The joining of the No-Tax crowd with the Greens
November 12, 2007
Proposition 1 failed last week. But there is no single reason why it failed, rather a coalition of normally opposed groups coming together to defeat a large umbrella project that would have cost billions with no accountability.
A letter written to the Seattle Times:
It should be readily apparent to even the densest Democrat that the results of Tuesday’s election are saying loud and clear: NO MORE TAXES FOR LIGHT RAIL, RAPID TRANSIT, STAGECOACH OR ANY OTHER FORM OF MASS TRANSPORT!
This society is not a society of cattle-car movement. We are not going to abandon our cars to satisfy the ego of politicians aspiring to be amateur social engineers at any level of government, and those who persist on this course of action will find themselves unelected next November.
Get back on the job and give us more freeways and better and safer bridges.
Have done with the foo-foo hand-wringing and procrastination and get on with the job.
Another letter tried to claim that the reason the measure failed was not because of environmental concerns. Really? Because environmental concerns about unchecked and unsustainable development are exactly why I opposed Prop 1. I liked the parts of the proposal that called for better mass transit and disdain the attitude that voters are unwilling to “abandon our cars” even facing rising gas prices and environmental harm. I opposed the measure because of the massive expansion of freeways, not increased spending on mass transit. It seems that the author of this letter felt the opposite way. This is why Prop 1 was such a debacle. Put these separate issues in separate ballot measures and see which ones get passed. If there really is opposition to light rail that measure will fail. If there is enough support for expanding suburban freeways a freeway proposition will pass.
If the fallout and varying opinions on Prop 1 teach Washington politicians anything it should be that you can’t bundle many issues (each with their own support and opposition) together and expect to get a clear picture of what voters are thinking. Put light-rail on the ballot by itself. I’ll vote for it.
