The Washington State Transportation Commission is proposing a variable rate toll on the 520 floating bridge, ranging from $1.10 to $3.50 each way, depending on the time of day… an average rate that, adjusted for inflation, is pretty much in line with the 35 cent toll drivers originally paid when the bridge first opened in 1963.
But initiative profiteer Tim Eyman apparently intends to fight the tolling plan:
Eyman testified Tuesday that the commission lost the power to set toll rates when his I-1053 passed this month. The initiative says all legislative action raising taxes must be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature, and any new or increased fees require majority legislative approval.
Tolling is expected to cover $1.1 billion of the $4.6 billion price tag of the 520 bridge replacement, and with at least a third of the Senate prepared to automatically vote against anything Seattle might want, you can pretty much kiss this and any other revenue proposal goodbye.
So how does Timmy propose financing this and other crucial highway projects? Um… he doesn’t. Which pretty much makes SUV-driving Tim Eyman our state’s most effective anti-roads/anti-car activist.
So move over all you car-hating hippies at the Stranger and Publicola, girdle your pocket-protectors Seattle Transit Blog geeks, and prepare to be eclipsed Cary Moon. Mayor McGinn can and huff and puff all he wants against the Big Bore Tunnel, but if you want something not done, you need to learn a lesson from the guy who knows how not to do things right. And that guy is none other than Tim Eyman: Anti-Roads Hero.
I think all of this stems from conservatives actually living in the past. Not understanding how much things costs and refusing to pay for them.
Exhibit A: poll after poll showing the vast majority of Americans want things like SS, medicare, roads, etc. but that the same time refusing to pay for them.
Exhibit B: Tim.
What do you get? Grandpa Simpson with an onion on his belt.
If Tim is truly a right-wing idealogue, he probably prefers to see highways like 520 turned into private toll roads.
Then again, even more likely he hasn’t come anywhere near coherently think such things out. He just understands it’s his job to throw turds on anything with the word “government” attached to it.
I expect Tim Eyeman would prefer that revenue shortfall for 520 and other road projects come out of general funds. If that means cutting education, public health care, social services, rapid transit funding, etc. so much the better. A win-win for the hate America crowd.
Tim Eyman long ago gave up selling watches to earn a living. Now he sells initiatives. He does and says whatever is required to keep his initiative machine churning away and bread on his table.
At one time, he may have had a genuine interest in public policy, but that’s long since been eclipsed by his financial interests, and his ego.
If the current funds for roads was actually used for such tolls wouldn’t be needed.
Instead, the money is used so some can play with their trains.
So where again does it say that the voters are allowed to amend the Legislative Powers in the Constitution?
@ 5
Firstly, the funds you are talking about are largely general funds – once again, gas taxes pay for shit.
The people who are against trains (and HOV lanes) now are largely the same that were against trains and bus service in the 1960 and 1970s.
Over 400,000 people use King County Metro every single day to get to work now. For those that were opposed to regional buses and HOV lanes, can you imagine driving to work with 400,000 other cars on the road? Even just eliminating the HOV lane over 520 and making buses fight it out in the other lane would seriously reduce the amount of people taking the bus and THEY DON’T GO AWAY, they would drive – making everything worse.
If we had passed Forward Thrust’s rail plan, we probably could be moving 300,000 more people around off the roads entirely and people like Sam Adams and Cynical could enjoy non-congested roads.
Why don’t you go hug a bus rider for saving you extra time from the car.
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I thought being anti-road, and anti-car was being green. Pro-planet. Anti-global warming. Mayor McSchwinn is anti-road and anti-car. Some of the people over at Seattle Transit Blog are anti-road and anti-car.
Funny Goldy has never attacked any of his anti-road/anti-car friends.
He’s also apparently believes that ferry rates are untouchable as well. So no taxes, no user fees. I guess Timmy wants us to govern on bake sales and the honor system. Just leave a tip jar out or something.
Fuck Tim Eyman
Np, really …every time he gets an initiative passed, it just means he got better at writiing them, fooled enough people and was able to slip a blindfold on and screw the public in rear. Chalk one up for Timmy “Backdoor” Eyman.
#9
One of the trademarks of being a conservative/reactionary is that you don’t get ‘irony.’ Everything is so friggin’ literal to you guys. You just don’t get it, do you?
1053 only requires a majority vote in the Legislature to raise fees (which TE believes includes tolls). So, this should pass easily, assuming the Dems who control the Legislature want the bridge.
LOL. Troll’s brain 404s @9.
Typical fucking republitard.
Nobody (especially them) has to PAY for anything…the republitard nanny state.
For those that are interested, here’s a thorough explanation of the issue:
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/014445.html
An excerpt: “The average taxpayer feels powerless to control auto-pilot increases in taxes and fees. Initiative 960 and Initiative 1053, with the 2/3’s vote requirement have done a pretty good job of controlling taxes in Olympia. But once taxes become controlled, government goes fee-happy which is exactly what’s happening. So instead of using 2/3’s for fee increases, I-960 and I-1053 seek to reign in fees using a form of government you’re heard of: representative democracy. This unelected body — the Transportation Commission — is antithetical to representative democracy.”
Crawl back under your rock, Eyeman.
Haven’t you done enough damage?
You KLOWNS seem to be going overboard in attacking Eyman. He only had 1 vote. I-1053 passed overwhelmingly. Blame the voters if you must.
Look, let’s have an up or down vote on this by the Legislature. That is what the majority demanded.
It’s not up to Eyman…it’s up to the electeds now.
You KLOWNS are overflowing with anger every time taxes are questioned. You’d think none of you pay taxes…which is close to correct, especially for chronically unemployed YLB!
Troll is mindful that you KLOWNS seem to regularly hate cars…but now are worried about them having more pavement to drive on.
It’s crazy man.
All Eyman has done is use the power of Initiative to give voters an option. They wanted accountability.
STOP WHINING AND BLAMING EYMAN!
Sheesh…you’d think Eyman were stuffing the ballot box like ACORN.
Tim @ 17–
Sadly KLOWNS cannot read…nor can they comprehend. All they can do is demonize you.
Did you vote more than once Tim??
Listening to these Lunatics, you would think you cast all 1,555,114 YES Votes personally.
I mean it only passed with over 63%.
Tim, I hope you can see the Progressive Movement is imploding with illogic. It was always built on a balsa wood foundation anyway…bound to collapse in anger & rage.
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Timmy
Do you ever lay awake at night pondering the harm that you’ve done to the good people of this state? Do you ever feel any guilt about lining your pockets by pushing initiatives that make life harder for everyone else in the state? Do you ever consider what a disingenuous Elmer Gantry you are? You are a boil on the state’s ass, Tim, but you just don’t give a damn.
It seems a few Republicans are really trying to piss off the rest of the Republicans, especially those that have actually been trying to govern. (Yes, I know Republicans aren’t very good at it, but a few do try).
Take, for example Clint Didier, who refused to endorse Rossi and probably cost him a few thousand votes from Tea Partiers who sat out the election rather than vote for Rossi. Then there’s Reagan Dunn, who tried to energize his future political ambitions by throwing a grenade into the King County budget committee’s work in the form of an amendment which would make great sound bites, but would threaten to undo a carefully crafted compromise budget. The Republicans on the committee expressed their displeasure at this tactics openly, as they pulled the daggers from their backs which his amendment provided.
Then there’s good ‘ole Tim Eyman, who never deigns to attend a community meeting on the ferry system (even those in Mukilteo!), yet shows up in Olympia so he can get in front of the cameras to posture and strut and complain that the ferry tolls system isn’t “transparant”. It is, but only if you care to attend the meetings and actually listen, as Joel Connelly pointed out in an article today. One Republican representative on the committee from Omak wasn’t too pleased with Tim’s complaints – she has to drive all the way across the state to attend most of the meetings, but Tim can’t be bothered to drive a couple of miles to one (or take the ferry to attend others), yet he still complains.
Of course, Tim, like a lot of Tea Party types, isn’t so keen on governing. They just want to set fire to the whole system, and roast marshmellows as it burns down. It takes someone with considerably more skill and intelligence than he has to actually run government, much less actually build something constructive.
Yes, and I hope you are still reading this, Eyman.
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LOL. Tim Eyman spells 2/3 as “2/3’s” and does well for anti-car activists @17.
Can we try to get an initiative before the voters that would declare Timmeh Eyman a total douche bag?
Ass Clown? Fetid Turd? Gangrenous Carbuncle?
17:
With all due respect Mr. Eyman, you have done more damage to this state than anyone in history. Why do you hate Washington?
@27: “Horse’s Ass”? Hmnnn… (;-b)
23. proud leftist spews:
Foolish Person..
1,555,114 voted YES
Tim Eyman had one vote.
It passed by 63%.
Blame the 63%
Oops, the YES vote on I-1053 is now 1,561,921 or 63.8%
You KLOWNS are barkin’ at the moon…again.
How did Tim get almost 1.6 Million voters to vote YES?
Answer–He didn’t. People are pissed off.
If Tim Eyman would help get marijuana legalized in this state, he’d be doing us all a favor. Forget the roads; work on making marijuana legal, Tim!
Dear #17;
BITE ME
You know what’s interesting…Timmeh disses Goldy in public, refuses to field questions from him, etc.
But he clearly lurks here, looking for references to himself.
What a total and pathetic putz.
And I am curious, why does he hate Washington?
Tim Eyman wants the 520 bridge to fall in the lake. Similarly, he wants people to die because there’s no 911 service.
That’s your Eyman Agenda, with apologies to Alan Grayson: Don’t drive on 520 and fall into the lake. And if you do fall in the lake, die quickly.
Like I said @4, Tim’s just in this for the money that can be generated from the publicity he seeks, and gets. Going to a Transportation Committee meeting and actually listening to the public? Too much work if no TV cameras are there, nor naive reporters willing to repeat his sound bites verbatim.
That said, one point the critics make that I can actually agree with — liberals and Democrats do a piss-poor job of explaining to people just what it is their taxes pay for. They sit back and, almost willing, let the Republicans spin their stories, that our taxes are eaten up by Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, and We Can’t Take It Any More!
Yes, Democrats, it’s not easy spelling it all out for folks, but if you did it a little better, the anti-everythings would have less success.
Doesn’t the alaska way mega tunnel need a toll as well? Will Tim Eyman do what Mayor McGinn could not?
@ 37
Except when our Representatives DO actually take the time to explain that to the public, half the folks virtually stick their fingers in their ears and go LA LA LA LA LA LA …….I’M NOT LISTENING.
They don’t want te hear it. they actively dismiss it as not being possible that the largest State prison costs almost $4 million a month to run. That putting fires out on state forestlands can cost over $100,000 a day. That State Police crime lab, by FEDERAL LAW cannot hire anyone with less than a masters degree in a forensic discipline.
They will not acknowledge the State Constitution stating in very exact language that schools must be fully paid for by the State. They will not acknowledge the fact that there are several counties that do not have the tax base to pay for their own law enforcement.
TE is a bomb thrower. He’s a pathological liar, and a tax cheat. If he ran for office, he’d have to answer a lot of very uncomfortable questions about where his money comes from and why so much of it seems to magically appear out of thin air.
He’s a political prostitute. He’s in it for the money, and he never has to ever come under any scrutiny whatsoever by any ethics commission or answer for all that sweet sweet cash from corporatist assholes with a bigoted or greedy axe to grind.
All TE is, is a lying whore.
Price fixing by monopolistic businesses like oil and health insurance takes more out of everyones’ pockets than tax increases do.
If conservatives were smart enough to figure that out, they’d be dangerous. Instead, they are just gadflys.
Well since yo feel all these fees and tax hikes are warranted:
Study: American’s fleeing high-tax, Union-dominated states.
http://www.washingtonexaminer......81159.html
@ 41
Maybe that is a good thing. High tax states tend to have better schools, better police and better roads. States with a low average tax rate, such as Oklahoma, Florida and Mississippi have appallingly low literacy rates, and gigantic prison systems that cannot keep up with the demand. Their roads are full of chuckholes and their bridges are falling down.
Let the whiny red tealiban trash go elsewhere for their burger flipping Mcjobs. They can take TE and his sugar daddies with them. It’ll reduce pressure on our local resources that taxes pay for. I’m staying right here.
Sick of standing in line at the lifts anyway.
Update–
It’s now 1,562,059 YES votes cast by Tim Eyman to pass I-1053. Wow, Tim was sure busy filling out all those stolen ballots and forging all those names. Interesting Tim voted for Murray on a huge number of them. All part of Tim’s vast right-wing conspiracy. You KLOWNS are funny little people filled with rage against anyone with the courage to step up and challenge out of control government spending. The people have spoken….not Tim Eyman.
Grow up and wise up…and stop whining.
Start your own Initiative…perhaps you would be best served to hire Tim since y’all are so lazy & incompetent.
Great Job Gov!
Nearly 1 in 5 workers in state “underemployed”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....obs18.html
Eyeman’s short sighted stupidity and that of the general electorate just sunk the state 1.2 billion more in the hole. Thanks dickhead.
“Grow up and wise up…and stop whining.” That is so precious coming from you, Cynny. Adulthood is something you haven’t achieved even in your dotage.
This doesnt make sense to me, isnt a toll a fee?
So, Eyman’s position is that his initiative pretty much prevents any new tolls, user fees, etc. as of Dec. 5th. And this is going to require the state budget to be re-written once again.
Yesterday the state’s economists released a report with bad news – the persistence of the rescession is having a cascade effect on the state budget, cutting tax revenues and increasing the demand for state services, so that an additional 1.8 million in cuts will have to be found – in addition to the budget gap which we already knew about, and which the rejection of the candy-pop tax only compounded.
But the state economist pointed out that we are moving into uncharged territory. As he put it, “we are driving forward by looking into the rear-view mirror”. The economic models only take into account what we have experienced in the past, not new situations we haven’t yet experienced.
So I’m wondering – how is Tim Eyman going to react if we have a winter which is WORSE than that of 2008?
Crews say this time they’re ready for snow
So while Eyman’s Mukilteo is being plowed by the County, how will he react to the budget hole created by a combination of the weather and his tax initiatives?
I’m guessing he will smuggly stay home next to his fireplace, since he doesn’t have a day job to which he has to commute. While there, he will be grinding out press releases lambasting the county for not doing a good enough job plowing his streets, while simultaniously complaining that their budgets should be cut further.
Because, you see, empathy for the difficulties of others, as well as logical consistency, are apparantly absent from his skill set.
rhp spews:
What is “Uncharged Territory”??
That comment doesn’t pass mustard!!!
Gary Locke created Tim Eyman.
If Locke and the legislature had been more pro-active and proposed something “reasonable” on car tabs, I695 would have never passed, and Locke wouldn’t have had to agree to $30 tabs when it was ruled unconstitutional.
$400 per year to license a car is ridiculous but so is $30.
I voted for I695 but have not voted for anything subsequently from Eymans Initiative Factory. The initiative process needs reforming, we can’t keep voting for things that aren’t paid for. No long term plans can be made if we continue on this track. We will end up like New Jersey with a tunnel/ bridge half way across the lake/ under the city.
The state get’s a “cash cow” like car tabs or the liquor stores and can never read the tea leaves. Unless the state acts (and I am not optimistic) some revised version of I1100 is going to pass
Well maybe it’s time to respect the wishes of the majority of voters. Since no one wants to pay for anything maybe the DOT should just shut down the Alaksan Way Viaduct since it is dangerous and keep the existing 520 bridge and close it once it becomes unsafe.