General consensus at a Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce luncheon and candidates forum Oct. 18 was that Proposition 1 should be approved. Candidates included Gael Terelton and Bob Edwards for Port Commission, along with Tim Burgess, David Della, Bruce Harrell and Venus Velázquez for city council.
That was there. The chamber board itself joined a growing list of opponents by voting last week - by a wide majority - not to support the $18-billion roads and rail package.
The forum featured two port commission candidates and four candidates for city council, all of whom addressed various other issues as well. But the forum also had speakers specifically for and against the formation of the three-county Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) that Prop. 1 would create.
Speaking in favor was King County Council member Larry Phillips, who conceded he's had some misgivings about the ballot measure. "I have not always been a friend of this proposal," the council member said.
But Phillips said he's changed his mind in the past year or so, citing as one reason an expected population surge of one million new residents to the region in the next two decades.
The system, if approved, would add 50 new miles of light rail. "This is a huge addition to choice," he said of transit versus vehicles. The road system would also get a boost if the proposition is approved, Phillips said. "It addresses the 10 worst chokepoints."
Cost, of course, is an issue for voters, he noted. "It is expensive, but it will be more expensive in the future," he said of improved transportation.
Cost of the system is also something Prop. 1 opponent Emory Bundy addressed at the luncheon. Bundy - a director of public affairs at KING-TV from 1969 to 1983 and the director from 1983 to 2000 of the environmental-advocacy organization the Bullitt Foundation - said the hefty price tag is a "fundamental flaw" in the plan.
The reason? "It costs too much and accomplishes too little," he said. Besides, the $18-billion cost of Prop. 1 is a lowball figure, according to Bundy, who factored in inflation and debt service to the equation to come up with a higher figure. "There's no question that $47 billion is what taxpayers will pay...," he said. And that doesn't include any cost overruns, Bundy added.
He also pooh-poohed the claim that Prop. 1 will reduce traffic congestion on the region's roads. In actuality, Bundy said, traffic congestion will be far worse than it is today.
He also said a better way to spend the $47 billion would be on expanding King County Transit Now projects, a ballot measure that was approved by voters last year and promises to ramp up Metro bus service in King County.
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