The early results are in, and Metro is fucked, with voters rejecting Proposition 1 by a relatively wide 55.28 percent to 44.72 percent margin. (What the fuck, Stranger? We didn’t lose elections like this when I worked there!)
And in case you’re hoping this is just a tiny percentage of the votes cast, not so much. Sure, it’s only 162,508 Yes and 200,887 No, and that only amounts to a 31 percent turnout. But those 363,395 votes counted represent the bulk of the 384,220 ballots that have been received by end of business today, and 31 percent isn’t exactly low for a special election. So while yeah, Kshama Sawant came back a kajillion points from the election night results, don’t expect that here—it’s just unimaginable that there are enough late ballots to overcome a ten-plus point deficit.
In the short term what this means is that Metro is going to start slashing bus service this summer. There’s just no other choice. And in the long term, such a sound thrashing in the face of almost zero organized opposition to the measure bodes ill for the prospects of voters approving an even more progressive Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET), presuming the legislature ever grants Metro that authority.
I’m not giving them credit for this, but welcome to the new normal the Seattle Times editorial board has been drooling over for years. Enjoy your traffic, Frank.
55 % of the voters see no benifit of metro to them. The tunnel overrun is still going to cost them dearly. 520 is still going to sink. The busses dont go where and when they want to go. So why?
sigh
I was told that 2,200 King County employees made over $100,000 last year. Many of them, deputies on overtime.
I’m not saying that deputies don’t deserve considerable compensation. Nor am I suggesting that some jobs at King County are demanding enough to justify +100 grand / year. However . . . 2,200 persons taking +100,000 grand a year out of the pockets of King County taxpayers is a big grab.
As a King County tax-payer making considerably less than 100K/yr., in the private sector, I would ask King County to do some mirror looking . . . and trim some fat from their ranks within, to provide some service to the needy without.
Is that out of line?
#3, that’s two different pools of money.
But taking it one step further, I see nothing wrong with senior cops making $100k+. (If they are good cops. Not the ratfckers who are screwing up the force.) Especially if we’re dumb enough to pay them overtime. That’s just dumb city planning. I mean, they should be eligible for OT, for sure. But we should have enough planning knowhow to NOT be paying a cop OT to do traffic for the Mariners. That should be budgeted. I’m not entirely sure it is now.
@4 Well, for starters, let’s get the Mariners off the dole and make them pay for traffic control at games. Oops, too late, our wise elected leaders signed a contract that gives the M’s all the profits and the taxpayers all the expenses. Yes, America is a socialist country, but some people are still confused about who gets the socialism.
I doubt the Seattle Times editorial board deserves the credit for this. Who reads Seattle Times editorials? More probably, this outcome represents the limits of relying on regressive taxes to pay for good causes. We need tax reform in this state. If you tell me that’s impossible, then I’m going to tell you that improving public services is impossible, too, because with the peasantry already bled dry that’s the only way you’re going to get them.
Interesting note: my wife voted for it, but she didn’t trust the state legislature not to then give in on everything the E.WA road people wanted in a future transportation package, with King Co. getting very little in return, while having already taxed ourselves for the Metro.
It doesn’t help that there’s never been a big transportation project in our state the transportation bureaucrats didn’t fuck up. For the latest iteration, see Bertha. I suspect many voters have become reluctant to trust our transportation officials with something
as important as money.
@7 I know where we can instantly get $135 million a year without raising taxes. Keep gas taxes collected in King County here instead of sending them to counties that want to secede from our state because they think they’re subsidizing King County.
Let’s see. This is the second time the voters have said “FUCK YOU” to an extra $60 car tab fees for the “progressives” to piss away. How many times do we have to say “FUCK YOU” until you clean the shit out of your ears and listen?
By the way: For those of you who think we’re going to support “tax reform” that means an income tax: FUCK YOU ON STEROIDS.
@10 A car tab tax is a bad deal for senior citizens. Let’s say a banker with a horse farm in Redmond commutes to downtown in an $80,000 ride, racking up 25,000 miles a year of wear and tear on our local roads and polluting the air, too. He pays $60. Now let’s say grandma has a 2001 Ford that she drives 1,200 miles a year for doctor visits and grocery shopping. She pays $60, too. Now, how do you think a tax scheme like this will sit with voters over age 65? I realize the backers of Prop. 1 resorted to regressive taxes because no other funding options were available. But I’ve been saying for years on this blog that we’ve got to fix the tax system, not keep bleeding grandma, or at some point grandma won’t vote with you anymore. We may have reached that point now.
@10 Ya know, I have absolutely zero sympathy for well-off people who spend 50 or 100 grand for wheels, and then bitch about paying an extra $40 a year for tags. They throw away that much every time they fill up simply because they insist on driving gas hogs. We wouldn’t be in this fix if those people were paying their fair share of taxes. The problem is our state is burdened with high-end freeloaders who think the richest 2% are too good to pay taxes. An even bigger problem is that another 70% of the voters agreed with them when we proposed making the richest 2% pay a modest income tax. Well, let me tell you something. I don’t have to work anymore, so I don’t commute, so lack of bus service and huge potholes and traffic gridlock aren’t my problem. A Porsche doesn’t go any faster in Seattle traffic than a Volkswagen does. When the only people getting anywhere are those riding bicycles and skateboards, just remind yourself that you get what you pay for, y’all.
@8 Bertha is going to haunt us and loom over us, twisting or derailing transportation and infrastructure policy for a long time.
To put it bluntly, we are tired of being nickeled and dimed in taxes to buy the SPD more guns to shoot at us, or more Paul Allen vanity projects or more free stuff for rich assholes in Madrona. Liberal policies tend to look a lot like conservative policies, with maybe 10% less racism but just as much theft and irresponsibility.
Until (and unless) people figure out why the Sawant campaign and other socialist, communist and anarchist organizating is being so successful in this city, campaigns like this will continue to fail. Can’t pick working peoples’ pockets “for their own good” forever.
@14 “New and Improved!” “Now with 10% Less Racism!”
Tragically funny.
@13 On that I very much agree with you.
They should’ve replaced the viaduct with another viaduct. Cheaper, faster, less to go wrong, and people in cars would get to look at something besides two concrete walls bathed in flourescent light. But no, the downtown property owners wanted their views, so the viaduct had to go and here we are stuck underground in a glorified sewer. The moneyed interests got their way again and the public gets screwed again. And the rich wonder why the rest of us despise them.
They ought to immediately cut the bus routes from Bellevue eastward. The buses in Issaquah are full every morning and afternoon with guys in business suits.
They’ll soon discover that paying for parking in Seattle is a lot more expensive than slightly higher taxes.
Kinda hate to say it, but this state hates car tab fees. They have said it over and over and over again. I knew it would fail again today, and 5 votes of Hell No came directly from my family. 125 million to fix Big Bertha could have gone a long way in road repair. But heh it’s just a matter of time till libs blow another 10 trillion in their federal spending binge before they find there is no federal bandwidth for roads. Oh well they can still pay for mess they are creating.
@19 “it’s just a matter of time till libs blow another 10 trillion in their federal spending binge”
Go ahead, keep feeding bullshit to the masses and hope they’ll believe your lies if you repeat them often enough.
http://tinyurl.com/l2tdxu3
@19 I do agree with you on one thing: Electing reckless spenders is bad for the country. That’s one of many reasons why I don’t vote for Republicans.
@18
Cut those lines outside of Seattle and close all the stops within 5 blocks of the Seattle Times.
(What the fuck, Stranger? We didn’t lose elections like this when I worked there!)
I’m pretty sure we’ve seen the last of any significant political influence the Stranger will have for a while. They seem to be too busy promoting their own damn selves, with their “Best of Slog” posts and all the posts about what each of them plans to do in the next day or two.
They’re not even online on this election night, opting instead to leave this up on their page right now:
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Be Right Back!
We’re doing some of that old-time scheduled maintenance.
Please enjoy some other activities in the meantime, if possible.
Thanks for your patience.
On election night.
For those above who complain about Sawant and SPD, this was a countywide election. Metro is the county transit system. It has nothing to do with the execrable Seattle Police Department, and certainly nothing to do with Councilmember Sawant. After all the publicity about the measure — pro and con — it’s telling that you don’t even understand that.
I am concerned about the loss of some evening service. I work nights, and it appears that the D-line will be unchanged, was slated to lose the later runs, before the new draft of proposed cuts. I recently found a Plan B using the 32 if I missed the D, and catch whatever bus comes first at Lower Queen Anne. I will be using that option. I recently burned out the motor on my lawn mower, and purchased a new mower. The extra .1% would not have been noticed on a $299 purchase.(since I store it in the basement, I prefer electric)
The drivers get ridiculed in the media, by some bloggers, and trolls. It’s a tough job, although many have 20, 30, and one even 50 years of not having an avoidable accident. I wonder when somebody says that they can drive one for less, if that troll has a CDL with a Class P endorsement? I don’t, so I would never say I could do it better.
I wonder, whose idea was it to have the hours for viaduct construction impact mitigation run out this year? With WSDoT not doing to well with megaprojects, they should have known Bertha would have problems. Although the grant has been renewed, it is only for 2015.
http://seattletransitblog.com/.....r99-money/
When I mentioned Metro has a driver(at least as of last year), with 50 years without an avoidable accident, I was not kidding. He may be the only transit operator in the nation with that distinction.
http://metrofutureblog.wordpre.....ory-books/
I did not know that Metro still had any Seattle Transit veterans on staff, let alone from the pre-1973 suburban operator, Metropolitan Transit Company.
Metro did order New trolleybuses, but only enough to handle will be the new normal. They need 160 to handle the current electric bus network, they only ordered about 140, with the options being picked up by San Francisco Municipal Railway in a joint order. It is actually an industry practice. The Utah Transit Authority’s massive order for LRV’ s, which was about 77 firm orders and 180 options, that have been picked up by a couple other operators. Everybody saves. The new trolleys will save some money, if the order goes through. Regenerative braking and batteries, one will save electricity, the other will help the bus at accident scenes.No more need for a push truck. Don’t know why the 4100 and 4200 series trolleybus don’t have them, accept that Metro tried to save money, in the case of the 4200’s, making lemonade out of the lemons that were the former tunnel buses.
And in the long term, such a sound thrashing in the face of almost zero organized opposition to the measure…
Telling, no?
Things that cannot go on forever, don’t.
…Metro is going to start slashing bus service this summer. There’s just no other choice.
Actually, drivers and mechanics have a choice, don’t they? Slashed service means slashed payroll hours, doesn’t it? And employment contracts have end dates.
Now that the hyperbole hasn’t worked, silly time should end and organized effort to do more with less can now be unveiled. Let’s see how Metro responds to reality.
Asshole @28…
Right.
Nobody gets to make a decent living except this jerk.
For me this issue marks the first unequivocal point where The Stranger has clearly jumped a particular shark. As i attempt to post this they have only a lukewarm “maybe the next ballot dump will reverse this”. Where’s the disgust? Where’s the ‘what the fuck’??
and yeah, it’s not the Seattle Times that produced this end. it’s some stupid porridge of cut off your nose to spite the bureaucrats and selfish disinterest.
Is there really no chance for a comeback for the “yes” side? How did King County come to its estimate of 38% turnout?
-A sad MM
Nice to see that people don’t want to keep flushing money down the metro toilet.
@32 Well, here’s a suggestion for you, let’s get all those people on buses back into their cars, and then we’ll see how long it takes you to get anywhere in this town, and good luck finding parking.
@28 “organized effort to do more with less can now be unveiled”
Yes, that’s the legacy Wingnut Wack-O-Nomics has left to our nation and communities. Everyone will work harder for lower pay, so consumers will have less money, so government will collect less sales taxes, so we’ll have less public services. Less of everything for everyone, except of course the rich, who will always take more more more …
And then you have the Cliven Bundys who brazenly steal public property and point guns at the cops if they try to stop him, like a modern-day Jesse James.
@33 I’m giving serious consideration to buying a big old hoopty and driving it around with a sign on the back saying “I’m in your way because Proposition 1 didn’t pass.”
I’ve asked around. My totally informal poll results.
This is the new normal of wealth inequality.
@10 The only way THIS progressive would support an income tax is if it was progressive AND it totally phased out all the state sales taxes.
@ 37
Is that ‘asking around’ the same way MSNBC conducts a talk show segment?
You know, the host interviews a guest who agrees with the host, and then interviews a second guest who agrees with the first guest. The MSNBC blueprint.
That way?
I don’t think I ever said that Metro employees are paid too much. I do think that labor costs can be cut. Those are not the same things, by the way.
Is your apparent willingness to tax County residents a higher sales tax the same as saying you think they have too much disposable income? When the Seattle police union voluntarily did without a COLA one year due to extreme financial strain on the City at that time, in doing so were they signalling that they agreed they were overpaid?
What exists now is a revenue shortfall to Metro. Metro has the burden of fixing that. If it is between reducing labor costs by laying off employees, now or in the future, or paying employees less and retaining everyone, that’s up to Metro.
And to a very large extent it is up to the employees as well.
Say what you will about me, Seattle “progressives,” but I got my way and you didn’t. Maybe you need yourselves some polygamy and cowboys with guns up there, you dumbshits!
@40…
Pay your fucking fees you deadbeat moocher.
@41, who needs a bus when I can ride a horse? Fuck you and the bus you rode in on!
@31, they’ll do another one this fall. Separate votes for roads ‘n buses. Roads will win, buses will lose. If you won’t get cowboys ‘n guns, then it’s time to get yerselves new shoes and a walking stick up there. I hear Seattle is walkable, ain’t it?
@18
Insulting the Eastside commuters is gonna make everyone feel better.
My car is already $68 for tabs, I guess it would have gone to $108. Price shocks are what cause people and businesses grief.
If Starbucks increased the price of their coffee overnight by 70% you think people would be pissed.
Increase tabs slowly, $5-10 a year increase in tabs, allows people to adjust. Option for people to buy two years of tabs at the same time. I would do that.
I have ridden transit on about a dozen cities worldwide in the last year, Seattle is way too cheap, cheaper than the LRT in Kuala Lumpur.
Zone 1 prices are mostly inline, but the 2 zone fares are often crazy cheap. The 520 bridge toll is almost $8 R/T , gas is heading back to $4,parking is $$$ only an idiot would not continue to use the buses if the long distance fares were a $1 a day each way more.
Add a third and forth Zone, like every other transit system, increase the price on the subsidized passes as well.
re 42: Most conservatives want government services, they just don’t want to pay for them — and they are always the ones to whine first when they don’t get them.
Just like Cliven Bundy will when there’s an out-of-control brush fire and the government won’t put it out for him.
What if I want to run cattle where Bundy’s running his and I’m willing to deal with his thugs? Sounds like an old Paladin episode.
The BLM didn’t provide me any services at all. There was nothing to pay for. We don’t need yer stinkin’ buses down here. So what are ya gonna do now that ya got to walk, suckers?
@ 44
So, King County is 55% conservative?
I don’t think so. I don’t think this measure failed because the Seattle area is turning red.
The perceived value of Metro doesn’t justify the additional expense in the minds of too many voters who already are getting tagged with higher taxes. This vote occurred right before through right after April 15th, Tax Day for the first year the Obamacare taxes hit. People saw the higher taxes for the first time, and then they were asked to vote on whether they wanted more taxation.
@46…
Bickle is smart like McNerny from McDonnell-Boeing.
The Affordable Care Act “tax” doesn’t kick in till next year, but why would facts matter to Our Little Marie Antoinette.
@ 47
Additional Medicare tax and Net Investment Income tax went into effect 2013.
Those are the ‘taxes’.
Higher health insurance premiums paid by most to subsidize others also became apparent – another tax, of sorts.
re 45 — ‘The BLM didn’t provide me any services at all.’
You don’t know that. PROVE IT.
@49, prove that they do provide me services. I do all the range maintenance, not them. Besides, I’m willing to pay those fees to the state of Nevada, and they’re free to cut a check to the feds if they want.
Besides any of that, if we did have bus drivers here, we sure as fuck wouldn’t pay them $100,000 a year. Ya made yer own bed, idiots.
re 50: ‘@49, prove that they do provide me services.’
They keep the streams and springs clean from the deleterious effects of overgrazing — as practiced by Bundy; and the BLM protects endangered wildlife (like the desert tortoise) in Nevada.
Their authority to do this in the interests of the public arises from the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act: “Pursuant to the property clause of the Constitution, it is the Congress that has the authority to make all needful rules and regulations in regards to the property of the United States.
The Taylor Grazing Act was just one such needful rule. It provided authority for the General Land Office to require grazing permits and to collect a fee for such permit. It created the Grazing Service to organize and regulate grazing and carry out conservation responsibilities on the public domain lands.”
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/.....rylink=cpy
Additionally, Bundy owes $31,000 in grazing fees — fees that he has not paid in decades. A handful of armed ignos is not going to deter the federal government from wearing down those involved in this little dust-up.
http://americablog.com/2014/04.....triot.html
Cliven Bundy is a seditious liar, not a patriot
Pay your fucking bills, motherfucker.
@48…
The rate increase is 0.9 percent for an individual earning over the threshold of (wait for it) $200,000 ($250,000 if filing jointly). Congratulations! You make more than 95% of all Americans.
So if you have a “MAGI” (Modified ADJUSTED Gross Income) and/or a shitty accountant you pay an addition 3.8% for the OPPORTUNITY to make that much fucking money.
What an asshole.
Does Cliven believe in the Greenback Dollar as printed and backed by the federal government he refuses to believe in? If not, will he accept monopoly money?
Cliven’s right. He got his way, and you people didn’t. Must really chap your ass, huh?
@33, I avoid Seattle like the plague.
@45 Well, if land is worth nothing where you live, then you won’t mind if I help myself to yours, will you? Trucks will deliver my cows to your pasture starting tomorrow. Oh, and me and my boys hang rustlers and cattle poachers.
@50 Regardless of whether you think Uncle Sam or Nevada owns that land, you admit it’s not YOUR land, so why don’t you just also admit that you’re stealing someone else’s pasturage?
And inasmuch as Mr. Bundy thinks he’s not getting any services from the guvmint, let’s cut off his federal water, which includes all water that doesn’t fall from the sky which is the only water there is where he lives.
Well yes, we know that the government makes it rain. Maybe it’s time the government made it rain in Texas and California, then, if the government is so mighty.
re 55: “Cliven’s right. He got his way….” Really? If he really believes his B.S., then he doesn’t accept U.S. dollars for his product.
#61, but he wants U.S. dollars. He gets those too. It’s a real bitch that some dumb wingnut rancher in Nevada gets what he wants, while the superior asshole progressives of Seattle get totally fucked. You have to love it, or at least I do!
I’m glad Cliven is with us. He gets things done.