Fed Up with Traffic? Want More Light Rail? Now Is the Time to Get Mad at Olympia

On March 24, Seattle suffered through another tragicomic evening of traffic gridlock when a semitruck full of frozen salmon overturned on Highway 99. Hashtag #TraffishJam, as blogger Tom Fucoloro called it. Alternatively: traffic #clusterfishfuck.

People were stuck and, having not moved for hours, abandoned their cars in the street, some opting for bicycle share. A Sounders goalkeeper reportedly took off sprinting on foot to make it in time for kickoff at CenturyLink Field. At least one local transit official was seen bailing from a bus and walking. The mess lasted for hours, as officials worked to clear the truck off the highway.

Now imagine a light rail network connecting Ballard, West Seattle, Everett, Bellevue, and Tacoma to the heart of Seattle. Imagine going underground and getting on a train to any of those places. Imagine how many fewer cars would have been on the streets downtown during the #TraffishJam.

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But right now, the fate of light rail is in Olympia's hands. Everything depends on what happens down at the state capital over the course of the next month. If you've been nursing a sense of burning rage about all the traffic, you need to fire that rage toward your elected leaders.

How do we get more light rail? By funding a plan known as Sound Transit 3. Sound Transit, the agency that operates the successful Link train that connects Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport, says it needs $15 billion to complete Sound Transit 3. It wants to put a taxation measure—likely to be some combination of property, motor vehicle excise, and sales taxes—on regional ballots in 2016 to raise up to $15 billion in order to make it a reality.

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But state legislators aren't necessarily going to let Sound Transit do that. On March 2, when the Republican-controlled state senate approved a statewide transportation package for the ballot, it approved only $11 billion in taxing authority for the Puget Sound region. That is, the state limited our ability to tax ourselves to just $11 billion—$4 billion short of what we need. (The state refuses to fund regional light rail from its own budget.)

Senator David Frockt (D-Kenmore) offered an amendment to give Sound Transit $15 billion in taxing authority.

Senate Republicans voted it down.

Mind-blowingly, even the Republican senators who represent areas that would benefit from regional light rail voted against it. Those senators are Joe Fain (Auburn and Kent), Mark Miloscia (Federal Way), and Andy Hill (Redmond). Fain is one of two lead negotiators on the Republican side on transit.

http://www.thestranger.com/news/feature/2015/04/01/21987395/fed-up-with-traffic-want-more-light-rail-now-is-the-time-to-get-mad-at-olympia