Seattle City Council member Debora Juarez really, really wanted Sound Transit’s latest taxpayer-funded boondoggle to include a 130th Street station in her North Seattle district. Apparently, the first $50 billion version of Sound Transit 3 (ST3) had light rail heading north from Northgate past 130th and stopping at 145th Street before continuing north.
Due to do the lack of a stop on 130th street, Juarez did what any good liberal elected official is trained to do – try blackmail by threatening to oppose ST3. Via Crosscut:
“On Monday, May 9, [Juarez] calls Mayor Ed Murray, King County Executive Dow Constantine and fellow Councilmember and Sound Transit board member Rob Johnson to say she has a deadline. She isn’t going to immediately denounce the package, but wants to have a plan toward removing the ‘provisional’ status. If the package continues to march forward without the station, that’s when she is going to go to community members and say she will not support it.”
Well, the Sound Transit board — so nonchalant with how they spend taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars, because after all, it’s not their own money — catered to Juarez’s demands. The so-called “revised” $54 billion version of ST3 includes a station at 130th for the price of $80 million.
There was a reason why a stop at 130th was not in the original proposal — even with the spend-crazy Sound Transit board members in charge. Jackson Park Golf Course and low-density housing surround the site. Just last year, Sound Transit predicted a stop at 10th street would “only add 1,500 daily boardings and would slow the trip to Lynnwood by a minute.”
But, what’s another $80 million of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars when you are asking for $54 billion… right?
WE GET IT – YOU ANONYMOUS BLOGHEADS HATE SOUND TRANSIT.
JUST PUT A BIG FAT SIGN ON YOUR BLOG: “VOTE NO ON ST3. BECAUSE WE LOVE OUR CARS.”
OH AND “WRITE IN TODD HERMAN FOR PRESIDENT, SEAN HANNITY FOR VICE PRESIDENT.”
Joe, you’re an idiot! STOP YELLING!
Not an idiot, just wanting the air to be clear. Oh and sufficiently annoyed.
GO SOUND TRANSIT!
If you want to clear the air, just shut up… and you just proved you’re an idiot by your support of the biggest transportation boondoggle in the entire state.
Well, well I think you opposed Community Transit Prop 1 too. So frankly I’m not idiot, I’m gonna win.
Gonna win what? Higher sales tax rate. Higher property taxes. And higher vehicle license renewal fees. By all appearances, it’s really a losing proposition. More billions of dollars wasted, just flushed down the crapper for all of the effective benefits that’ll be gotten for the money expended. It’s a sucker’s bet to vote ‘yes’ on ST3.
I’M GONNA WIN MORE LIGHT RAIL!
GO SOUND TRANSIT!
Oh, I see. It’s all clear now… you’re a choo-choo lover. You must think that Amtrak is great, too.
I give Amtrak a C and Sounder North a D.
Light Rail: A+
The are all big fat F-‘s. All are a drain on tax revenue and don’t accomplish anything as far as reducing street and highway congestion. They are all merely choo-choo lovers wet-dreams.
Well in your wet-dreams we’d have 20 lane wide highways…. and if you couldn’t drive, you should kill yourself. Right?
I didn’t say that I supported “20 lane wide highways”, however you have stated that you support the ST choo-choo trains that won’t solve anything. So, who is it that’s truly delusional here? In a word… YOU!
Your opinion, probably written listening to a Todd E Herman podcast.
Joey, you should never enter into a battle of wits unarmed, but you’re just like most liberals… you don’t have two gray cells to rub together to form a comprehensive thought. Now, isn’t it past your beddy bye time?
No, and I listen to Todd E. Herman.
Oh really! So what?
This is me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JubD32eHqbs
A true believer in public transit.
So what?
What would be better?
A BIG FAT SIGN ON YOUR BLOG: “VOTE YES ON ST3. SO EVERYBODY CAN PAY FOR A FREELOADING 0.8% OF OUR POPULATION’S TRANSPORTATION CHOICES”
Sorry you’re still feeling the Bern and are sufficiently annoyed about backing a loser. The CAPSLOCK gave it away.
I backed Marco Rubio but that’s about as relevant to this conversation as which NBA team you want to win the NBA Finals.
That said, 0.8% of the population is a tiny fraction of all the commuters who use public transportation.
ST3 is for additional light rail. Motorists already pay for buses. According to UnSound Transit’s own numbers, 33,000 people use light rail per day, less than their projections of 40,000/ day. In an RTA district of 3.8 million people, 33K is 0.8%. If only the users paid the full cost of light rail, it would cost them roughly $300+ PER DAY.
It must really chap your hide that the overwhelming majority of the population sensibly chooses to use private automobiles for their transportation needs and might balk at funding your cool train ride, but I am glad you found the CAPSLOCK key.
I found the caps lock key like 30 years ago. When I was oh… four.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
“Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah”
That’s some profound substance there. You can always tell when a democratic socialist runs out of talking points.