Election Prep: Sound Transit and RTID Proposition No 1

Ballot Text:

To reduce transportation congestion, increase road and transit capacity, promote safety, facilitate mobility, provide for an integrated regional transportation system, and improve the health, welfare, and safety of the citizens of Washington, shall Sound Transit (a regional transit authority) implement a regional rail and transit system linking Lynnwood, Shoreline, Northgate, Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, SeaTac airport, Kent, Federal Way and Tacoma as described in the Sound Transit 2 plan, financed by the existing taxes approved by the voters in 1996 and an additional sales and use tax of up to five-tenths of one percent imposed by Sound Transit, all as provided in Resolution No. R2007-15; and shall a regional transportation investment district (RTID) be formed and authorized to implement and invest in improving the regional transportation system by replacing vulnerable bridges, improving safety, and increasing capacity on state and local roads to further link major education, employment, and retail centers as described in Moving Forward Together: A Blueprint for Progress – King Pierce Snohomish Counties, financed by a sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent and a local motor vehicle excise tax of eight-tenths of one percent imposed by RTID, all as provided in Resolution No. PC-2007-02; further provided that the Sound Transit taxes shall be imposed only within the boundaries of Sound Transit, and the RTID taxes shall be imposed only within the boundaries of the RTID?

Full explanation, pro/con statements and full text here.

There are some other things in here thrown in for good measure about improving transportation infrastructure, but the bulk of this is about approving a tax increase in order to fund a new light rail network.

I am on the fence on this one. On the one hand, a train would be cool. And this one would go places where I would go. I could see this train being one I would ride sometimes. On the other hand, I don’t really want to pay for it, and am generally luke warm at best about the notion of public transportation. It often (and certainly in this case) smacks me of attempted social engineering. They want to build a train so that I won’t use my car so that I can pollute less and be better on the environment and whatnot. And they want to use public funds to do it.

If this was about selling some public land or access ways to a private company so THEY could build a train with their own money, and then charge people to use it and one day perhaps make a profit, I think that would be a no brainer for me. But it isn’t. It is about taxing everybody to build it with public funds and then running it as public service. I have certainly enjoyed at times the public transit systems in certain cities. BUt I remain fundamentally a little uncomfortable with the government being the one doing such things. I’d much prefer that being a private enterprise. It is bad enough that the government has to deal with roads… but I get the logistical reasons why that almost has to be the case (at least in many cases).

Having said all that, I was still on the fence, cause while I have those high minded (but most likely impractical) philosophical objections… I like trains. And it might be cool to ride this one. And it would be nice to have it as an option.

But one comment from Brandy pushed me off the ledge and made me decide.

Brandy said that if they built a train, and if (as is also expected) they add tolls to the bridges over Lake Washington in the coming years, and taking the train into work ends up cheaper than driving my car, then she would expect me to usually take the train.

I like trains, but I like my car better. I like the train as an option, I don’t think I’d like it as the default option. And I resent government trying to orchestrate things in such a way as to encourage public transportation over private cars. Congestion and the environment be damned. And plus this would add additional sales tax to every local purchase I make. And the price is quite possibly underestimated, so they will probably come back in a few years asking for even more. Screw that.

So, my vote is:

NO