Your opinion on King County Prop1 ($60 car tab tax)? (Seattle: homeowner, transit)

[wutitiz]

Reports I see don't say how many ballots have been counted, which precints, or what the mechanics of the process are. I figure that they don't start counting until polls close (8PM?) so there may have been only a small number counted. Anybody know?

I will tune in to John Carlson on KVI at 5AM to see what he says. He knows election nuts & bolts. I will be surprised (pleasantly) if this measure goes down in King Cty.

Article at Seattle Times does have a definite tone of "it's going down" but no numbers to back up that tone.

[GoBlueInSeattle]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

Reports I see don't say how many ballots have been counted, which precints, or what the mechanics of the process are. I figure that they don't start counting until polls close (8PM?) so there may have been only a small number counted. Anybody know?

I will tune in to John Carlson on KVI at 5AM to see what he says. He knows election nuts & bolts. I will be surprised (pleasantly) if this measure goes down in King Cty.

Article at Seattle Times does have a definite tone of "it's going down" but no numbers to back up that tone.

http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections...t-abstract.pdf

This is only from election night but has breakdowns by legislative district. All the Seattle districts voted "Yes", with all the districts except West Seattle voting in favor by wide margins. West Seattle also voted "Yes", but by a narrow margin. The Proposition is being defeated by suburban voters.

Here's the current results, but its not broken down by Leg District - http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections...ts/results.pdf

It gets updated daily at 4:30 PM. There are still ballots to count.

There are plans already to put a measure on the ballot for November for a Seattle-only property tax to fund bus routes that are only in Seattle. I'd be perfectly happy with that. The suburbanites can go sleep in the bed they made, and leave us Seattleites funding our own Seattle-only city services.

[fnh]

I would love to see a congestion charge similar to London's. Charge anyone to enter the city in a private motor vehicle; to exit is free.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by fnh

I would love to see a congestion charge similar to London's. Charge anyone to enter the city in a private motor vehicle; to exit is free.

Yes please.

Eastsiders' heads would explode.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by fnh

I would love to see a congestion charge similar to London's. Charge anyone to enter the city in a private motor vehicle; to exit is free.

I then would like to see a Washington State Ballot measure to deny any state transportation funding for the city. Then re-route I-5 along the 405 corridor and tell the greedy parasites in Seattle to pound sand if they value their bloated, corrupt, under charged transit authority more than the free mobility of tax payer financed roadways.

Transit is for losers. Drive a car, ride a bike, fly a plane.

[Ira500]

It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but it seems like the political strategy here was really inept, bordering on arrogant. It's not that the people in the county outside of Seattle hate Metro( well, some of them do.) It's more like: A few years ago voters passed a temporary 20 dollar car tab charge to make up for some funding that no longer existed. When the 20 car tab surcharge expired, they could have come back to the voters and said " We need another 20." They could have said " We need 25 now." Maybe they could have even said " We need 30." But instead, they decided to combine it with funding for roads and ask for 60. It's arrogant to assume that people will happily pay triple what they were paying.

[tridentsx]

I would be very happy to pay road toll's if that meant that roads were expanded to handle the traffic, I would not mind paying the $60 increase on the car tab, if that money was earmarked to improve road network and to make my commute time shorter, I can afford it.

However I am not prepared to partake in some socialist wealth redistribution scheme were my money goes towards public transport leaches that doesn't wanna pay the true cost of public transport services through their bus tickets.

This scheme would have been voted yes by a large margin in Sweden I am so happy I don't live their anymore.

[BATCAT]

Originally Posted by Andy

I then would like to see a Washington State Ballot measure to deny any state transportation funding for the city. Then re-route I-5 along the 405 corridor and tell the greedy parasites in Seattle to pound sand if they value their bloated, corrupt, under charged transit authority more than the free mobility of tax payer financed roadways.

Transit is for losers. Drive a car, ride a bike, fly a plane.

Are you actually trying to do an impression of Scrooge McDuck, or does it just happen naturally?

[GoBlueInSeattle]

Originally Posted by BATCAT

Are you actually trying to do an impression of Scrooge McDuck, or does it just happen naturally?

Some folks just weren't hugged enough as children. Its quite sad, actually.

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by Ira500

It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but it seems like the political strategy here was really inept, bordering on arrogant. It's not that the people in the county outside of Seattle hate Metro( well, some of them do.) It's more like: A few years ago voters passed a temporary 20 dollar car tab charge to make up for some funding that no longer existed. When the 20 car tab surcharge expired, they could have come back to the voters and said " We need another 20." They could have said " We need 25 now." Maybe they could have even said " We need 30." But instead, they decided to combine it with funding for roads and ask for 60. It's arrogant to assume that people will happily pay triple what they were paying.

I agree; I heard a Dem campaign consultant not connected w/ prop 1 say that they didn't do their homework. When a relatively modest tax for transit fails in King cty by a wide margin, someone has screwed up somewhere. This region has a history of voting yes on things like this, to wit Sound Transit. I expected it to pass. The pro side had an 85-1 advantage in campaign spending over the con side, but the con side apparently had a more convincing message.

They overplayed their hand. I also wonder if it was not a mistake for them to run a special election. Most people weren't even aware of the election. Only the motivated voters participated in this election. If they had waited until Nov, with the participation of the great unwashed the outcome might have been different.