I don’t always agree with with the P-I’s Joel Connelly, but I do respect him, so when he tells me that Tim Eyman’s latest for-profit initiative “deserves a look,” I decided to do exactly that. And you know what…? Connelly’s right; with I-985, Timmy may actually be “on to something.”
Or, on something as the case might be, considering much of what he’s proposing achieves the exact opposite of what he’s promising voters. Ah well… plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
Of course there’s a lot of stupid, selfish crap in Eyman’s initiative—that goes without saying—like opening HOV lanes to all comers outside the narrow hours of 6-9AM and 3-6PM weekdays that newly self-anointed transportation expert Eyman defines as rush hour. I’m sure that will win a bunch of votes from SOV drivers who fantasize about riding in the fast lane without the unbearable burden of a passenger… but if you think opening an extra lane to general purpose traffic is going to move things any faster on 520, there’s a shady fellow named Dino Rossi who has an eight-lane bridge to sell you.
Then there’s the popular synchronize traffic lights provision—a kinda silly, redundant mandate that reminds me of when my mother used to ask me to take out the trash as I was already halfway out the door with the bag, thus stripping me of an credit for taking the initiative. And of course there’s the “Reduce Congestion Fund,” a typically Eymanesque display of something for nothing legerdemain that fixes congestion without raising taxes by you know… stealing money from other stuff that taxpayers like.
But my favorite provision in I-985, the one that earns my endorsement, is the one that requires that tolls only be used to pay for the construction of the particular section of freeway or bridge on which they’re levied. I suppose Eyman supposes that this’ll tie the congestion pricers up in knots—which it will do—but take heart fellow enviros, for it will also result in less new road construction and fewer new miles of general purpose lanes built throughout the Puget Sound region and the state.
Let’s be clear: the 520 floating bridge is going to be replaced before it sinks into the lake (or perhaps, shortly thereafter); that is perhaps DOT’s number one priority. And all the current financing plans heavily rely on tolling both the 520 and I-90 bridges to pay for it. Remove I-90 tolls from the equation, and we not only lose a big chunk of federal funds that were predicated on tolling I-90, we also make it impossible to put any substantial toll on 520 without shifting the bulk of the traffic to its toll-free alternative.
This means we’re going to have to find a billion or so dollars elsewhere to pay for the new 520 bridge, and that money is going to come at the expense of other DOT projects throughout the region and the state. Yeah, that’s right all you Seattle haters on the other side of the mountains… if you vote to to prevent us from tolling ourselves to build our own bridge, the state will have no choice but to suck transportation dollars over the pass in our direction for a change.
And that Reduce Congestion Fund that pulls money out the general fund? Um… where is all this congestion that needs reducing? Why, in the Puget Sound region of course, meaning yet more tax dollars will be flowing East to West, courtesy of everybody’s favorite Mukilteo initiative impresario. But don’t worry Eastern and Central WA voters… Timmy’s going to synchronize all those traffic lights and open up all those HOV lanes that, you know… you don’t have.
Ironically, if I-985 passes it will largely be on the back of the “Fuck Seattle” vote, despite the fact that the end result will be a net inflow of tax dollars to our region. And doubly ironically, while Eyman claims to be addressing traffic congestion, the anti-tolling provisions will most definitely result in less road building, not more.
So if, like me, you want less road construction, not more, and you believe that increasing traffic congestion through stupid proposals like Eyman’s will only further incentivize voters to build more transit, then yeah, Joel’s right, I-985 does deserve a closer look, and perhaps, your very cynical vote.
joel connelly is an ass 2/3 of the time. you could have a blog solely dedicated to unpacking his talking points, many of which are republican.
Goldy notes: “Yeah, that’s right all you Seattle haters on the other side of the mountains”
Ahem…we also live within the Puget Sound area.
As long as Democrumbs control Seattle, they’ll continue to push the middle class folks out to the ‘burbs until only the very rich and the very poor live there. Then guess who has to pay taxes to support whom?
How is this grab bag of stuff constitutional? I thought an initiative was only allowed to do one thing?
I don’t know whether this is so much a “fuck Seattle” measure as a “fellate Bellevue” one.
Actually, putting heavy tolls on both bridges for several years, combined with the inevitable further impediments to use of 520 during construction, are likely to go a long way to reducing congestion in the long run. First of all, it’s going to give everyone an even worse dose of it, especially the poor sots in Bothell and Renton who will see humongous increases in “drive-around” traffic that the planners apparently haven’t even thought of. Leading up to all this, not to mention during it, not a few people faced with a decision of where to buy their next house or apply for their next job are going to think twice about committing themselves to a cross-lake commute.
Who knows? By the time all this is over with, enough of our citizens may have pulled their heads far enough out of their asses to find a more sensible way to live. Then we can just scuttle both bridges and let Seattle and the Eastside learn to do without each other.
I certainly won’t mind. The hypothetical “Kailey” we discussed yesterday can still drive the Lexus Mommy and Daddy gave her to Kemper Freeman’s crystal palace, and Alice and I can still walk to University Village.
Eyman, Rossi – that ugly, deceptive, dishonest, selfish mentality represents everything that’s wrong with this State.
6 Goes with what they perceive as their clientelle. I’ve sometimes proposed that classic conservatives believe that humans are primarily motivated by fear and greed, while liberals think people are driven by lust and guilt.
While both views are basically cynical, they’re both partly right. The problem is that neither view by itself accounts for mankind’s capacity for altruism and reason.
Fuck the HOV lanes and the freedom-robbing social engineers behind it all. The cars in HOV lanes are filled with cheaters, couples, the wealthy and people like Bluejohn taking his kid to school. Leave HOV for mass transit or get rid of them altogether.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/resear...../584.2.pdf
This initiative proves that complicated planning can’t be done properly via the initiative process. It just screws things up even more.
As for Eyman’s “Rush Hour” proposal, clearly he doesn’t have that much personal experience communting. If he did, he would know that rush our extends AT LEAST an hour on either side of the limited window he allows for HOV lane operation. Or maybe that’s the point – if this one passes, then next year he’ll try to skim another hour off each rush hour, until he has the HOV lanes eliminated completely.
Under his current proposal, the HOV lanes would be unrestricted during the hours I actually commute, which might benefit me (since I don’t carpool). But as I mentioned many times before, my experiences during the last big snowstorms convinced me that HOV lanes need to be available during non-rush hour times as lanes for use by emergency vehicles, snowplows, wreckers, and other vehicles which can aid in actually clearing the highway for the rest of us. Under his proposal, those emergency vehicles which might actually help CLEAR the roadway are going to be stuck in the same traffic jam the rest of us are in.
And proposing no tolls on the I-90 bridge is a pretty blatant attempt to grab the Issaquah and South-Bellevue vote. Of course, it’s nonsense, as anybody who doesn’t want to pay the toll will divert to the non-toll alternative just a few miles down the road, jamming it to capacity and making it impossible to pay for any 520 improvements within our lifetimes.
8 S
Gee, Steve, I read the report and I don’t think it says what you think it says.
BTW, my “Fuck Tim Eyman” vote outweighs my “cynical vote.” Sorry.
9 rhp
Opening the HOV lanes at rush hour just clogs another lane. You can’t add lanes to reduce congestion; the traffic increases to fill them.
This deal like previous Timmy Lieman attempts to govern without being elected will fail because it is unConstitutional having more than one provision.
News item: Verizon rejected the e-mail address proposed by a Chesterton, Maryland physician because it was based on his name, until a reporter intervened on behalf of Dr. Herman I. Libshitz.
King County exports over $127 million of gas taxes annually to the sagebrush counties. If spending that money in King County is an unintended consequence of Timmy’s latest brainwave, all I can say is, it’s about time he did something right for a change.
Whitman County farmers don’t need paved roads nohow. They can ride their mules to town.
@9: It’s been a while for me, but when I was regularly traveling across the 520 bridge, there was serious congestion from 3 to 7:30 or 8 PM (at least west bound).
Given the traffic, I don’t see how they could impose and enforce a strict 3-6 afternoon time limit. What exactly would happen at 6 PM? If this became law, it would end HOV lanes.
You already see a lot of people pulled over in the regular HOV violation stings they set up near Evergreen Point (and this with unambiguous signs and consistent rules). Seems to me that the HOV lane would devolve into just another driving lane immediately, regardless of what the laws say, just as a matter of human nature.
Silly wabbits, HOV lanes are for idiots! Build more freeways goshdarnit!
Beep! Beep!
As a matter of fact, 520 has heavy traffic now throughout the day, and sometimes, Fridays in particular) stays jammed up well into the evening. If the HOV lanes (particularly the westbound one past 405) are full of cars anyway, letting everyone join in the fracas will have one major result: screwing big-time with the bus schedules.
@19: Yeah, no doubt. It would end any advantage you would get from taking the bus from the east side to the city.
So will have to find some other way to flip Eyman the bird.
Someone should craft an initiative to put a toll booth on every road leading into King, Pierce and Snohomish county. Residents that live in those counties would be exempt from the toll, but every vehical (personal or commercial) entering the tri-county area would be forced to fork over at least $10 to cover the cost of road maintenance.
20 It occurred to me that this might indeed be Eyman’s point. Naah….that’s the one he covers when he puts on a hat.
Eyman’s initiative is one of the best lawyer full-employment measures to come along in years! I think opening HOV lanes to SOV vehicles except during a statutorily-defined rush-hour period is a great idea! It will create tens of thousands of cases for lawyers to handle!
Just imagine the possibilities. Let’s say you must have a passenger in the HOV lane from 6 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 6 pm. The first thing that will happen, of course, is disputes between motorists and cops over what time it is. We lawyers will have a field day with this! We should be able to get a 98% acquittal rate by asking cops questions like:
“When was the last time you had your watch certified as accurate? Who certified it? Do you have the documentation? What testing procedures did they use? What clock did they use for certification purposes?”
And then, of course, we’ll make hay with the “I was trapped in the HOV lane at 2:59 p.m. because the drivers in the adjacent lane wouldn’t let me in” defense. As long as a driver intended to change lanes before the HOV lane closed to SOVs, the mens rea and therefore culpability for a violation is lacking, and the driver shold be acquitted.
And then there’s constitutional issues! Many a statute has been held void for vagueness. Given the general level of literacy and intelligence in our society today, asking the public to understand a law that lets them drive SOVs in HOV lanes at certain times but not at other times is asking too much. As a lawyer, I would argue that this law is simply too complicated to be understood by people who elected George W. Bush twice. That, in my view, is a compelling argument that cannot fail to persuade our state supreme court, a majority of whose justices will understand exactly what I mean when I say people who voted for George W. Bush are too stupid to understand this law.
I visualize entire law practices being built around this initiative! In fact, I’m going to pre-order my shiny new 2010 Ferrari right now!
Not too long ago you left-wingnuts were all pissed off because some crazy person shot up a church and had the audacity to own books by some right wing authors.
One of your presidential candidates is inciting violence for the benefit of an alleged terrorist and no one here writes about it?
Talking about a federal judge, mike gravel said-
I can already hear your excuses… Freedom of speech.
That explains why the only people with lower approval ratings than the democrat controlled congress are lawyers.
Speaking of lawyers, now with the enquirer printing pictures of john edwards, how much loner until he tells the truth he cheated on his cancer stricken wife. Wow, expecting both a democrat and lawyer to be truthful. Isn’t bill clinton both a lawyer and a democrat?
“the first thing that will happen is disputes between motorists and cops over what time it is”
The HOV lane on 167 always used to be until 7pm. I don’t think this has ever happened.
Let’s make sure those dumb bicyclists pay an equal toll across the bridges.
Fact – Marvin the pervert supports traitors and terrorists.
Fact – Marvin is a ped.
Fact – his opinions aren’t worth using to wipe your ass. Although he does spend a lot of time smelling butts.
@24 “Not too long ago you left-wingnuts were all pissed off because some crazy person shot up a church and had the audacity to own books by some right wing authors.”
Not exactly, Marvin. He shot up the church because rightwing propaganda inflamed his hatred of liberals. You know, like how Hitler inflamed his followers to hate Jews.
Oughta make you reeeeel proud to be politically associated with such folks.
@25
Speaking of lawyers, now with the enquirer printing pictures of john edwards, how much loner until he tells the truth he cheated on his cancer stricken wife. Wow, expecting both a democrat and lawyer to be truthful.
This is a political blog. If you want to discuss the latest gossip among celebrities who aren’t running for political office, I hear TMZ has a cool website. And there’s that Perez Hilton guy too.
Jump, Marvin, jump!
@25 “That explains why the only people with lower approval ratings than the democrat controlled congress are lawyers.”
Yeah, but we make money off it. Don’t you guys worship money? Isn’t money the only thing you value? If you were consistent in your ideology, you would be kissing the feet of money-grubbing lawyers. As long as we make gobs of money, why does any Republican care how we make it? Isn’t the intent of Eyman’s initiative to make money for lawyers? It’s certainly written that way, as I explained above. In fact, all of Eyman’s initiatives make money for lawyers, because none stand up in court.
@30 No, let’s discuss it here, to show Marvin what an ass he is.
It’s like this, Marvin. Not only have Senator Edwards and the mother both denied he’s the child’s father, but another man has come forward and claimed to be the father. Seriously, Marvin, how many men volunteer to pay child support for kids that aren’t theirs?
However, if you insist Edwards is the child’s father, you should offer to pay for a DNA test so you can prove your point.
What if the so-called “liberal media” actually had liberals in it?
Now that we have Photoshop, why do people beleive “pictures?” Pictures are lies, and will always be so from now forward.
Who’s we? You were a government lawyer.
Name the conservatives that have shows on abc, nbc, cbs, cnn & msnbc.
Name the conservatives on faux news.
Of course they deny it.
What’s the father’s name on the birth certificate? If he admits it is his kid, why isn’t his name on it.
I would if he would take it.
So if something happens to the judge, his property or family then you will say something negative about a democrat?
@10 What the report reveals is that nobody knows whether or not the two-occupant HOV vehicle law reduces traffic congestion. It does not reveal how many cars are carrying car poolers – people who go through some trouble in thier commute to reduce traffic congestion – versus cars carrying couples or parents and kids – HOV usage that not reduce vehicle traffic.
We aleady have “Good to Go” technology, so car poolers who want to use the HOV lanes, who can prove separate occupancy, can register, get a “Good to Go” car pool sticker and use the lanes.
Why should some people be allowed to use the HOV lanes when these folks don’t contribute to any reduction in traffic? They are privileged to use those lanes for no good reason.
@38 Have you no pride what-so-fucking-ever? Why on earth do you keep coming here to humiliate yourself?
39 Steve
What the report does reveal is that HOV lanes in areas where there is sufficuent traffic move more people per hour that GP lanes.
I love how Goldy glosses over how Greg Nickels is using money the voters approved in 2006 to pave roads to instead make Mercer a two way street. A $186 million dollar boondoggle ordered up by King Paul, paid for by his serfs. Another pet project for Allentown. That is not what was sold to us.
Tim Eyman is simply reaping what Mayor Quimby sowed.
So, I am a yes on this initiative. I for one am tired of pseudo Democrats who act like they are Republicans as soon as they are elected, using their elected positions to further the interests of their rich “base”. This intiative holds their feet to the fire, and that is always a good thing for the citizenry to do to politicians.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Tim Eyman is doing what Tim Eyman does, promoting Tim Eyman. This time it is through a centrist approach to his government by intiative activism. He is simply trying to rebrand himself as centrist, so he can collect more money on his next wacko project, and therefore enrich himself. Of course this one is unconstitutional, how else can Tim Eyman stay in the papers except by keeping the flame alive through the courts. It is all part of his plan to enrich himself through the political process.
I view it more as a “Fuck Progressives” vote than a “Fuck Seattle” vote. Seattle still has some redeeming qualities.
36 MS
Joe Scarborough, Oliver North (co-anchor of “Equal Time”), John McLaughlin on “McLaughlin Special Report,” Laura Ingraham on “Watch It!,” Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, …
Bill Kristol, Britt Hume, Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Neil Cavuto, John Gibson, Steve Milloy, …
42 BDM
Like him or hate him (and I don’t like him), Mayor Mickles is acting EXACTLY like he did before he became mayor and was instead a bully on the County Council. He has changed nothing.
35: Poor stupid Marin is back at it:
Preference for congress is more relevant than approval. Democrats are preferred over republicans 47-32 percent.
Meanwhile – Marvin’s preferred President – 25% approval. Lowest since Nixon at 24%.
Must feel real good to be in the stupid 25% of americans who still don’t realize how bush and the republicans have lied and brought our country down.
You really have credibility Marvin – as someone who has been consistently wrong on the war in Iraq, the economy, the constitution and is associated with the dumbest 25% in this country that still supports the idiot liar Bush.
@44: Nice DL – Marvin doesn’t even know the pathetic conservative shills in the media. Do we have to do all his work and thinkng for him?
Okay Goldy, I see where you’re coming from (sort of). But just look how you outlined Eyman’s initiative:
Subject #1
Subject #2
Subject #3
WA ST Constitution, Article II Section 19:
“SECTION 19 BILL TO CONTAIN ONE SUBJECT. No bill shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.”
Again, this fits nicely in Eyman’s initiative demogogue cycle:
Step #1: Propose initiative that is popular but legally unvetted (purposefully?)
Step #2: Initiative wins
Step #3: Courts strike it down
Step #4: Eyman cries like a baby & rails against “Judicial activists” that hate the will of the people (ripping his Initiative sign once, as you remember)
I’m willing to put money on it Goldy. If the Horse’s ass really put his house up as collateral, he’s gonna lose it.