Let’s see how many facts Crosscut’s Ted Van Dyk can get wrong in a single sentence:
Whoa! The present light rail plan, narrowly passed in 2008, calls for $23 billion, and probably more, in tax increases for a three-county light rail system — the largest local-level tax increase in U.S. history.
Um, the package actually cost $17.9 billion by the same accounting standards used to calculate the cost of similar projects; the “largest local tax increase ever” meme is totally unsupported rhetorical bullshit originally fabricated for the previous year’s “roads and transit” measure; and “narrowly passed”…? Really Ted? Narrowly passed? Yeah, I guess, if by “narrow” you mean 57% within the Sound Transit taxing district as a whole, 61% in King County, and a whopping 68% within Seattle.
That’s right, Seattle voters went for Prop 1 by an overwhelming two to one margin, and Van Dyk attempts to dismiss Mike McGinn’s ambitious rail expansion proposal by claiming that the previous one only “narrowly passed.” My ass!
Is Van Dyk an idiot, or does he just think everybody else is?
“Is Van Dyk an idiot, or does he just think everybody else is?”
Does it matter?
Like you, David, I never miss a column by Van Dyk. It’s always interesting to read.
Goldy:
Both of the above. I have learned to avoid reading him altogether.
I, too, have never missed a Van Dyk column. I never read it and I never miss it.
“[…] does he just think everybody else is?”
He just knows how long the memory of the public is.
Croak!
He does the best he can from his vantage point in Arizona. The distance, and the hot air, do things to the facts, it seems.
If it weren’t for the self-sourcing for facts, and the ALWAYS negative pov, … Nevermind, I got nothin’ to balance that out with.
(lock tight logic Ted)
it is not the “popular” vote, but the legislative vote that he has ZERO shot at if he fights the tunnel.
Mr. Baker – the legislative vote doesn’t pay for transit. The locals do.
Ted Van Dyk = Out To Lunch
On most issues, anyways. How do you think he “landed” at Crosscut?
Hey Goldy, Lee, David, and SeattleJew,
Happy ראש השנה (Rosh HaShanah)! Remember God decides who will live and who will die during the coming year. If Puddy left off any compassionate progressive Jews, well, Puddy forgot ya!
Will any of them implement teshuvah?
Will Darryl kill this entry?
Will Darryl kill this entry?
Well, it would qualify as a mercy killing.
Mercy killing on Rosh HaShanah? You have an interesting way with “words”.
@9, if NcGinn thinks he is paying for it with mvet, then he needs legislative authority granted to the county for the city to use.
Where is the money to pay for the transit wRong Sims was effusively speaking about at the announcement of the DB tunnel?
Stuck in the legislature.
They expect to work on it in January, not sure how that will go with the tunnel fighter in office.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ght_r.html
where does a mayor get cat-tab tax authority?
Van Dyk learned how to develop a credibility gap from his time in the Johnson administration.
Before retiring to plague Seattle, Van Dyk’s last job was flacking for and polishing the image of the disgraced junk bond king and convicted stock manipulator Michael Milken.
@9
The state (wide) gas taxes are paying for the tunnel not the City of Seattle. Contrary to what Mike (the overweight so called cyclist) McGinn tells you.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdo....._May09.pdf
At least Van Dyk is a little more Liberal than Lou Guzzo.
At least Van Dyk is a little more Liberal than Lou Guzzo.
LOL! Yes, at least he is that.
And Publicola pottymouth MarkS (is that you, Mark?) has the point here, this is still a state road, paid with state gas taxes.
The agreement with the former county exec was to get MVET for more transit (that died) on the same damn day Sims announced he was leaving for HUD job.
Serendipity? Not likely.
The agreement with the soon-to-be former mayor was to provide city funding for the sea wall since that stopped being a part of the viaduct replacement, no longer paid for with state wide gas tax money.
McGinn has remarkably few funding resources that he actually controls to fund large scale projects, resources that do not require asking to the hand to feed you after you bite it because of the tunnel. I mangled the analogy, close enough.
And then there is Jan Drago’s “contribution“…
I have e-mailed Ted V when I have disagreed with him and he always writes back and shares his argument in a civil way. He is praiseworthy of the other side of the argument. I think he is basically a nice guy.