A conversation with Seattle
Keep in mind that this 31-percent increase would follow the past two years’ increase of 18 percent. I’m not an arithmetician, but it’s as if we’re moving away from that “low-cost” modifier somehow. That’s my gut feeling.
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As the magnitude of the problem has increased, the city’s response has grown more anemic. Using potholes an indicator species for overall road health, it’s troubling to note that in 2009 Seattle’s Department of Transportation filled 6,500 potholes; in 2010, 10,100 potholes; in 2011, over 25,000.
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So to sum up, for the past 20 years, the park has been at the center of a firestorm between what the city can pay for, what park-goers want and need, and what neighboring communities are willing to tolerate.
But as warring parties continued their constant bickering, the buildings on the old base, the ones the Navy said we had to maintain, have been falling apart as the result of neglect and Seattle’s notoriously unforgiving weather.
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We are waaaaaaay overdue for a plague of some sort—making it a whole century with only one really nasty global flu pandemic is unheard of. That shit is real. And even if things don’t get Contagion bad (just yet), Americans get sick in the millions every cold and flu season. And that’s a problem.
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The Seattle City Council, acting in their capacity as the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) Governing Board, voted unanimously to approve a $60 vehicle licensing fee for the November 8, 2011, ballot. If voters approve, says the Council’s press release, they’ll receive:
Transit: Speed and reliability improvements to eight major corridors; projects that provide better access from neighborhoods to light rail and frequent bus service corridors; and improved safety for transit riders.
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Over on Mayor McGinn’s blog, there’s an interesting entry in the post titled “Community support grows for investing in Seattle’s transit future.” A group with environmental leanings has reunited in favor of the $80 vehicle licensing fee, the same people who not so long ago had a public falling out over the “greenery” of the deep-bore tunnel.
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