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Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

House Transportation Budget: $55 Million For Ferries, Maintenance, Transit

This Washington   February 16, 2012 at 1:36 pm Erica C. Barnett

State house transportation chair Judy Clibborn unveiled a $9.8 state transportation budget today that includes $55 million over the next two years for “immediate needs,” including funding ($6.5 million) for a new car ferry; $8 million for highway maintenance; $2.5 million for the Safe Routes to School program; and $10 million to fund transit service from the state’s multimodal transportation account.

In today’s press conference, Rep. Andy Billig (D-3, Spokane) said the proposed budget was “very much about jobs,” with “over 43,000 jobs created or sustained” by the budget.

That last $10 million would have been transferred out of the multimodal account under Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed transportation budget; Clibborn’s proposal restores it and earmarks it for regional, city, county, and rural transit.

Overall, the budget is $770 million more than the last biennium’s, primarily because the state is spending hundreds of millions in bond proceeds for the new 520 bridge. The budget also includes $41 million for utility relocations associated with the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project, $61 million for the Columbia River Crossing project, and $36 million for tolling on a widened I-405.

The budget is separate from legislation that would give cities and counties the authority to impose a variety of fees to pay for local transportation, including a vehicle-license fee (up to $40), a motor-vehicle excise tax (up to one percent of a car’s value), and a local gas tax (up to one cent for cities and three cents for counties, with the total not to exceed three cents).

I’ll have more on the implications of the proposed transportation budget later today. In the meantime, you can read it for yourself right here.


  • Anonymous

    State house transportation chair Judy Clibborn unveiled a $9.8 state transportation budget today

    Is anyone less capable of reporting or repeating basic facts, numbers, or content than Erica?

    They’re called units. Journalists use them.

  • Elmo

    It must be hard being so fucking perfect.

  • Jim

    Tall poppy chopper alert!

  • Grover

    9.8 dollars does not go as far as it used to.  That is almost 10 dollars!

  • jimu

    Whew! This was a close one. If it wasn’t for that screw-up her streak of posts with misreported facts was going to come to an end.

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  • Anonymous

    A $9.8(B) budget proposal that spends only $8M for highway maintenance…I’m sure that small number comes from the added $55M talked about – is that even a relevant addition to what is likely hundreds and hundreds of millions for highway maintenance in the larger multi-billion dollar budget?

    Not much information here at all – the robo ad up top has more information.

  • Verd1n

    I guess the $6.5 million for the new car ferry is just the architect’s fees since a ferry built here at the Vigor shipyard is about $85 million, and in Alabama (Mobile) some $35 million.