"I am not a math whiz but after reading the Sunday Seattle Times article about the original Sound Transit rail service over runs, it boggles my mind that we would entertain ST3.
The current proposal has us spending $54B for a choo-choo train that will not be fully functional for 30 years.
Based upon past history where might that actually put us?
The original Sound Move plan in 1996 promised light rail service from SeaTac to the University District within a decade for $1.67 billion. But after winning the vote, the plan was broken into five parts and is taking a quarter of a century to fulfill, with the last station to open in 2021. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sound-transits-cost-overruns-for-first-phase-hit-about-86-percent/
Apparently Sound Transit officials anticipated that the actual price would be double the original estimate but actually the over runs hit a whopping 86%!!
So what does this mean for the new proposal?
Well, doing some rough math, if cost over runs hit 86% this time, that puts this project over $100 Billion and take 42 years. Actually more accurately it would be $100,444,000,000, but hey, what is another $400 million when it is someone else’s money. “Let them eat cake.”
During a time when we see homeless spilling out on to our streets, the mentally ill wondering the streets or locked up, and the WEA and WA Supreme Court screaming more money- more money- more money, how can we possibly entertain such a plan? Families and businesses are strapped: unemployment and the cost of living are squeezing them so tightly. Most families are just a couple paychecks away from calamity, although they stretch to “keep up with the Jones” by accumulating debt. Our current leadership is so incredibly out of touch with working Americans that they think they can order Dom Perignon on a beer budget.
For example, my opponent Patty Kurderer strongly supports ST3:
"We need a modern transportation system with options for all commuters that don't just rely on the single car method," she said. "We also want to have the bus rapid transit. I'm a proponent of light rail, I think that it's going to be very, very important for us going forward." http://www.kirklandreporter.com/news/384262841.html
I disagree. First of all, ST3 will no longer be modern by the time it is finished and secondly it is way too expensive. While I prefer private solutions and the use of modern technology to solve our congestion problems, I do know that for 1/2 that price tag we could likely buy a fleet of buses and vans!
I say go back to the drawing board and come back to us with a reasonable plan, or better yet reduce regulatory red tape holding back real innovation and solutions to our problems and let the private sector help solve this problem."
- Michelle Darnell
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