Clark County Politics: No vote allowed! The only public works program more idiotic than the I-5 Bridge replacement/loot rail extortion is the latest Seattle idiocy (II)

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As I pointed out here: the current Alaskan Way Viaduct project has become a monster that will become an economic black hole even worse than the megacasino down here in Clark County.

So, what to my wondering eyes appear? A requirement to jack up taxes an additional $1.4 BILLION dollars to pay for our local version of Boston's notorious Big Dig.

Well, government, here's a clue: We're broke. We can't afford it. And like our Bridge down here, we don't need or want it.

We already know that with our government, when they say the price is going to be $4 billion, they really mean 8. And no one cares... because THEY are spending OUR money!

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Doesn't it have that impact on you?

Tunnel extras: $1.4B needed
While building a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct would remove noise and blight from the Seattle waterfront, the project might elicit a roar from King County taxpayers.

By By Mike Lindblom, Seattle Times transportation reporter

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Gov. Chris Gregoire, center, shakes hands with King County Executive Ron Sims after he and Mayor Greg Nickels signed an agreement to screw the taxpayers over the unnecessary and criminally expensive replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep-bore tunnel.

While building a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct would remove noise and blight from the Seattle waterfront, the project might elicit a roar from King County taxpayers.

Politicians are suggesting as much as $1.4 billion in new local taxes, fees and grant requests to pay for all the desired buses, streetcars, a sea wall, road work, utility relocations and parks associated with the tunnel.

The money could be collected without a public vote.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, already has questioned whether so many new taxes are a good idea. This after voters last fall approved doubling the Sound Transit sales tax, backed Seattle measures for Pike Place Market and parks, and in 2006 approved a Metro Transit sales-tax hike plus a Seattle property tax for transportation.

The new $4.2 billion tunnel proposal includes $2.8 billion for the tunnel and other highway sections through Sodo, and the remaining $1.4 billion from local government.

How to raise the city's share:

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposes these sources to pay for improvements related to tunnel. The state's tunnel and other highway work is estimated at $2.8 billion — but the total reaches $4.2 billion if the other projects and King County bus improvements are added.
Parking tax: $200 million, roughly a 10 percent boost in parking costs
Downtown property tax: $300 million, from landowners who benefit
Utility rates: $252 million, a 2 percent to 2.5 percent increase
Car-tab tax: $65 million, at $20 a year per car
State grants: $5 million, routine revenue-sharing
Federal grants: $55 million, for streets or streetcar
Obama stimulus funds: $80 million, for east-west Mercer and Spokane streets rebuilds.
Sources: state DOT, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis

Clark County Politics

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

No vote allowed! The only public works program more idiotic than the I-5 Bridge replacement/loot rail extortion is the latest Seattle idiocy (II)

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