A few months back I was on the Kirby Wilbur Show talking about Initiative 912, and Kirby got a little peeved when I brought up the safety issue, inferring that I was accusing I-912 supporters of being “killers”. In fact, I was implying that our roads are killers, and that the transportation bill I-912 wants to kill would fix some of our most dangerous intersections, interchanges and stretches of highway.
This point was tragically driven home on Friday, by a three car accident on I-5 near the Highway 534 overpass, that killed two people, including a 10-year-old boy. The accident occurred when two southbound cars collided, forcing Susan McGaughran’s GMC Yukon to carom across the grass median and into the northbound lanes, where it was struck by the Ng family’s Toyota Avalon. McGaughran and 10-year-old Alexander Ng were killed in the wreck; Alexander’s father, mother, and six-year-old brother remain hospitalized.
But as the Skagit Valley Herald reported on Sunday, this accident could have been prevented.
Following the crash, state transportation officials were already preparing to make improvements to the stretch of I-5 where the crash occurred.
Stan Suchan, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the department plans to install a cable barrier this fall between the north and southbound lanes on the stretch, just south of Mount Vernon.
The $30 million project will be paid for out of the 3-cent gas tax increase, Suchan said. The barriers also are slated to be installed on several other sections of Washington roadways, all of which were selected based on crash data.
It is the only project that state transportation officials haven’t put on hold because of Initiative 912, which is a movement to repeal the increase, Suchan said.
The cables barrier would absorb the force of a crash and prevent vehicles from crossing into oncoming traffic during a collision, Suchan said. Ideally, after striking a cable barrier, a car would stop in the grass median and not ricochet into traffic. “Our goal is to protect driver as much as we can,” Suchan said.
The projects in the transportation bill that I-912 would kill were prioritized by safety, and the cable barrier along this stretch of I-5 is just one of hundreds of similar safety improvement projects scattered throughout the state. If we repeal the gas tax, and these projects are delayed or canceled, people will die. The crash data tells us that, and this tragic accident bears out the data’s predictions. That is a fact.
I-912’s backers claim that the transportation bill doesn’t do enough to solve congestion… that is doesn’t pour enough new concrete. But I believe that if most voters understood what the gas tax increase actually pays for, they’d agree that it’s the transportation package that has its priorities straight, not Kirby and John and the rest of the message senders, who ask voters to sacrifice desperately needed maintenance and improvements for the sake of sticking it to Gov. Gregoire and the Democrat controlled Legislature.
The former-residents of New Orleans — now refugees from our nation’s worst man-made disaster — have learned the cost in lives and dollars of failing to adequately invest in public infrastructure; surely, had the levees been higher and stronger, the surrounding wetlands restored, and the barrier islands rebuilt, then the cataclysmic flooding could have been avoided. If we choose to ignore this lesson, perhaps the Big One won’t strike… perhaps the 520 bridge won’t sink into the lake, nor the Alaska Way Viaduct topple over onto the waterfront and its aging seawall, causing hundreds of deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damage.
But even if Seattle “dodges the bullet” — as New Orleans briefly thought it had before the floodwaters rose — hundreds of our fellow citizens will not be so lucky, daily falling victim to dangerous roadways that could have… should have been fixed before they tragically claimed more lives, like those of Susan McGaughran and ten-year-old Alexander Ng.
If the public understands exactly what the gas tax pays for, and how the transportation package was expressly prioritized to save lives, then I believe that I-912 will fail. In his column today, the P-I’s Joel Connelly points out that passage is no sure bet, but seems to pin his hope for defeat on business and civic leaders educating the public. But if the public is truly to be educated during the eight short weeks before the election, then the media must do its job too. Levi Pulkkinen and Marta Murvosh of the the Skagit Valley Herald should be commended for doing the kind of journalism often missing from some of our more prestigious newspapers… for digging into the details and reporting Friday’s fatal accident not just as a human tragedy, but as the predictable consequence of how we choose to spend our transportation dollars.
With big oil pumping out record profits, and gasoline prices over $3.00, I ask you: is Alexander Ng’s life — or that of hundreds of others who will die in similar accidents — worth 9 cents a gallon? That is the question that should be facing voters this November, if only they understand what is truly at stake.
Kirby and John want to use I-912 to “send a message”… but repealing the transportation package will also, inevitably cost lives. And I believe, if people vote their conscience, I-912 will fail.
The only thing that will cost lives will be the additional layers of Government that will soak up the funding meant for the projects mentioned.
Gimme a fucking break. That’s a long stretch of an assumption. You people will say anything!
prr@1 – can you please give specific examples of the layers you speak of? The DOT is one of the few departments that consistently complete projects on time and under budget. Goldy’s safety points are very straight forward and it seems pretty immature to argue that fighting government inefficiencies are more important than saving peoples lives.
Give you an example.
Sure.
Every state employee acting in every state job, on the payroll, of washington state.
Now your turn, give me one example where the State employees are actually held accountable to performing a task. Even better, when they fail at that task, what is their accountability?
1. The Skagit Valley Herald is run by a bunch of way-too-left people; they are biased.
2. The cause of the accident was a shitty driver that fucked up-period. Not the damn road.
3. Even if I-912 was defeated somehow, it wouldn’t give a damn dollar to that portion of the freeway in Skagit County.
4. Seattle thinks the rest of the State should pay for their fucking problems-we won’t.
Mark @ 5
Sadly, you will.
As Seattle carries that majority of the votes in this state and has a corrupt elections office, anything that is proposed by a democrat will be swept past the voters, regardless of actual votes.
@6:
That’s true. Look what happened before; we voted in Dino Rossi and we got Crissy “recounts till I win” Gregoire.
The right-wing mouth-breathers won’t care. They’ll just say we’re LEFTIST PINHEADS, that all government is by nature wasteful, and all the courts that don’t give them what they want are crooked. They’ll never use the word “union” without putting “goon” next to it.
There’s another initiative on the ballot this fall. It’s Initiative 900, Eyman’s “performance audit” measure. When that passes, and it will, it will bring the Dept. of Transportation under stricter performance audits than at present.
What, I wonder, will the wingnuts do when post-900 audits show little to no waste, or when whatever waste is found is eliminated?
You know what they’ll do. They’ll whine that private enterprise could do it better, that it should be nonunion, that prevaling wage must go, that public employees are paid too much.
Nothing will ever satisfy them. So why should we care what they think? Even if I-912 passes, those roads will have to be maintained, and safety ensured, because enough taxpayers will demand it.
So they’re going to pay, either now or later. Watch them scream, and watch them holler. Watch them lie and call us names. The taxman is coming for every one of them.
I spoke with our local State Rep (district 8) yesterday, who IS a republican, and who voted FOR the gas tax among the things she said about I-912, and most importantly, it SOLVES NOTHING. It does not provide driver saftey, it does not provide needed improvements and for all the I-912 pundits, it DOES NOTHING for congestion. Congestion is a whole new issue that you west siders have to solve on another level.
That was district 8 and not a smiley… not sure what happened there….
Dear Mark1,
Please do NOT waste our government dollars if your house catches fire. It was probably YOUR fault, so you can put it out yourself.
Ditto your 911 call when you have chest pains. Probably your diet, and genes. By intelligent design, or evolution, you actions prove you should not cost me as a taxpayer.
I have never met you, so I don’t care about your issues that you probably caused… sorry.
If you have no heart or soul, as your post proves, perhaps you might find some rage over the money lost with all the trucks stuck in traffic… all the services delayed, and all the workers who were late, or could not function because of accidents like that.
Now that Gas has risen by more than a dollar from a year ago, rather than be upset with the corporate gouging, it is better to kill that extra 3 cents (9 cents later on)… you could so better use that hard earned dollar to buy a latte to suck on while stuck in traffic… better that then all of us working to make it better for all of us here in the state.
cheers.
Greg:
Blah, blah, blah…………….typical selfish BS. Don’t care to meet you either.
jimmynap, it your local rep voted for it, and thinks it does nothing…why in the hell did she vote for it?
I would be interested in hearing from a rational conservative on I-912 and not the anti-roads people. Can anyone, from a conservative perspective, support 912? If the best you can do are arguments like kitten sounds (and I have a few State Patrol Officers I would like you to explain your theory of government too), then there is a good chance that 912 will fail.
Your transportation dollars at work:
Median/Beautification on I=99 by Seatac and Des Moines. What a waste of money. The congestion is worsened, but the industrial wastelands will have pretty roads….
Hmmm, let me see, the Highway 534 overpass ‘safety issue’ wasn’t funded before ineffective ‘traffic calming’ entrance lights on Highway 16….
Seems if we were really concerned about saving lives, we would fund all ‘safety’ related issues first, then our relatively ineffectual attempts at getting motorists out of their cars and into the beehive of public transportation.
Typical budget twist — unfund the most important things so you have a better argument for more money…
If a safety project is being delayed because of I-912, and it results in death, then someone should be held accountable for murder. The first dollar of transportation should go for safety. But it doesn’t, does it.
If the Alaskan Way Viaduct is really unsafe, then close it now. Don’t wait for the big one. And stop claiming that its collapse will be the fault of those who vote in favor of I-912.
Seattle thinks the rest of the State should pay for their fucking problems-we won’t.
and
Blah, blah, blah…………….typical selfish BS. Don’t care to meet you either.
Democrat policies of no nukes, no oil drilling, and high taxes on fuel have made gas prices high! This has hurt blacks. Like DON and Goldy, this again proves Democrats hate blacks.
Let’s just admit. We hate blacks. Sure many of us are black. And sure almost all blacks are Democrats, but we’ve always been self-hating, haven’t we? I mean, we’re American, but we hate America. We’re people, but we hate people (tree-huggers, animal rights, etc.)
We admit it. We are black and we hate blacks. Obama? Hates ’em. Jesse? Hates ’em. Martin? Really hated ’em. Chuck D? That guy despises them, rants and raves about them all day, how they’re ruining our country.
We hate the poor too. We, blinded by our hate, didn’t even realize how fortunate they were. Barbara set us straight though.
We just don’t have the self-love the right wing shows. I mean, they really love rich white guys.
Thanks for setting us straight. Your insight, as always, is brilliant and appreciated.
I would be interested in hearing from a rational conservative on I-912 and not the anti-roads people. -Comment by JDB— 9/12/05 @ 1:45 pm
It’s not an anti roads initiative, but please keep fighting as if it is one.
I-912 is taxpayers saying ENOUGH BULLSHIT to Olympia.
I could give a fat rats ass about the .03 a gallon, but I sure want to send a message to the illegitimate queen and her court jesters in Olympia.
Washingtonians are fed up with stadiums and monorails and bullshit election departments and land grabbing and usury taxes and self appointed pay raises for politicians and subsidizing millionaires.
This miserable third rate state is single most business unfriendly place in the country.
L & I tax – highest in the country.
Unemployment tax – highest in the damned country.
Minimum wage – highest in the country.
And, having JUST come from the acountants office, I now learn that the whole damned unemployment crap is a nothing more than a pyramid scheme. High minimum wage and unemployment crap is tied to CPI(?), so poor little business owner then has raise his prices to cover it which then raises his CPI which causes the damned unemployment to go up further. It’s nothing but a vicious circle with those lunatic liberals in the center dancing naked and WASHINGTON IS SICK OF IT.
I certainly hope none of you fringies have learned to enjoy Quizno’s too damned much because I hear corporate Quizno’s is none to happy the way WASHINGTONS labor costs for their store are off the charts compared to the rest of the country. I hope none of you hungry travelors ever hoped for a Chick Fil A or a Cracker Barrel because they REFUSE to come to this miserable state. You shoppers stop dreaming of Neiman Marcus or Saks because with the business climate in this state they AIN’t happening either. I’m sure the illegitimate queen and her jester cronies will never tell us ‘little folk’ exactly how many businesses she’s tried to woo to her fiefdom and who/how many have rubuffed her like an ugly blind date.
And THAT is why I-912 will pass.
I-912 is a great big SCREW YOU to the elitist asshole who ruined this once great state.
Deal with it.
Proudass, I-912 is a big SCREW YOU as you put it by a few demagogues and their moron followers to the people that actually care about the state… Or more properly, to the people in charge that dare not to follow your orders explicitly.
I’m really shocked by the level of your hate tho’, I mean, Geeze… relax.
And a rightie troll on here saying “Deal with it.” is just tooo funny. Whens the last time that you ever dealt with something not going your way without conspiracy theories, rantings about fraud, and good old-fashioned whining?
Oh wait, never!
“L & I tax – highest in the country.
Unemployment tax – highest in the damned country.
Minimum wage – highest in the country.”
Man, I guess “business unfriendly” isn’t such a bad things for people. You might even say “people-friendly”.
And I’ll take a single minimum wage working mother being able to actually feed her family over a goddamned Neiman Marcus or toasted sandwich any day of the week. As we have long suspected, the greed-driven right would rather keep their shopping and dining options open rather than ensure the poor have housing and food. Very Christian-like. Good people, those ‘pubs.
Which people that care about the stagte?
The ones driving businesses OUT? …
The ones forcing the employees of those business OUT?
Give me a break.
A state cannot be sustained without a business base and the word is OUT about this miserable, third rate state.
Grow up.
And come back to discuss grown up economics when Daddy’s no longer footing your bills.
And I’ll take a single minimum wage working mother being able to actually feed her family over a goddamned Neiman Marcus or toasted sandwich any day of the week. Good people, those ‘pubs. -Comment by Aaron S— 9/12/05 @ 3:34 pm
Are you a completely stupid person or do you just play one in blogs?
IF THE DAMNED STATE FORCES COMPANIES OUT OF BUSINESS OR TO RELOCATE THERE WON’T ****BE**** ANY JOBS FOR SINGLE MOMMY TO GET PAID A MINIMUM WAGE.
And I’ll take a single minimum wage working mother being able to actually feed her family over a goddamned Neiman Marcus or toasted sandwich any day of the week. -Comment by Aaron S— 9/12/05 @ 3:34 pm
Are you really a stuoid person or do you just play one in fringie blogs?
WHEN THE DAMNED STATE IS DONE FORCING COMPANIES OUT OF BUSINESS OR TO RELOCATE TO A “FRIENDLIER BUSINESS ENVIROMENT” THERE WON’T ***BE*** AND JOBS FOR SINGLE MOMMY TO EARN HER MINIMUM WAGE.
FILTER HELL, AGAIN.
CAFE requirements have cost thousands of lives by driving the vehicle weights down over the last thirty years. Talk about misplaced focus. (A HA specialty.)
Aaron S @ 23
‘And I’ll take a single minimum wage working mother being able to actually feed her family’
While other single mothers and other young workers are priced out of the market. Those folks get no jobs. Meanwhile, the higher minimum wage triggers raises for almost all union contracts so that their exclusive membership gets $30 per hour rather than $28. I know, let them eat cake.
I’m really shocked by the level of your hate tho’, I mean, Geeze… relax. -Comment by windie— 9/12/05 @ 3:33 pm
You’re right.
I absolutely hate what has been done to this once fine state.
I absolutely hate how far its fallen since the days when businesses and people were clamoring to come here.
I absolutely hate the arrogance of the pissants in power when they blatantly ignore the will of the voters and don’t even pretend to hide the fact they are spitting in our faces.
I see I was mistaken. We definately should repeal the minimum wage and, with hope, can have a booming economy like those found in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky… Need one go on? Do I need to bring in Mississippi? There having a hard time right now. Is Boeing threatening to move to Mississippi? Microsoft will be moving to ‘Bama next month, I’m sure.
This argument is tired and its bullshit; it’s been bullshit for a long time. Please don’t give me your uneducated and trite lectures on economics. As it happens, one of my degrees is in economics, though it would take very little reading to recognize that what you spew is nothing but garbage.
Your a ‘pub. You don’t give a fuck about people and you’ll die not caring. I accept that. But just come out and say it. Don’t try and invent flawed economic theories to support your greed. Your not fooing us. Sure you’ll fool the ignorant(and you’ve done a pretty good job in the South), but save your pathetic ploys for them.
There are only three kinds of Republicans: the greedy, the ignorant and the stupid. Which are you?
Please save your insults and name-calling for the playground. Without wit, you are not funny and it just makes you sound desperate. I think you’ll find very few debates/articles/books on economics that involve much name-calling. Galbraith doesn’t use a lot of them. Maybe you should read him.
Ass @ 21, 24, 25:
Is the Tax Foundation just another LEFTIST PINHEAD organization? I think not, and most people think it’s pretty damn conservative.
Why don’t you take your ignorant, lying ass A href=”www.taxfoundation.org/sbtci.html”>over there and read their State Business Tax Climate Index?
Know what you’ll find? You’ll find Washington is the 9th most business friendly state in the USA.
But what do you care? You’re just another right-wing liar. Go foam at the mouth somewhere else.
Who was it that voted in minimum wage increases? Oh yeah, that’s right, it was us.
Who was it that voted down unemployment insurance reform? Oh yeah, that’s right, it was us.
Who’s fault will it be if we vote down road improvements that business is screaming for? Oh yeah, that’s right, it’ll be ours.
Maybe instead of people blaming state government for things they believe to be problems, they should take a look in the mirror, and take responsibility for the consequences of their own choices.
But of course that won’t happen. Because people who support 912 will continue to bitch about traffic even after they vote to de-fund projects that reduce traffic congestion.
Goldy-
Thanks for telling it like it is. Without the gas tax, roads will continue to disintegrate and people will die.
Our state constitution extends us the right to become citizen legislators. However, the founders thought people would legislate serious law. They couldn’t guess that there would be irresponsible individuals capable of sophomoric “send a message” campaigns, capable of great public influence by using a powerful technology called broadcasting.
Those who use the radio as a weapon to undo our elected representative�s legislation are worse than irresponsible; they are thoughtless killers, in this case.
-Paul
Paul Fellows @ 33
‘Those who use the radio as a weapon to undo our elected representative’s legislation are worse than irresponsible; they are thoughtless killers, in this case.’
Using the radio is not as bad as teachers using captive students to ram their initiative or local levy propaganda through to the parents. The radio does have nearly the audience.
Also, crying out “the sky is falling” does not work anymore. Where is your heartfelt sympathy for the thousands killed due to CAFE regulations?
34 – Oops
The radio does have nearly the audience.
34 – Oops #2
The radio does NOT have nearly the audience.
NoWonder@34
I think the whole notion of CAFE standards killing people is bogus non-sense put out by pro auto industry cheer leaders like the Competitive Enterprise Institute. It’s just another rightwing pro business attempt to scare people into lifting all nasty bad offensive regulation so manufactures can go build more killer tanks. Get real. The fact is peak oil will define the size of cars anyway from here on out. People are getting killed by larger cars because the SUVs, as you well know NoWonder, are not bound by CAFE. Hey. I have an idea. Let’s just build all 6000 pound tanks like in the good old days so we’ll be safer. Right! Ever heard of side curtain airbags? Cars can be built light and still be safe.
Anyway, with gas hitting 3 bucks and not likely to go down (have you noticed it never goes down, just up?) people are still trying to tough it out. It’s like the oil companies are waiting until everyone screems “uncle” but no one will be the first. Meanwhile gas goes up and a dime a gallon would go to making roads better.
A LOUSY DIME A GALLON! But, NO. The KVIsters have decided to roll back the dime just to show how it’s done. Screw everyone else. They have the power with the tower as they beam BS into small minds.
Anyway, what does CAFE have to do with the misuse of media in the first place? The fact is (getting back to I-912) we need better roads and we need them NOW. By the way the small cars and the big bozo jobs, like Hummers, all use the same ruts on I-5 and it does not matter which car slams into which, people still die.
The Repugs and the Demons actually DID something together last spring in Oly. They built a compromise road repair plan and then figured out an inexpensive way to pay for it and spread the payment around but the pro-Dinos still want their pound of flesh and they plan to get it by letting little kids get killed on I-5 due to disrepair of the roadway.
-Paul
Goldy
You should blame that rockfall on 912 too. The rocks knew that DOT would not have enough $ to support them and just gave up.
Maybe you should ask your “sources” if DOT spent any bucks evaluating/mitigating instabilty of that stretch of I-90 not too long ago and determined a low risk. Maybe you can find another scoop there if you care to look.
You leftys are right – how high should we make minimum wage? $40/hour? $125/hour? Why not $5372/hour?
Oh hell, let’s just make it a law that all fry jockies are required to be paid like Steve Ballmer.
Fools.
“I ask you: is Alexander Ng’s life – or that of hundreds of others who will die in similar accidents – worth 9 cents a gallon? That is the question that should be facing voters this November, if only they understand what is truly at stake.”
Goldy, you and “your ilk” are shameless for trotting over to another tragedy and twisting it to fit your political agenda. You personify the moniker “ambulance chaser”. Enough already.
And to the next lefty harping about DOT being “on budget”: Look at the budgets, they beat everything to death and accomplish so little by spending so much, comment on that phenomenon for a change.
George Bush cut the funding for federal highways. The rock slide on interstate 90 that killed three women was on a federal interstate highway. Therefore by progressive reasoning: Bush is guilty of the premeditated murder of three women, and sexual discrimination because only women were killed.
“There are only three kinds of Republicans: the greedy, the ignorant and the stupid. Which are you?”
All the newspaper reports of a Legislative suggestion to delay or suspend the 3 cent increase focused on all the other spending that would be affected in Seattle.
King County actually has a living and present population, but it keeps getting inflated by counting Ron Sims’ relatives living and working elsewhere and the breathing impaired. But even at the inflated figures, King County is a only arounf 1/3 of the State’s voters. Can you say “TONE DEAF?.
Paying $$$ to improve transportation and save lives is not controversial. The greedy, ignorant and stupid would vote for it if honestly presented.
Now, just so you HA habitues don not suffer from a lack of alternative terms of oppnent endearment or denigration, a few suggestions:
For Wine ( or whine) lovers; Cork Soakers
For Fruit Lovers: Fig Pluckers
So, for all you Fig Sucking Cork Pluckers who think/feel gas taxes are a wonderful idea as long as they are spent in King County, I say tou are behaving like a hung and pransome yince.
Reply to 43
There is no amount of performance audits, or anything else, that would make you right-wing nabobs of negativism happy. You are against transportation spending just for the hell of it.
Paul @ 38
It does matter when a large vehicle or big rig collide with a small car. Look up conservation of momentum and energy. The bigger mass always wins.
@45
Dummy: His point is someone dies (or is horribly injured) either way. All it does is help determine *who* dies.
Anyways, you know what he meant, unless I”m wrong, and you’re a moron, not a troll. If I’m wrong, my deepest sympathies. If I’m right, go to hell.
So I’s a winna wid my big SUV! Tanks windie. You just fortified me keepin my toy!
Aaron S. There are three kinds of moonbat donks: Cork Packing, Hershey Highway Plowing, or White Ropey Syrup Drinking. Which are you? You want a little cheeze wid that whine?
windie @ 46
‘His point is someone dies (or is horribly injured) either way.’
Wrong. The larger the mass of the fleet of cars is, the fewer will die or be injured. The more small cars there are increases the injured or killed. That is my point and I thank you for missing it.
‘…unless I”m wrong, and you’re a moron, not a troll.’
‘If I’m right, go to hell.’
Wrong on both counts. Have a nice day.
Hey, which initiative expired? I looked to see which initiative built the roads in the first place and came up empty? Likewise, I looked for the dedicated tax that built the roads. Couldn’t find that either.
After all, listening to folks around here, the only way that things get built is when we come up with a new, dedicated tax.
Hmmmm… how DID those get there in the first place?
Ivan@32
You are so full of shit! Where is our KIA plant? Our Saturn plant? OK then where is our airplane company? Oh I forgot the left already! Fucking union hack!
Roger Rabbit@44
No just tired of watching money pissed away on things like “prevailing wage”
Goldy–
Complete Desperation by you LEFTIST PINHEADS.
When all else fails (like truth & honesty)….resort to fear-mongering and anecdotal tails of sheer horror!!!
I’m certain your post on this thread Goldy will like change one voter’s alleged mind….from NO to YES on I-912!!!!
Chuck @ 51, 52:
The taxman is coming for you, Chuck. He is going to put his hand in your pocket and take your money. We will use that money to build and maintain our roads. We will pay union labor at the prevailing wage.
You can pay now or you can pay later. It will cost more later, and you will only squeal more and call us more names. But pay you will, you and Cynical and Mark the Redneck and that racist piece of shit JCH and the rest of you.
I will pay my share right along with you. But I won’t whine about it, because I want a better state and obviously, you don’t.
We’ll probably have to wait until Governor Gregoire’s second term, or maybe her third. But we’ll get there. Save your nickels and dimes, Chuck.
Listen to me….
This is bait and switch, pure and simple. Your ‘representatives’ would have you believe that YOUR priority is to tax yourselves even more instead of using general fund money to pay for roads. That’s right, YOUR priority, according to them, is to save the all important incubator monies for new wineries in Walla Walla, rather than have that money applied to fixing congestion.
Tying this into ‘safety’ and cable barriers, Goldy? That’s pretty weak, even for you. We both know that cable barrier replacement has only come up in the past two months, is not a line item in the budget, and wasn’t a part of the plan. My goodness, no matter how low I set my expectations for you, you STILL manage to come in below them.
Truly, and I share this with you in the hopes of coming together. This initiative will pass in November because people are tired of this nonsense. The message you should read into it is twofold:
– People are tired of the bait and switch. Stop protecting pork in the budget and coming to us for more taxes. Stop funding lesser priorities and blackmailing us into more taxes for the things that ARE a priority.
– We ALL know that this is only a downpayment. This nonsense about how the Earth spins wildly out of control unless we institute this structure is bogus, particularly when you spin this as the solution. We all know that this won’t finish projects, but be a downpayment and buy in to even more taxes. Yes, the regional authority is coming with their additional tax rates. Sound Transit will be back to us shortly for more money. Monorail, if it survives, will come for more, then, of course, the State will be back for more funding. On top of that, we are going to have congestion pricing, tolls, odometer taxes, and probably more excise taxes laid onto the populace to boot! Frankly, we are smart enough to know this, and reject it out of hand.
Do everyone a favor and revisit the wisdom here. Might be a great opportunity to rethink how we do things, and perhaps come up with a better way. That would be the socially responsible thing to do. Eliminate the 50 million for two new trains, meant to go to BC and Portland, since they are NOT safety related items. Build 605 and you have my attention. Eliminate the waste in the general budget and move monies into transportation and I am far more likely to work with you.
Or, continue what you are doing and ramrod, browbeat, threaten, and lie, claiming that it’s the selfish voters that frustrate the government. I am sure that option B is your plan, and won’t be surprised to learn that people are continuously proving that power corrupts.
@49
nooo, you don’t get it.
Yes, the larger the car, the less likely to have a fatality in that one, but the MORE likely that someone in the smaller vehicle will be killed.
Theres a certain selfish logic to owning one of those SUV’s, but never think for a moment that the extra safety isn’t bought with the blood of others.
Well then Windie, get off your tofu-eating ass and purchase a big ‘ole Chrysler Newport. You should be safe then………you want a little cheese with that whine?
windie @ 46
‘Yes, the larger the car, the less likely to have a fatality in that one, but the MORE likely that someone in the smaller vehicle will be killed.’
I agree. That is why the CAFE regulations, which have essentially downsized the majority of vehicles on the road, cause more injuries and fatalities overall.
There is a certain selfish logic to owning a small car and arrogantly looking down at those who wish to provide the maximum protection for their family. As long as we share the road with large trucks, buses and motorhomes the best way to ensure the greatest safety is to have a larger vehicle.
Note that I do not discount the enormous development by the auto companies to more efficiently dissipate crash energy, thus making todays cars (large and small) safer than in the past. The same technology applied to nonCAFE-restricted autos would yield much lower fatalities and injuries.
HORSEPUCKIES!
Cable guardrails are inneffective and dangerous. Motorcycle groups have been lobying for years to get them removed from highways. Ever seen how a cheeseslicer works? Cable guardrails do the same thing to people.
What they did not tell you is that there are lawsuits in several states to have them removed.
Just a couple of months ago there was a head on collision where a car crossed the center line and killed several people. The cable did not even slow the car down. The father of a girl killed is fileing against the state for the use of them.
I for one am glad that project is on hold. They need to quit wasting money on this crap and just fix the roads like they are supposed to do.
The vote on 912 is pretty simple: fix the roads or don’t. There’s no other message.
One reason: people who support 912 have no proposal to fix the roads. All they have is a message. A message won’t get us to work on time or make the state more safe.
The big shame is that the oil companies can make huge profits – with not one dime going to improve our roads – and none of the 912 crowd seems to mind.
The only result of a yes vote on 912 will be more division and delay in fixing the roads, which only means that when we finally decide to fix the roads, it’ll cost all of us more money, and we will have wasted more time and had more accidents that coul have been prevented.
Fix the roads. End the waste. Vote No on 912.
Roger Rabbit @ everywhere
Now a sensible solution that can be extended to wabbits:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1534821.html
This should help out with the fuel shortages. Better dump your cat costume.
“We’ll probably have to wait until Governor Gregoire’s second term, or maybe her third. But we’ll get there. Save your nickels and dimes, Chuck.”
Comment by Ivan@54
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha…second term, she wouldnt win an election for dog catcher!
“… no plan…”
Bullshit.
There IS a plan. Use the damned revenue structure that BUILT THE ROADS IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Don’t deliberately underfund roads for decades, and come to me telling me that I need to pay more AS YOUR FIRST idea out of the gate. The money IS there, HAS BEEN there, and CONTINUES to be there. Use that first, THEN come back to me. Don’t pull my damned money for your hippy little feelgood stuff, and destroy the infrastructure, and come to me telling me how heartless I am.
Of course, if you REALLY want to go down the USER FEE road, I’ll join you. Make the poor people pay for the social services, make the single mothers pay for DSHS, make the parents with kids pay for the school system. You want that, I’ll buy in. Guaranteed, I’ll come out with lower taxes, and it’s a hell of a lot more honest than this crap Goldy’s putting out to soak the taxpayers on this one.
Your arguments are inane, unjustified, and downright dishonest, and we ALL know it. THAT’S why you guys will find victory in November. Why victory? Because you namby pamby idiots will have verified in your own damned minds your little predisposition to place those of us not on board with your nefarious plans into some pigeon hole. We will have bolstered your visions that those of us honestly trying to maintain balance in this state are uneducated and dolts. So enjoy your victory, and sorry about your lack of taxes.
Oh, by the way. I notice that none of you assholes that post here have spoken about the effects of trying to evacuate the Puget Sound today, or better, if you are ever successful in taking away private cars and property. Think that Katrina’s type of effect couldn’t happen here? Yet, you don’t think far enough ahead, or aren’t honest enough to admit that YES, some of these plans to ‘better’ the state will KILL people someday after they are enacted. How interesting. Not unpredictable, for I am sure there’s some thought in the back of the collective mind that actually celebrates the deaths of innocents, when those deaths can be used to blame conservatives or raise taxes. Yet, I am the one declared noncaring.
How utterly bankrupt of you. If the concept of shame were alive, I would hope that you would feel it. It’s not, for there is NO shame among liberals, proven on a daily basis.
Your state DOT at work: http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ut16e.html