Assuming it passes, Prop.osition 1 would cost much, much more than Sound Transit estimates and do too little to alleviate traffic woes in the Puget Sound region, according to NoToProp.1.org and the Washington Policy Center.
A trust issue is also involved. In 1996, voters approved Transit Now, a plan that called for Light Rail to be built from the northern edge of the University District to a park-and-ride lot south of Sea-Tac International Airport by 2006.
That hasn't happened, noted Mark Baerwaldt, the treasurer for NoToProp.1.org. "They're billions over budget and at least 10 years behind schedule," he said of Sound Transit. "They failed to deliver on their promise."
Mike Innis, from the Washington Policy Center, a non-partisan think tank, expressed similar misgivings. Transit Now promised to complete 25 miles of Light Rail for $5 billion within 10 years, he said.
Today, Sound Transit's adjusted goal is to complete 17 miles of Light Rail for $15 billion and it won't be finished until 2020, Innis said. "If you look at what they promised in 1996 and what they delivered, there's a disconnect. Why should voters think they're going to deliver now?" he wondered
Furthermore, Baerwaldt said, the original 10-year plan called for stops on both First Hill and Capitol Hill between downtown and Northeast Street 45th Avenue and University Way Northeast.
"Now what they have is, one stop on Capitol Hill and one at Husky Stadium," he added. "That's not the University District. It's a good half mile from anything."
The Capitol Hill stop also isn't near the commercial district of the neighborhood, "and that's going to cost billions of dollars," Baerwaldt went on to say. "It's just a massive waste of money; it's idiotic."
Sound Transit's latest Prop. 1 ballot measure says it would cost $17.9 billion. "That's only one estimate," he said. More significant would be the total amount of taxes collected by 2053, which by NoToProp.1.org estimates pencils out to a staggering $107 billion, if adjusted for inflation.
On top of that, the ballot measure reauthorizes the collection of existing taxes from the original 1996 plan, Baerwaldt said. "It was supposed to have all been done and paid for in 2006."
The Puget Sound Regional Council estimates that there will 15 million new daily trips made by 2030, but Sound Transit expect to handle only 62,000 of those, which comes to .4 percent of new trips said Innis from the policy center. "The cost/benefit analysis doesn't pencil out," he said
Sound Transit's Joni Earl recently announced that there has been a 28-precent increase in ridership on the Sounder commuter rail line between Tacoma and Everett, but Baerwaldt described the system as a wreck. In terms of subsidized cost per rider, it would cost less to send someone on a round trip plane ride to San Francisco, he said.
Baerwaldt also pooh-poohs Prop. 1's goal of increasing the trolley system in Seattle. "I live in Belltown and I see the South Lake Union trolley every day," he said. "I never see anyone on it."
And he has deep misgivings about Prop. 1's call for building a Light Rail line on the I-90 bridge. The work would cost more than Sound Transit estimates, and there are technical challenges, as well, Baerwaldt said. "At this point, they still don't know how to anchor the rails. It's never been done before."
Last year's Prop. 1 ballot measure included funding for new road construction, but that funding only represented 10 percent of the total, he said.
NoToProp.1.org objected to the ballot measure last year because it cost too much, did too little and took too long, according to Baerwaldt. And even though new road construction has been dropped from the mix this year, the objections remain the same, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
