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Afternoon Jolt: Next Year’s Transportation Tax Package

Jolt   August 30, 2011 at 12:17 pm Afternoon Jolt

Today’s winner: Consensus.

Transportation for Washington, a campaign that’s promoting a set of principles for a state transportation package legislators in Olympia will consider next year, rolled out a long list of new endorsements from King County and statewide leaders today. The program, dubbed “T4WA,” has the backing of Transportation Choices Coalition and Futurewise, two statewide environmental groups.

The principles are, in order: fixing transportation infrastructure; expanding transit choices; and building healthy communities.

T4WA endorsers in King County include four members of the King County Council (Bob Ferguson, the council’s fifth Democrat, says he will likely sign on but hasn’t had time to read the details of the proposal yet), state Sens. Maralyn Chase (D-33), Sharon Nelson (D-34), and Scott White (D-46), and the mayors of Shoreline, Bellingham, Spokane, Issaquah, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park, and Redmond.

They also include the entire Seattle City Council and Mayor Mike McGinn—the first time we can remember that all nine council members and the mayor have agreed on a transportation-related issue.


  • Mikos

    Hmmm… I’m not sure those progressives constitute consensus.  Got anybody else on the list?

  • repete

    City council and mayor agree on a tax package?  What a surprise!  Just the thought of tax dollars makes them all hot, so hot they jump into the city hall stream, then into the swanky bath rooms for a quickie.( envision a “Like Water For Chocolate” scene).

  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr Baker

    Ok, they endorsed, what exactly is not apparent in this story.

  • Transit Voter

    They endorsed goodness and light, but omitted any mention of how to pay for the needed infrastructure. When, oh when, will some group like this undertake the revenue side of the discussion? Or has Eyman got everybody scared shitless?

    Methinks some honest reality-based discussion with the voters would (OK, could) generate some acceptance of the need for more revenue. (Current gas tax, for example, generates about half the revenue per vehicle mile as it did 40 years ago.) More rah-rah from the coalition of whomevers may make some people feel good, but isn’t going to achieve concrete results.

  • Mike

    Oh, I thought it stood for ‘Transportation $$ 4 WAshington’ payers.
    Will it include more schemes to export our tax/fare/toll/fees to greedy out of state corporations?
    Looks like WSDOT will only get pennies on the tax dollar from tolling provided by a TX Corp.
    Looks like Cities will only get pennies on the fee dollar from camera corporations, such as ATS in AZ.
    Maybe all those bond repayment fees on our mega projects being tossed around by Sound Transit, WSDOT and Seattle could remain locally instead of being sent to NY bankers.
    Just a though.  Put all the taxes in a big piggie bank in Olympia and buy stuff when it overflows.

  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr Baker

    That might be what the new state bank is supposed to do.

    http://www.leg.wa.gov/JointCommittees/IFTF/Pages/default.aspx

  • beezer

    You should have also mentioned the endorsement of King County Executive, Dow Constantine.  There is going to be a large transportation package sent to the voters in the coming years.  These folks are simply saying transit funding needs to be the priority in urban Puget Sound.

  • someoneinwa

    Geez Josh, I know you think if you discuss the 27th district once in a while, you can say you’ve recognized that Tacoma is part of the Puget Sound region, but you miss so much more. For example, I believe Mayor Strickland (who you really should get to know) and a few Tacoma Councilmembers were also on the endorsement list you referenced.

  • Anonymous

    Shouldn’t we start with goals before deciding exactly how to get there?