter waste of money and energy . . .. Why anyone would ...

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 9:55 a.m.

Here's Steve Ballmer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc Quite the motivator for his employees, and third-party software developers. But reasoned and in-the-know when it comes to transportation infrastructure realities? Not so much . . .

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 9:38 a.m.

I’d like to see McGinn and Ballmer up on that stage. Ballmer would do his manic jumping around and waving his arms shtick that fires up his throngs of twenty-something employees (“Build it – Just build it!!”), and McGinn would lay out his arguments. It isn’t McGinn who is dissing ...

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 6:29 a.m.

"This all has nothing to do with the feasibility or not of light rail on I-90." As far as concerns of Montlake residents go, I agree. Those concerns may not be what's driving the political leaders' new push to study the feasibility of light rail in the SR 520 corridor. ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 6:03 p.m.

I didn't post that to pick on Richard, I posted it because ST is not disclosing what the Feds are saying about whether or not the transfer from WSDOT to ST will be allowed, and ST is not acting promptly enough in determining whether the engineering issues related to the ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 2:33 p.m.

“As far as I know, the feds are ready to sign off on the I-90 corridor. In fact this was put on paper DECADES ago with a Memomorandum of Understanding that the WS-DOT signed off on too, when the I-90 bridge was built.” Richard: Thanks for responding, but you seem ...

Posted Wed, Feb 24, 10:26 a.m.

Richard: Have the feds indicated yet whether they'll allow the large swath of the I-90 corridor ST wants to use to be converted from highway use to rail? As far as I know, taking so much highway infrastructure (at a key chokepoint) out of the Interstate Highway System is unprecedented. ...

Posted Thu, Feb 18, 7:40 a.m.

D.B. - I need to take exception with two things in what you just posted: 1) The statute makes no reference to "taxpayers". No new tax revenue would be used to pay for the amounts WSDOT becomes liable for over $2.8 billion. The revenue source for those excess costs instead ...

Posted Wed, Feb 17, 10:54 a.m.

A couple of things about Joe’s piece here warrant comments. The new AWV replacement tunnel financing plan legislation does not place responsibility for costs above the state’s $2.8 billion spending cap on "Seattle residents". The statutory scheme instead puts a subset of Seattle property owners on the hook for those. ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 6:15 p.m.

The fourth one of those is a duplicate of the third; it should read instead this way: - estimate the amount of local taxing ST and Metro will engage in, based on the terms of their bond sale contracts, over the next thirty years.

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 6:09 p.m.

Unfortunately your link doesn't shed light on the issues I'd hoped you'd address Andy. Here they are again - see if you can provide links to reliable sources regarding them: - estimate as best you can the amount of tax revenue Sound Transit pledged to collect when it sold the ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 3:27 p.m.

I'd like to provide here some estimates of how much more local taxing the transit services providers here engage in vs. their peers. If anyone believes this imbalance has been disclosed (prior to or since the votes on the ST ballot measures) by government officials or in media reports then ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 3:05 p.m.

Andy asks: "How can you argue light rail is the result of public and private sector big shots?" The author is not arguing anything there - he's stating facts. The state and local enabling legislation authorizing everything Sound Transit does was drafted by a few private-sector lawyers (at Preston Gates ...

Posted Thu, Feb 11, 7:14 a.m.

Somebody said that if the seawall just outside the south portal failed (earthquake/van full of ammonium nitate and fuel oil/C4 shaped charge/whatever) Elliot Bay would drain into the tunnel and fill it in a matter of minutes. They'd just seal the portals then - kind of a mass, watery tomb. ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 9:30 p.m.

"His performance-audit measure, approved overwhelmingly by state voters, has in fact been quite successful in exposing shoddy practices at state and local public agencies." You really are full of it . . .. Pull out the 2007 I-900 audit report of Sound Transit. Let me know when you have a ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 9:27 p.m.

"If our elected officials cannot make responsible taxing and spending decisions, what can be done that would be better than Eyman initiatives?" Stupid question. Here are some answers to it. Tax revenue spending limits in the local laws. Tax collection limits in the local laws. Bond selling limits in the ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 9:13 p.m.

"Tim Eyman nettles state and local elected officials, and most local media commentators, because he insistently introduces ballot measures that would limit public spending or taxing." That's not true either. That guy is all for certain types of public spending and taxing - the public spending and taxing local governments ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 9:01 p.m.

"But we should recognize that our state and city have become notorious for careless tax-and-spending policies." What about King County? The SAO found problems with that government - in that area.

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 5:37 p.m.

"In Seattle, huge capital projects get launched without regard for our ability to pay for them." Sound Transit's ST2 projects were launched with a sufficient financing plan. We have the "ability to pay" - ST's weekly tax revenue take is about $10 million. The plan also includes ST selling $8 ...

Posted Tue, Dec 15, 9:14 a.m.

[the tunnel-backers . . . had better find themselves a new champion, and fast. In part they have done so, appointing a committee of stakeholders (including some opponents such as Cary Moon), chaired by former Mayor Charles Royer, a tunnel man, and Seattle Art Museum chairwoman Maggie Walker, a newcomer ...

Posted Wed, Nov 18, 10:26 a.m.

"WA's problem doesn't have anything to do with a regressive tax structure." I wasn't referring to "WA's problem". You might try reading what is written there a bit more closely. What I wrote is that the fiscal burden caused by governments is worse in Washington FOR PEOPLE. Of course, if ...

Posted Wed, Nov 18, 9:48 a.m.

California’s governance and fiscal problems stem from causes that include passage of some citizen initiatives. But that just scratches the surface. Washington State is headed down the fiscal-meltdown path California is on, and for many of the same reasons. For a good article on the series of problems California faces ...

Posted Wed, Nov 4, 9:24 a.m.

Has the decision been made to not identify who the wealthy individuals backing Crosscut are? Both of the comparables identified (“Minneapolis (MinnPost) and San Diego (Voice of San Diego)”) list the people and foundations behind them: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/support_us/ and “MinnPost's initial funding of $850,000 came from four families: John and Sage ...

Posted Thu, Oct 22, 2:22 p.m.

. . . You could identify the big donors and how much they are paying Crosscut on the page that the "About Crosscut" tab links to. Just a suggestion.

Posted Wed, Oct 21, 10:42 a.m.

Congratulations on Crosscut's re-launch. It must feel good to know the Gates Foundation and some wealthy individuals are looking forward to what Crosscut will be saying. You might want to consider identifying your big donors (say, a link off the home page to a list showing contribution size). That'd go ...