Morning Fizz
Demand for and Feasibility of Light Rail
1. Both the state senate and house Republicans offered their budget recommendations to Gov. Chris Gregoire yesterday. Gregoire has already recommended
$1.1 billion in savings to address the latest shortfall in the endlessly beleaguered 2009-11 budget, including eliminating the basic health program ($33.7 million), reducing funding for the University of Washington ($11.4 million), and reducing maternity support for low-income and at-risk moms ($3.2 million).
The senate GOP proposal , outlined in a letter to Gregoire from Sen. Joseph Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield), the GOP's ranking member on the ways & means committee, identifies $850 million in savings, which Zarelli says "exceeds what the governor has proposed once you subtract her 367 million dollars’ worth of fund transfers and accounting gimmicks, as those don’t amount to savings going forward." (Indeed, we already noted that $240 million of Gregoire's savings plan—delaying K-12 teachers' pay— was actually just pushed into the next biennium.)
The senate Republicans' biggest find ($239 million) not included in Gregoire's plan comes from redirecting dedicated revenue streams to the general fund—including taking $40 million in filing fees away from anti-homelessness efforts; taking $44 million away from smoking cessation efforts; reversing a sales tax policy change—taxing retail delivery at the destination instead of the origin—which had the state reimbursing local jurisdictions affected by the change to the tune of about $50 million; and curtailing state support for the teachers' union health care fund .
The house Republicans' proposal—outlined in a letter from Rep. Gary Alexander (R-20, Lewis County and South Thurston County), the GOP's ranking member on the house ways & means committee, isn't as specific as Zarelli's plan. But Rep. Alexander does suggest cuts Gregoire hadn't proposed: suspending all-day kindergarten; upping state employees' contributions to health care benefits; and scaling back the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. (Sen. Zarelli goes there too, actually identifying specific parts of the TANF program he'd cut, such as ending support for children of undocumented parents and eliminating childcare for agricultural workers. Zarelli also puts a dollar figure on the TANF cuts, estimating $70 million in savings).
2. A working group charged with suggesting refinements to the state's preferred alternative to replace the 520 bridge and to suggest a mitigation plan for the Washington Park Arboretum released its suggestions at a meeting in downtown Seattle yesterday afternoon.
In short, the group is recommending: That the state provide new, "sustainable" revenue options to pay for high-capacity transit (in this case, probably bus-rapid transit, not light rail); to fund planning efforts to identify transit needs in the 520 corridor; to study the "demand for and feasibility of light rail and other [transit] technologies" ; and to monitor how transit is working in the corridor.
3. At the Stranger's crowded anti-tunnel forum last night downstairs at Town Hall, tunnel opponents, including Mayor Mike McGinn, city council member Mike O'Brien, Sightline Institute researcher Eric de Place, and Drew Paxton, who's working on a potential anti-tunnel initiative, outlined their objections to the $4.2 billion project: There's no money to pay for it (especially if there are cost overruns); it will divert traffic to city streets; and it ignores a 2007 Seattle vote against the tunnel . While anti-tunnel frontman McGinn had the best sound bites, it was actually O'Brien—humble, earnest, and nuanced—who emerged as the most compelling voice against the tunnel last night.
O'Brien argued that the state needed to figure out how it wants to order its spending priorities in the ongoing recession before spending billions on a single transportation project. And noting the tens of thousands of cars the state's own analysis predicts will pour onto city streets when it starts charging tolls to use the tunnel, O'Brien gently nudged: "If we're going to spend billions of dollars to build a new highway, I'd kind of like to have people use it."
In contrast, McGinn stuck to his familiar combative sound bites: "When [tunnel proponents] say we can't study it and we can't debate it, that's just a way of saying we should listen to those who are smarter than us and know what's best for us"; "At some point it's not me [the tunnel proponents] should be responding to, they should be responding to facts and the public"; "I trust the public to make the right decision."
McGinn also revealed he has hired a consultant to analyze "mitigation measures" to deal with traffic on city streets caused by the tunnel; predicted that those mitigation measures would look a lot like the I-5/surface/transit plan the state rejected for replacing the viaduct; and promised that, once he gets a sponsor for his legislation to remove the controversial cost-overruns provision, he will make an announcement in The Stranger.
4. A clarification about last night's event: In the runup to the gig yesterday afternoon, The Stranger reported that Seattle Channel's even-keeled host C.R. Douglas, who canceled as moderator, had been "forced" to bail. In reality, there was no conspiracy: Douglas wasn't comfortable with the one-sided panel and made the decision to cancel himself.
5. Sad news: Longtime local sustainability news and environmental web site Worldchanging.com is shutting down . A farewell post on the site explains:
The senate GOP proposal , outlined in a letter to Gregoire from Sen. Joseph Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield), the GOP's ranking member on the ways & means committee, identifies $850 million in savings, which Zarelli says "exceeds what the governor has proposed once you subtract her 367 million dollars’ worth of fund transfers and accounting gimmicks, as those don’t amount to savings going forward." (Indeed, we already noted that $240 million of Gregoire's savings plan—delaying K-12 teachers' pay— was actually just pushed into the next biennium.)
The senate Republicans' biggest find ($239 million) not included in Gregoire's plan comes from redirecting dedicated revenue streams to the general fund—including taking $40 million in filing fees away from anti-homelessness efforts; taking $44 million away from smoking cessation efforts; reversing a sales tax policy change—taxing retail delivery at the destination instead of the origin—which had the state reimbursing local jurisdictions affected by the change to the tune of about $50 million; and curtailing state support for the teachers' union health care fund .
The house Republicans' proposal—outlined in a letter from Rep. Gary Alexander (R-20, Lewis County and South Thurston County), the GOP's ranking member on the house ways & means committee, isn't as specific as Zarelli's plan. But Rep. Alexander does suggest cuts Gregoire hadn't proposed: suspending all-day kindergarten; upping state employees' contributions to health care benefits; and scaling back the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. (Sen. Zarelli goes there too, actually identifying specific parts of the TANF program he'd cut, such as ending support for children of undocumented parents and eliminating childcare for agricultural workers. Zarelli also puts a dollar figure on the TANF cuts, estimating $70 million in savings).
2. A working group charged with suggesting refinements to the state's preferred alternative to replace the 520 bridge and to suggest a mitigation plan for the Washington Park Arboretum released its suggestions at a meeting in downtown Seattle yesterday afternoon.
In short, the group is recommending: That the state provide new, "sustainable" revenue options to pay for high-capacity transit (in this case, probably bus-rapid transit, not light rail); to fund planning efforts to identify transit needs in the 520 corridor; to study the "demand for and feasibility of light rail and other [transit] technologies" ; and to monitor how transit is working in the corridor.
3. At the Stranger's crowded anti-tunnel forum last night downstairs at Town Hall, tunnel opponents, including Mayor Mike McGinn, city council member Mike O'Brien, Sightline Institute researcher Eric de Place, and Drew Paxton, who's working on a potential anti-tunnel initiative, outlined their objections to the $4.2 billion project: There's no money to pay for it (especially if there are cost overruns); it will divert traffic to city streets; and it ignores a 2007 Seattle vote against the tunnel . While anti-tunnel frontman McGinn had the best sound bites, it was actually O'Brien—humble, earnest, and nuanced—who emerged as the most compelling voice against the tunnel last night.
O'Brien argued that the state needed to figure out how it wants to order its spending priorities in the ongoing recession before spending billions on a single transportation project. And noting the tens of thousands of cars the state's own analysis predicts will pour onto city streets when it starts charging tolls to use the tunnel, O'Brien gently nudged: "If we're going to spend billions of dollars to build a new highway, I'd kind of like to have people use it."
In contrast, McGinn stuck to his familiar combative sound bites: "When [tunnel proponents] say we can't study it and we can't debate it, that's just a way of saying we should listen to those who are smarter than us and know what's best for us"; "At some point it's not me [the tunnel proponents] should be responding to, they should be responding to facts and the public"; "I trust the public to make the right decision."
McGinn also revealed he has hired a consultant to analyze "mitigation measures" to deal with traffic on city streets caused by the tunnel; predicted that those mitigation measures would look a lot like the I-5/surface/transit plan the state rejected for replacing the viaduct; and promised that, once he gets a sponsor for his legislation to remove the controversial cost-overruns provision, he will make an announcement in The Stranger.
4. A clarification about last night's event: In the runup to the gig yesterday afternoon, The Stranger reported that Seattle Channel's even-keeled host C.R. Douglas, who canceled as moderator, had been "forced" to bail. In reality, there was no conspiracy: Douglas wasn't comfortable with the one-sided panel and made the decision to cancel himself.
5. Sad news: Longtime local sustainability news and environmental web site Worldchanging.com is shutting down . A farewell post on the site explains:
Why is this happening? Worldchanging readers were generous over the years and an important part of our ongoing operations, but we were never able to secure major foundation support, so Worldchanging relied most heavily on income generated from Alex Steffen’s speaking engagements (Alex gave more than 400 talks over the past five years) and the Worldchanging book. The strenuous travel schedule it takes to deliver that many talks, though, was unsustainable, both personally for Alex and in terms of the impact it had on Worldchanging’s ability to develop new work. It was clear we needed a new model if we were going to stay in operation.
