Good morning Readers,

I hope you are all doing well on this Monday morning.  At last week's WSA Board of Director's meeting, the WSA Board voted to support Proposition 1, the big roads and transit initiative that will be on the November ballot in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.  This vote was not taken lightly and was made after weighing the pros and cons of Prop. 1.

WSA members have been telling us for a few years that the region's transportation problems are hurting them.  From employees stuck in traffic to being able to recruit talent, the transportation problem is impacting the bottom line.

Just look at what the big tech players in the region are resorting to.  Microsoft has essentially set up their own bus system for employees, along with opening offices in Seattle.  Google as well has offices on the both sides of Lake Washington to attract talent.  People simply cringe at the thought of having to cross 520 on a daily basis to get to work or home.  This situation demonstrates a need for more qualified people for the tech industry but that is for another column. 

On one hand, it is a very large tax increase, 0.6% increase in the sales tax, of which 0.5% is designated for Sound Transit's expansion of commuter and light rail in the region, on top of the taxing authority ST already has.  The measure also calls for a 0.8% MVET for the Regional Transportation Improvement District (RTID), the local agency formed to build roads and other road related projects in the 3 county region.  The MVET will be about $240 per year for a $30,000 vehicle. (The other 0.1% sales tax goes to RTID)  Passage of Prop. 1 will cost you money.

On the other hand, this is as complete a transportation package as you will find.  It will fund all the major arterials in the region, except the Alaskan Way Viaduct.  It covers a number of bridges, interchanges and other much needed road projects around our area.

The state legislature required RTID and Sound Transit to go to the ballot together--essentially to rise or fall together in order to have as complete a transportation solution as possible, instead of a piecemeal approach, county by county, agency by agency.

Clearly, the nation's basic infrastructure is falling apart.  From the levee failures in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to the collapse of the highway bridge in Minneapolis recently, we have underinvested in transportation and other infrastructure for decades and now we are playing catch up.

There is also the issue of giving more money to public agencies that many believe are not exactly the most efficient users of taxpayer money.  Certainly Sound Transit and WSDOT can be looked at as two of those agencies whose credibility was low.  But, we must also look at the improvements that both of those agencies have made in the last few years under Joni Earl's and Doug MacDonald's leadership, respectively.  Secretary MacDonald is retiring but by all accounts has done a great deal to improve both accountability and effectiveness of WSDOT.  Sound Transit, too, has made major strides in keeping on track since its first few years of existence.

Prop. 1 is this region's plan to improve transportation.  Is it perfect?  No, but what is?  And, what is the alternative?  We do need to have a functioning, region-wide mass transit system that gets people from their homes to where they work or go to school.  And we do need more highway lanes and expanded arterials for those who cannot use mass transit.  If this initiative fails, it is unknown what will come next.  Most likely there will be a transit only measure with a smaller tax bite but will not do anything for roads.  It is very unlikely that a roads-only initiative will pass in this region.

There is a lot of information available about Prop. 1 that you should check out for yourself so you can make an informed decision in November.

Go to www.roadsandtransit.org to find out about the plan, what is envisioned for your area and the funding/tax plan.  RTID and Sound Transit have their own websites where you can see their plans. 

http://rtid.org/index.html RTID 

http://www.soundtransit.org/x1768.xml Sound Transit

Since Prop. 1 is ballot initiative there are, of course, campaigns that are promoting and opposing it.  The "pro" campaign is http://yesonroadsandtransit.org/ here and the opposition can be found here:  http://notoprop1.org/

Your thoughts and feedback on this proposal are desired and welcomed.  I am sure that there will be lively debate from now until the election.