First impressions count, and so the election night meme of a nascent tax revolt continues to hold sway over our political class, despite all evidence to the contrary. Or does it?
Yesterday the King County Council raised three new taxes: property taxes of 10 cents and 5.5 cents per $1000 of assessed value respectively for flood control and expanded foot ferries, and a tenth of a cent per dollar sales tax increase to fund mental health services. That’s about $90 a year in new taxes for the median county household… plus, a 25 cent hike in Metro bus fares. Meanwhile, after a contentious campaign season in which its public subsidy became a major issue, the Port of Seattle yesterday voted to increase its tax revenues by $10 million over 2007, levying 23 cents per $1000… about $92 annually on a $400,000 home.
Opponents of Prop 1 argued that we simply couldn’t afford Sound Transit’s proposed 50 mile light rail extension, and the half cent per dollar sales tax increase that would fund it at a cost of about $150 per year for a typical household. And yet just one week after voters soundly rejected the package at the polls, the council tacks another $90 a year onto our annual tax bill, without raising an eyebrow… or a public vote. Taxes equal to 60-percent of the cost of ST2 got raised just like that, with hardly any public debate. Doesn’t sound like the council fears an anti-tax climate to me. Indeed, I’d wager that Prop 1’s defeat made it easier for the council to raise taxes, as it left more of the tax base available.
So if you voted against Prop 1 thinking you were going to save yourself money, think again. Somehow, someway, you’re going to pay for RTID’s major roads projects, and without Sound Transit competing for your tax and toll dollars, probably a few more projects to boot. Tax revolt, my ass.
I guess it just depends on which county you’re talking about. I don’t think I would be (if I was a politician) angling for higher taxes in Benton or Cowlitz county (where 960 passed with 61% yes), but King County does not appear tax averse by any stretch… if 960 was an indicator (58% no). And, I don’t know if Prop 1 is such a good gauge, since there’s no way to tease out peoples “no” vote rationale.
I used to respect Ron Sims, but I’m wondering if he’s going insane. How can he justify his opposition to light rail expansion, yet one week later increase taxes to create a fleet of foot passenger ferries? Who in the world will be riding ferries across Lake Washington? When the Mosquito Fleet, (the ferries, not the moped club), was in its hey day there were no freeways, and no cross lake bridges, so the passenger ferries were a very viable transportation option. Today, the slowest crawl across the 520 bridge will still be faster than boarding a ferry for the trip. And, how green is this proposal that will have approximately 150 boats, presumably diesel powered, cruising around Lake Washington and Elliott Bay? Without doing any detailed analysis this looks on the face of it as a plan that will have very high per rider costs, and will add tons of pollutants to our environment.
regarding the bus fares.
is there any type of group in the region pushing for free bus fares??
i caught this article over the summer and brought it up at a CT meeting (yep, i’m a SnoCo rez) and felt like i had passed gas on the old lady in the front row…
hope this link works.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/57802/
it is a good read for the commuters out there
What Folks Voted Against in Prop 1
I think Goldy and folks on the right are both still to excited about Prop 1 to think clearly about wh6y it went down.
I voted for the thing, but very relctantly. My polling is limited t the sample of folks I know, so for wht it is worth ..
I believe the critical issue in prop 1 was neither roads nor light rail. I believe the critical issue was badky written piece of public legislation and horrible leadership by the proponents.
This is wht I saw:
Prop 1: An authorization for long term supplemental funding to address transportation issues in this area. The moneys will contribute a portion of the costs of what we expect to do over the next twenty years but we have no yet defined the comprehensive lan of what we will do and we know these funds will not be adequate to cover the needed work. Trust us.
After a lot of thinking and eeading, and reassurances form folks that the matter would be worse if Prop 1 went down, I voted for it. Other than friends at DL, none of my other acquaintances did. They did not trust “us.” or even know who “us” might be.
I believe Prop 1 could have passed IF politicians from Gregoire to Murry and Cantwell to our congress people has been willing to get out there and explain it. A few ads with someone the people have confidence in would have gone a long way.
Who do I have confidence in … Ron Sims. Ron’s ooppositeon was telling and deepened the feeling that this was a mystery package without clear proponents.
How to make Prop 1 happen:
1. It can not happen on a District wide basis without district wide support by the elcted leadership. Prop 1 should never have come to the ballot w/o a sign on fomr at least Grefoire and Nickles as being willing to comapign for the thing.
2. Even then, the public will rebel at any suggestion nfo cost plus prricing/ If we want to build X amount of light rail, then the proposal should say how that will be paid for including operating fees. Same for highways and bridges.
3. Where now?
I do not see it as useful to get upset with Sims or vindictive toward the voters. Rather, it seems to em someone needs to get the leadership that wants regional transportation .. including microsoft, Boeing, and the politicians in a room and find out what such a coaliton will support.
To me the first step AFTER that would be to decide whether to resubmut Porp 1 .. with the right backing, or submit a series of more focused requests .. BUT always avoiding the nutty idea that the citizens should trust the government ot spend money well.
Let me give one example. I have jeard radically different points of view of why we what to have light rail to and form Redmond. One POV sees this as being a subsidy for MS. Is that bad?? If MS will befit, and if that heps tie the soft collosus to our home, is that bad? People I know who voted aganst the paxkage BECAUSE of the 520 portion, might very well vote for ti if they were told how this will help out tax base That means r4eal support from MS both in terms of kicking in some $$$ .. perhaps to pay for spure to their campus or for nicer cars.
Xmas for Dino
The other issue with Porp 1 is that Gregoire’s management of this issue may be a present to Rossi. It si easy to imaginee the add …
she wanted to rasie taxes in Puget Sound for a project with no accountability, no long term plan, …. The voters knw better.
If CG wants to be re-lected on something other than an Democratic Tsunami wave, she had better learn that a governhor is supposed ot be a leader.
“Opponents of Prop 1 argued that we simply couldn’t afford Sound Transit’s proposed 50 mile light rail extension, and the half cent per dollar sales tax increase that would fund it at a cost of about $150 per year for a typical household.”
$150 a year times 1 million households is $150 million a year. In 30 years, this would raise $4.5 billion. Did I miss something, or was light rail going to cost only $4.5 billion (including inflation)? The only other possibility is that this $150 figure was, and still is, bullshit.
“And yet just one week after voters soundly rejected the package at the polls, the council tacks another $90 a year onto our annual tax bill, without raising an eyebrow…”
Oh, I think it’s going to raise some eyebrows …
” … or a public vote.”
… and probably a public vote on a brand new, reinvigorated, Tim Eyman initiative, too. The fools on the county council just put Timmie back in business. Their timing couldn’t possibility have been worse, except …
” … the Port of Seattle yesterday voted to increase its tax revenues by $10 million over 2007, levying 23 cents per $1000… about $92 annually on a $400,000 home.”
… the LAME DUCK port commission, that is, whose timing and judgment are ALWAYS exquisitely terrible. Guess those bastards figure the voters can’t do anything to them now. This is, what, about a 10-buck increase over the existing port tax? The port tax needs to be zero, nada, zip, none.
“Taxes equal to 60-percent of the cost of ST2 got raised just like that, with hardly any public debate.”
Actually, this isn’t quite accurate. ST2 would have been funded by two taxes, and the sales tax was the smaller of the two. Most families would have paid more MVET than sales tax under Prop. 1.
@4 “I believe Prop 1 could have passed IF politicians from Gregoire to Murry and Cantwell to our congress people has been willing to get out there and explain it.”
I think you’re wrong, SJ. If anything, the politician endorsements and well-organized “yes” campaign got more people to vote for Prop. 1 than it deserved. While the measure was not well understood by all voters, it received heavy media coverage and editorial comment, and from talking with people I think many did know what its flaws were, and I firmly believe Prop. 1 was defeated because it was unsound.
Prop. 1:
Failed to fully fund 520, setting up taxpayers for a large hidden tax increase farther down the road;
Stretched the construction schedule out too long, with the result voters in outlying areas would pay taxes for projects they wouldn’t see for 15 or 20 years;
Put too much emphasis on general taxes instead of user charges, making it look like special interest spending to benefit a relatively small group;
Relied on regressive taxes, making the financing package onerous for some voters;
Contained too much pork and gold plating to buy votes (the expression I heard from people who voted against it was “waste”).
When I first heard rumblings a couple legislative sessions ago about a “regional transportation package” I expected to be confronted with tax increases for the high-profile road and bridge projects politicians were talking about — 520, the local funding for AWV, etc. I expected (and feared) an attempt would be made to sock us with a heavy new tax burden to pay for gold plating these megaprojects that state lawmakers couldn’t get the rest of the state to chip in for (e.g., a SR-99 tunnel) but I never dreamed it would get hijacked by the anti-road elements and used as a vehicle to push for a gigantically expensive expansion of the already unpopular Sound Transit light rail system.
Prop. 1, plain and simple, was special interest legislation run amok. That’s why the politicians gave it to an anonymous committee and put it up to a public vote. They didn’t want to soil their own hands (or political careers) with it. People clever enough to get elected to something are, generally speaking, smart enough to know an albatross when they see one. (Although, frankly, some of them sometimes act like they’re dumber than bricks, e.g. Jane Hague.) A majority of the voters saw through this one, too.
Of course, the road funding needs won’t go away with Prop. 1’s defeat. This was really a referendum on light rail, not the roads and bridges. The state has now repossessed the 520 project and lawmakers, having seen their punt called back by the referees to run the play over, will now resign themselves to having to figure out how to pay for it and taking the heat on whatever tax or fee increases they settle on. They’ll probably fund the South Park Bridge, too, along with some of the other road projects in the Prop. 1 hopper.
I don’t think light rail is dead. To rise from the ashes, though, it needs smarter design and smarter financing, not cleverer promotion. The cost-is-no-object and let’s-tax-the-poor approaches are dead, though. The people who want to see more light rail built will have to sharpen their red pencils. They will also have to put more of the cost on commuters. Personally, I think a local option sales tax on gasoline, on top of the existing gas tax, is the way to go. This will require the legislature’s authorization, but that’s not an excuse for pursuing it. The shortcuts — making no effort to cut costs and using existing regressive taxes — failed. Now, if light rail supporters are serious, they’ll roll up their sleeves and do the hard work it will take to make their dream fly.
It’s time for Richard Pope to stop his quixotic quests for elective office. He’s not electable. He has made a career out of proving you can’t get elected to anything, even against crippled incumbents, simply by rooting through the wastebaskets of bureaucracy for dirt on your opponents and then running against their weaknesses. In every one of Richard’s dozen races, voters have chosen to go with the evil they already know rather than take a chance on an unknown candidate who has never given them a reason to vote FOR him. Richard is just cluttering up ballots and voters pamphlets. You would think at some point this would cost him enough of his own money to motivate him to stop throwing away his money on these hopeless campaigns. Perhaps he’s been beguiled by his consistent 40-percent showings. But the very consistency of his inability to get close to 50% should tell him he’s beating his head against a stone wall that hasn’t moved an inch after a dozen losing races. The only person taking him seriously is himself. It’s time to hang it up, Richard. You’ve been a good prizefighter, but even Floyd Patterson knew when he was done. Figure out a way to exit gracefully from the electoral stage, then exit. And good luck to you, in whatever you choose to do.
Jesus christ, we live in the worst state in the union/
@9…RR…
But it took Muhammed Ali to send that message to Floyd Patterson, who was a winner in his own right in his day. That their last fight wasn’t Ali’s finest hour (he was roundly criticized for toying with a badly beaten up Patterson who was touted as “America’s hope”), which as the student of arcane trivia from days gone bye you are and would know this, are you sending a message?
Curious, Rabbit…Anonymous pre-stew, pre-keychain, pre-ladies hat that you are…if your real name were to appear in other than the police blotter, would the vox populi recognize it?
The Piper
Ali (nee Clay) v. Liston, uh huh. Floyd v. Ingemar, yep. But Clay v. Patterson?
Re taxes and revolutions, check the excellent Sound Politics, Suits thread, for snarky but scathing comment suppressed (twice!) at HA. Then let’s schedule a Free-Speech civics lesson for what’s his face.
Speaking of, someone last week used the nom de guerre My Goldy Itches, probably referring to a fine dirty joke about a matron, a box boy at Safeway, and an imported car.
$22 a year for ferries?
WHAT?!
o man, ron sims needs to leave office
“I’d wager that Prop 1’s defeat made it easier for the council to raise taxes, as it left more of the tax base available.”
Yup exactly.
So now the city of Tacoma can afford to fix up its streets and sidewalks, build bike lanes and build the light-rail that it wants to build to get people around town. That revenue probably wouldn’t be there had Prop. 1 passed.
Prop. 1 would have fueled low density growth in the county that should (and now probably will) be medium and high density growth in Tacoma and its first tier suburbs.
So to recap: Prop 1’s failure means more growth in Tacoma and its first tier suburbs, less growth in unincorporated Pierce County and money available to build the light-rail, side walks and bike lanes to places people travel to and from on a near daily basis that the city of Tacoma would like to build.
@4
“I believe the critical issue in prop 1 was neither roads nor light rail. I believe the critical issue was badky written piece of public legislation and horrible leadership by the proponents.”
Yup, that about sums it up.
The bike lane on the new narrows bridge opens Saturday!
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2.....kePath.htm
TNB Traffic Revision Scheduled; New Bike Path to Open
Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Contact: Claudia Cornish, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Communications Manager, (253) 534-4646
GIG HARBOR – WSDOT announced today that the much-anticipated bicycle and pedestrian path on the south side of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge will be open for public use on Saturday, Nov. 17.
The 10-foot-wide, barrier-separated path will permanently accommodate all foot and bicycle traffic across the Narrows. Although the path will be open, users are cautioned that design-builder Tacoma Narrows Constructors (TNC) will still have some equipment and personnel on the sidewalk as they continue to work on the new bridge.
To access the path on the east (Tacoma) side of the bridge, bicyclists and pedestrians may bicycle or walk through War Memorial Park off 6th Avenue. They will cross Jackson Avenue and travel on a paved path along the outside of the SR 16 eastbound exit to Jackson Avenue. Two benches have been installed to provide rest areas between the top of Jackson Avenue and the east end of the bridge.
On the west (Gig Harbor) side of the bridge, bicyclists and pedestrians will have two access points. The first access point is along the outside of the eastbound SR 16 on-ramp at 24th Street NW. The second access point is farther east, off Stone Drive. Concurrent with opening the new bicycle/pedestrian path, WSDOT will permanently close both sidewalks on the 1950 bridge.
Traffic shifts will also occur this weekend as crews prepare to remove and replace bridge rail along the north side of the old bridge. At 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, crews working for TNC will reduce westbound SR 16 to one lane across the old bridge. At 8 a.m. Sunday, November 18, they will open the bridge to two westbound lanes, and at 2 p.m. Sunday the bridge will open to three westbound lanes. Motorists are advised to expect delays during this work.
The SR 16 left westbound lane will continue to be restricted to high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) traffic. The far right lane will remain closed around the clock through February 2008.
To see a map of the permanent bicycle route, please visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projec.....epath2.pdf.
For more information on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project, please visit tacomanarrowsbridge.com or http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projec.....owsbridge/
@12…MoftheS…
http://www.boxing-memorabilia......erson1.htm
Vegas…November, 1965…
This was after Liston beat Patterson twice. Floyd always looked to small to fight either Liston or Ali.
The Piper
Roger Rabbit @ 9
You may have a point there. But at least I have proven that I am not universally disliked either. How many times have you or Scott St Clair run for public office? We call our country a “democracy”, but so many of our offices go completely uncontested in any given election. Why knock the person who offers a choice? Better yet, why not recruit someone else next time?
There are always slight solaces, of course. Look at Jim Nobles, getting just under 29% as the GOP nominee for Assessor — in a rather unfortunately Republican election year in King County. Nobles already held elective office — in the City of Seattle of all places for a Republican. And Nobles had the enthusiastic backing of the King County Republican Party and endorsements from numerous GOP elected officials. And he did run some sort of campaign to boot.
Four years ago, I ran for King County Assessor as a Republican, and did absolutely nothing. And got just under 37% of the vote.
Obviously, I don’t like the margin that Jane Hague is getting in my race. But when you spend a record half million dollars or so, you can do really well. On the other hand, the legislative district breakdowns show me running 3 or 4 points better than Bill Sherman in the 41st and 48th LD’s, while Hague is running 6 or 7 points behind Satterberg in the 41st and 48th LD’s.
If you want to see something that really bites, look at the Prosecuting Attorney breakdown by LD on Page 11 of this PDF:
http://www.metrokc.gov/electio.....esults.pdf
Sherman is several points under 40% in Democratic held suburban LD’s — such as the 30th, 41st, 45th, 47th and 48th. Same story for the GOP held 5th LD. You can bet that this extremely weak Democratic base vote will embolden the GOP to wage a major battle next year to retake the suburban legislative seats lost in 2004 and 2006.
I look forward to voting for the next Tim Eyeman initiative to repeal the “simple majority” tax increase rule, assuming it passes. With the crazed wild eyed zeal that you people have for shelling out more of your money, I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t some ballot box stuffing going on, or the destruction of ballots from non liberal districts.
8. Roger Rarebit frfom Seattle the Jew
RR .. I do not disagree that Prop 1 was badly done, what I am saying is that even if ti were perfect, something this complex will never pas if leaders do not take responsibility for it.
Put another way, rightly or wrongly, the opponent raised many issues .. some valid dome not, BUT … the silence of Gregoire and her clique was deafeningly load by its absence. My own conclusion was that she was afraid of being blamed if it passed. If that is the case she ought to have joined the Sims brigade.
Finally, I am neither Nostradamus nor an expert in highways. Most of the testimony I heard on Prop 1 was by non experts … on both sides. Why should most folks listen to Goldie or Will? They are not experts. In theory the anonymous authors of this camel either were themselves experts or had expert help. If so .. why wouldn’t gregoire get off her but, stand before the cameras and introduce Mr. Charts and Ms. Powerpoint and let them explain what the fuck was being proposed???
So I voted for this, pinching my nostrils to block the fetid smell fo what I feared was a rotten idea because … like Goldy and Will I was afraid this was the best we could get.
@8 RR,@21 Harvey
Harvey
Thanks for passing my message to Roger. O jhate to tell him I agree. You are a pookah to us all
Roger
Let me expand on what I asked Harvey to write with my own doubts about RTID.
I am convinced that the proposal did not address our most important needs or even priotize them:
1. We need some fuckin way of moving stuff int rucks up and down the N–S S–N corridor. Our future as an industrial area is tied up with the lazy B and with the Chinese colony known as British Columbia.
The focus on 405 is fine and anyone who does not think this will get done may want to buy a used floating bridge. It is, however, far from enough unless someone wants to double deck I 405 or pave over downtown Bellevue.
Trying to move commercial traffic through Seattle is idiocy. The viaduct should come down and stay down and we do not need the tunnel. Any monies freed up by not doing this belongs on the Eastside, I suspect to build an inevitable I 605. Goldy et al say this is dead. OK, they know a lot more than I do about the politics. BUT, if we do not build 605, how the fuck are we going to truck parts to Boeing’s new factories in BC?
2. The real reason for RTID is NOT to move folks from existing LA style suburbs to the Seattle Zoo but to encourage regional development of affordable high rise housing.
Where are the opportunities to build such and why in Darwin’s own hell shouldn’t the developers help pay for this?
4. The other big need, as Seattle transforms into “Manhattan Bye and Bye,” is for high speed transit IN THE DAMN CITY, This has almost nothing to do with light rail and a lot to do with out forceful Mayor’s insistance that his new urban villas will belong to folksd who do not own a fleet of cars. OK errr ahhh…. if they don’t get some trolleys how are they gonna get aroun? Have you ever tried to get any distance in downtown Boston or New York by bus?
Building toys .. whether the choo choo train named SLUT or the Mono derail from nowhere to nowhere, is a clueless, planless approach. Moreover, if we did build the effin monorail, the BIG bennies go to land owners in W Seattle or Ballard .. shouldn’t they be taxed for this?
5. In somewhat the same spirit, in case no one has noted, there is a new city aborning near here in a place called Redo-mondo. Has anyone outside Msoft given thought to what aprt of the regions services and housing ought to be where BillyG’s software factory is as opposed to where his Philantropy factory is??? The potential of a choo choo from Redo-mondo to Seattle is obvious .. but again wouldn’t it be nicer if the folks who is gonna make the most
carrotsouta the deal helped make it happen?Roger @ 6:“… and probably a public vote on a brand new, reinvigorated, Tim Eyman initiative, too. The fools on the county council just put Timmie back in business. Their timing couldn’t possibility have been worse…”
I could not possibly agree more. I cannot believe the stupidity of the County Council to go ahead with these taxes. They might as well have given Timmy E. a $500,000 grant to run his super-horrible bastard son of I-747 and saved some time and money. Ferry service with the South Park bridge (as noted by Will) as bad as it is, and never mind trying to explain why people needed to vote for Medic One yet these needed no vote….
Gosh, I do not remember anyone running for re-election on these tax increases. What the hell are they thinking? A ferry from Seattle to Shilshole? This is a pressing need? The South Park bridge is rated a 4(out of 100) and that is not a pressing need, but a ferry from Downtown to Redondo is?
I understand the levy for the levies, but I just think that the other tax increases are bullshit. I can only conclude that by re-electing Jane Hague, the council feels that they are untouchable, and are free to serve their biggest donors, and to hell with the rest of us.
“Taxes equal to 60-percent of the cost of ST2 got raised just like that, with hardly any public debate. Doesn’t sound like the council fears an anti-tax climate to me.”
Why do you think the legislature, the Discovery Institute and the business community wants to create a new Regional Transportation Commission? So that new body can just impose new taxes (for roads, not rail) without having to go through much debate, and without having to pay for a big, expensive campaign….
Plus, the anti-rail guys think they can pay for a seat or two on the new commission, and thwart the public’s preference for light rail. See, it’s a win-win!
I have lived in King County my entire life, and for as long as I can remember, I have been against taxes and tax increases and more taxes on top of that. As a woman of color, I’ve often moaned and complained about how taxes disproportionately impact minorities and those in poverty, I think we’re all familiar with the arguments.
In the past two years however, King County has changed my mind. King County Council has stepped up to a very large plate, a plate so large many would argue it’s a base that just can’t be covered; I’m talking about mental health and substance abuse. Currently, the county does not have a mental health or substance abuse treatment system that covers everyone who needs it.
· 44,000 (10%) of low income residents have alcohol or drug dependency problems
· 65,000 (15%) have a serious mental illness
· Suicide is the leading cause of death for 18 to 24 year olds
· 18% of 10th graders report having suicidal thoughts – 14% said they made a suicide plan
· 50% of the 1,113 youth held at the Juvenile Detention Center had mental disorder
They are the homeless, the wandering, cowering in abandoned doorways where they can be left alone, or in a corner of our downtown public library where they can stay warm and read a good book at the same time. They are in our emergency rooms night after night, and they languish in our jails because they cannot get basic services in a humane timeframe. They are mothers, daughters, brothers, sisters and fathers, aunts, uncles and cousins, kids in our schools, and our next door neighbors. In our criminal justice system alone, they consume seventy percent of county dollars and that amount increases every year.
· Mentally ill inmates stay is 138 days longer than the average stay, at $300/day.
· 94% of the individuals who visited emergency rooms 21 times or more are mentally ill, substance abusers or both costing $3.2 million for 125 people
· $1 spent on treatment = $2 dollars in public savings
Everyone involved agrees the system does not work, from the head of the jails, to the prosecutor’s office, defense attorneys, mental health providers, substance abuse providers, the list goes on. Everyone on the King County Council knows and agrees that there is a problem, which is why they all voted for the new action plan, put together with input from dozens of stakeholders.
Everyone also knows that the State of Washington left one option to fix this problem; a sales tax increase of one tenth of one percent. This is the only option, neighbors, the only option to help those who need help the most. King County and seven other counties in the state have stepped up to the plate and done exactly what we really need them to do. Right now we are loosing one dollar for every dollar spent, and we’re throwing that money into a broken system. With the money raised from the tax increase, we can save lives.
Mental illness and substance abuse are treatable
Treatment will:
Reduce short term incidence of mental illness by 22%
Reduce alcohol addiction by 15%
Reduce drug dependence by 22%
(Source: Washington State Institute for Public Policy)
Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, especially when it hits our pockets, believe me I understand, that is one of the reasons why we have government, to help us do the right thing…if it were left up to us and not the County Council, maybe we would condemn those in need across our county to continued suffering uneccessarily.
More on the evils of light rail…. in Denver:
http://www.thestranger.com/sea.....oid=439299
Janice: I’m skeptical of these “so called reductions” you state above. Mental illness is one thing, but alcohol and drug addictions are behavioral problems. This means a person has to acknowledge they have the problem and want to change their behavior. It’s like the pedophile RightEqualsStupid. He didn’t want to change. Just throwing money at the problem isn’t going to reduce the problem.
Besides Dr. Michael Savage has said liberalism is a mental disorder for many years now.
Kleptomania is a mental disorder. Sandy Burglar still hasn’t acknowledged it.
“So if you voted against Prop 1 thinking you were going to save yourself money, think again.”
Not a problem for those of us fortunate enough to not live in King County with all the “progressive” macaroons.
@18: O-tay! You win by TKO.
Have you read King of the World, by David Remnick?