DID ANYONE WARN SOUND TRANSIT ABOUT RUNNING ELECTRIFIED RAIL ACROSS A FLOATING BRIDGE?
SOUND TRANSIT’S LONG FAILING JOURNEY TAKES ANOTHER MISSTEP – ON A BRIDGE
Sound Transit has a history of over-promising and under-delivering (and outright fibbing), as Shift has reported, proving adept only at wasting more of your tax dollars every single year. The latest debacle even has the usual cheerleaders at the Seattle Times writing, “(A)fter some futile attempts at repairs, Sound Transit contractors have scraped thousands of flawed concrete track ties from the decks of Interstate 90 so new ties can be built from scratch,” and the agency is again pushing back yet another deadline while still being without a clue about how to keep its train tracks working while bouncing across Lake Washington.
So very predictable that the revised, delayed target opening to ride across the lake announced just last summer, of mid-2024, is already wrong, as “Sound Transit’s latest timetable is to carry light-rail passengers across the lake by spring 2025.” And, of course, the bumbling transit folks know that promise is just another fib, admitting that “track rebuilding has gone slower than planned, and unless the pace quickens immediately, Sound Transit will miss the spring 2025 grand opening goal.”
The delays are not a surprise to the people involved (or watching). Buried deep in the story is the crucial detail that “(P)roject managers say they first became aware of plinth problems in 2019, such as too much or too little steel rebar near the concrete surfaces, some voids, or plinths not tall enough. They didn’t reveal a schedule crisis until April 2022.”
Should you make it to the third paragraph from the bottom, you’ll find the more distressing point that the “whole $3.7 billion, 14-mile East Link route, from International District/Chinatown Station to Redmond Technology Station, was approved by voters in a 2008 sales-tax measure. The public was promised a 2020 grand opening.” To weep more about how much of your money Sound Transit will waste on its failed plans, read on…(Shift, Seattle Times)
COPYING THEIR HEADLINE: “GOV. JAY INSLEE PRESIDED OVER A BOOMING ECONOMY AND THE NATION'S WORST HOUSING SHORTAGE”
Democrats aren’t used to much criticism from The Inlander, Spokane’s lefty publication of record, let alone an in-depth dive that pokes gaping holes in the “it’s not our fault” excuses of both Governor Jay Inslee and mayor-wannabe Lisa Brown. Those two career politicians are pretty good at evading accountability and the truth as needed. The Inlander writes that “Inslee himself bristles at the notion he bears part of the blame,” and Brown deflected blame onto everybody but herself, “I think you can always say, why didn’t we sound the alarm sooner? You can hand that to the Legislature, you can hand that to local electeds. Even advocacy organizations.”
If you want to read about how maybe Spokane’s voters will really hand it to ex-Inslee appointee Lisa Brown over her homelessness, housing, and other failures, read on… (The Inlander)
GRAB YOUR WALLETS – DEMOCRATS ARE “QUIBBLING” OVER YOUR MONEY
It’s sad when the media falls for the claims of legislative Democrats and Governor Jay Inslee’s number crunchers that they have significant differences in their competing budgets and that hard negotiations are ahead. Yet in every case withthe massively exploding budgets under Gov. Inslee (the state budget has doubled in his 10 years), the final spending product will be higher than the proposals because liberals will always raise taxes instead of cutting spending.
That’s why it’s laughable to read the Seattle Times report that “Gov. Jay Inslee’s administration sent a blistering letter last week to the chairs of the House and Senate transportation committees, warning that their budget proposals would lead to broken promises and poorly maintained roads.” While we are sure Inslee knows plenty about “broken promises,” we’re unsure how “blistering” Inslee’s offer to spend more money everywhere could be.
The only honesty coming out of the piece was from Representative Jake Fey, who pointed out that under decades of Democrat transportation administration, “It’s few and far between, projects that are going to be on time and on or below budget.” More distressing news to read while stuck in traffic here… (Seattle Times)
DEMOCRATS DITHER OVER DRUG LAWS IN OLYMPIA WHILE POLICE ARRESTING “ROAMING PACKS” IN SPOKANE
Shift has noted before the loud voices among Spokane’s Democrats that prefer to distract attention from local crime and the state’s failed drug laws by attacking and intimidating law enforcement in their city. You can expect more such distractions after the Spokesman-Review reports the chilling news that “Spokane police Chief Craig Meidl and Mayor Nadine Woodward described from a news conference at the downtown police precinct Thursday a scourge of armed juveniles ‘roaming in packs looking to prey on other people’ in the city’s downtown core.”
The mayor suggests “blamed the violence and property crimes, in part, on public drug use and illegal drug possession, which she has campaigned against in her “Safe Open Spaces Act,” which would criminalize public drug use in the city of Spokane.” We know the Democrats hate making drugs a crime at the state level, and you can learn whether Spokane Democrats will fight just as hard for legalization here…(Spokesman-Review)
THIS WEEK'S NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW
Senator Ron Muzzall (R – Oak Harbor) joined us for this week’s Newsmaker Interview. Senator Muzzall is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources and Parks Committee. Sen. Muzzall informed us of the Inslee Administration’s many “broken promises” and failure to follow the law by not providing an exemption for farmers from the skyrocketing fuel prices thanks to the Democrats’ expensive “Cap and Tax” energy policies. He blamed the urban Democrats’ “downright disrespectful views of agricultural workers” for the radical overtime wage policies which are financially hurting both the state’s farmers and farmworkers. Read more.
OVERHEARD ON THE INTERWEBS...
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