So once again the tax and spend issue comes to light. I know, the first thing that the Democrats will say is "another anti-Gregoire statement" but this has nothing to do with Queen Christine.
The majority of this tax package will go to Seattle area projects and the money is only a down payment. There is no plan to fund the remainder of the projects so other citizens of this state will be left to once again bail out King County. It's time the Puget Sound area pay for it's own projects and stop counting on the rest of the state to bail it out. The state has enough money to pay for the projects it needs if it just starts conducting business in an efficient, cost effective manner while abiding by the ethics that corporations must live by. If King County did the same thing, it would have enough money to start serving it's citizens instead of it's bureaucrats.
There is nothing in the history of this state to make me believe the government will spend the money it is given in a responsible fashion. My vote is YES on the initiative!

Vote yes on I-330 and I-336. Then we'll have the best of both worlds. Right?

Always be afraid when politicians, doctors, and lawyers say they are acting in the best interests of the public. Unfortunately, they are acting in their own bes interests first.

With my commute to work and back, the additional gas tax works out to 45 extra cents a week on my gas bill (I use about 5 gallons a week in gas). On the other hand, the increase of the prices at the pump in the last few months have added $5 a week to my bill.

Quite frankly, $0.45 extra each week to deal with the state's transporation problem is small peanuts compared to what I'm sending to energy executives each week.

And yes, this is an Eastern Washingtonian in favor of the gas tax even though most of it is going to King County.

I think 912 will pass, even though my candidate for King County Executive would upon being elected and its failure negotiate a better deal for all of Washington.

I have been a resident of Washington for 38 years. I have watched the government here make the SAME MISTAKES regarding our transportation/traffic congestion problems OVER AND OVER, YEAR AFTER YEAR. Now our court appointed, temp. Governor wants to take more money from us to"fix" problems that millions of dollars have already been spent on "fixing". How many of you put up with the I-405 at Renton interchange "fix" for the last 10 years? Now you are being told they want more of your money to "fix" it again? SAY NO TO ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC STUPID IDEA. The gas tax has no accountabilty for performance or dedication to where and how the money is spent

So here are the questions: How will you vote on Initiative 912? YES Do you have faith that the state will spend the money wisely? NO How would the state fix the viaduct and 520 without this funding? The state will still be collecting 3.5-4.0 Billion on the remainder of the bill that was pasted. Lets see what they do with that and the rest of the gas tax they collect. The state has been collecting gas taxes plus other monies for transportation for years. What did they do with it? They are speeding the money for everything but fixing the congestion. Last legislator passed a bill to have Hot lanes on highway 167 because the HOV lane was not up to full capacity. They will be receiving 1 million from Uncle Sam and then adding 14 million to start the project. That’s what you call smart spending. They need to dump the HOV Lanes altogether.
Transportation secretary Doug MacDonald now is going to tell the public he has a plan on how this 9.5-cents gas tax is going to fix choking points that cause congestion and if we don’t believe him, he will come up with another plan just to get your vote. This 9.5-cent Gas Tax increase is just the start.
Vote Yes on Initiative 912

Forget it. I'm sick and tired of Seattle subsidizing you gas guzzling terrorist-supporting non-Seattleites.

So, you hate the Monorail that Seattle is paying for without state, county, or federal dollars?

Well, I'm not voting for your roads and car subsidies any more.

Deal with it.

whay do they have to build another alaken way vioduct why cant they just set it on the ground

I vote to repeal
Currently we do not use the highways to capacity; better to provide incentives to spread the load like flex-time.

the state says they need the money yet they always pick the ones that cost the most money we voted in sound transit for light rail yet there running heavy rail,they claim they put in all the new bus routs but metro in king county and community transit in snohomish county already had communter routs in place that sound took over changed a little and called it a new rout. what we need is to abolish sound transit and give all the money colected to the monarail people so they can build the light rail /moarail up into sno. county and southward

Dear Robert,
You seem to be a nice fellow. Here are a few items you should include in your "Gas Tax Repeal" program:

1. It is irrelevant that we are number 6, number 8, or number 50 in our states gas tax rate. It has no meaning at all. It is used as a tool to argue for a higher rate, because some other poor sole has to pay a higher rate in another state, therefore it is ok if we have to pay a higher rate also. This is "HOAKUM"!!!!
2. The department of transportation in Washington wastes more money every year than the gas tax repeal would take away. There is plenty of money do do these projects already. I will give you one specific example:

All jobs bid out by the state are subject to the Davis Bacon act, which increases all the labor cost of any project in this state by approximately 30%. That means for every job you get done in the private sector for $1.00 labor, it costs the state $1.30. We should do away with this immediately.

3. I can give you a list of projects that are a total waste of our money.

4. There needs to be a complete and accurate performance audit of the DOT before we give them one red cent more.

5. There is no guarantee that these projects are going to alleviate any congestion anywhere. This is complete poppy-cock.

I will be voting to get rid of this tax, and anyother tax that comes along because the money is there already to do these things.

MM

Transportation planning has been inadequate in our region, and I think the Department of Transportation is a big part of the problem. Transportation planning should be multi-model, with road planning being integrated with other forms of transportation planning like heavy and light rail, buses, bikes, ferries, etc.

I think the viaduct ought to come down, with no tunnel or surface street replacing it, and public transportation should be put in its place. The displaced car and truck traffic should be re-routed to I-5, which should be made double-decker throughout the urban area. The 520 bridge rebuild should include a huge emphasis on public transportation.

wish i had the never ending pocket book like the state seams to have,if you took all the money that sound transit has wasted on the heavy rail buying off burlington northern you could have built the monarail to sno.county and tacoma, and had enoph money left over to widen hwy 522,we already voted no once on a 9 cent gas tax and they shoved 5 cents down our throat any way then we get this new govener whe shoves the tax we already voted no on down our throat calling it an emergancy well if its so bad why are you puting it off untill 2008 to fix if the big one hits and it falls and kills people the state knew it was un-safe and let us use it any way i can see the law suits now.. there goes your 9 cent gas tax making more millionare's our leaders need to wake up stop raising taxes they CAN do it with what they have now they just gave themself a raise afterall/why not cut all state employees back to 75k a year and use the money we save to fix the roads

I would normally vote for almost any transportation project. I do believe that in some cases the government has done a very credible job of completing projects. I also enjoy hearing from the people who think there is so much waste since if it came time to cut funding for transportation in these individual's areas they would be screaming loudest.

Having said that I will be voting yes on this initiative for a number of reasons. Unlike some other transportation projects this one does not provide enough money to complete the two main projects nor does it spell out where the rest of the money is going to come from. This vague blank check is ridiculous. If the state is not going to provide the money to complete the project then local or regional leaders should have stepped up to propose funding to complete the projects.

Second, the hypocrisy of the legislature in declaring an emergency, for the sole purpose of preventing a referendum, and then phasing in the gas tax boggles my mind. If it is an emergency then collect the whole tax up front. If it is not an emergency then don't declare it as one. Hypocrites of any political stripe are annoying.

Finally, how the projects will look when completed are not even settled. Last I heard there was still discussion and debate on what would replace the viaduct. I don't want to pay for projects that does not include the bulk of the funding nor have any plan for the project itself. The DOT and Legislature, can and has done much better than this. Next time do it right and the voters will be with you.

If I lived in the greater Seattle area, and commuted to work, I would support the gas tax as I would be reaping the benefits. However, I seldom go to the Seattle area so I will vote against it. Why not a toll?? If I go to Seattle, I will gladly pay the toll. I have paid tolls in many other states I have visited, and only pay the gas tax on what I use in that state.

I don't care if they flush the money down the toilet. I support any and all gas taxes increases, because that is the only way we are going to change our hydro-carbon dependency.
That the 9-1/2 cents per gallon tax is being spent on yet-to-be-completely-detailed transportation projects is fine. I'm sure those projects will be executed by the state in our best interests, and in the usual fashion: delays, cost over-runs, etc. That's OK; that's reality of big projects.

I am wondering if it really matters how we vote. I have lost faith in our city officials and departments. I have lived in Seattle 25 years and have watched our city vote No on (2) statiums that got built. I am tired of paying high taxes in this city. And I am especially tired of the "guilt" tactics the city is using, i.e, if we don't approve the gas tax....we will never be able to get our roads in good condition. Where has our leadership been for the past 20 years? We should be ashamed in Seattle. It is our lack of leadership over the past 15 years has led us and continues to lead us towards increased taxes and dangerous road conditions. We are loyal in Seattle and if there was a plan 20 years ago, my guess is we would have backed it. But Seattle leadership has a small mind set. It's a little too late now to put it all on us. I am not going to vote for an increase not because we don't need new roads but because I don't trust our leadership to follow through.

Robert, I'm glad you brought this up I belive it was a balanced program you presented the other day. I don't trust our state government and look forward to voting yes for I-912!When are we going to see congestion relief?!Untill that happens they don't need another $!

To Laurie:

Did you know that some of the money raised from this gas tax will be used to rebuild a bigger 520 bridge? Bigger equals more lanes, which hopefully will equate to less congestion.

To all of you who vote to repeal the gas tax. Why dont you put your money where your mouth is and start riding the bus. Then it wont matter what the gas tax is. How else should the government pay for these projects. Your buddy Timmy Eiman(sp) got the car tabs repealed, which was a significant source of funding for transportation initiatives. I dont understand republicans, they want something for nothing. Do you realize that the car tab fee was progressive, so you wanted to own an expensive car, you paid more for your tabs. If you didn't want to pay a high car tab tax, you didn't have to buy an expensive car.

I guess my wondering, unmade point is, you have a choice with everything. If you dont want to pay the gas tax, dont buy gas. If you wouldn't have repealed the car tab tax we wouldnt be in this situation. I am all for holding the government accountable, but lets do some good in this state for once instead of passing laws and then repealing them, monorail or not to monorail. For Pete's sake lets build some roads, lets improve our congestion so that companies like Boeing and Microsoft dont leave.

I love this blog thing. Remember, I can have an opinion, and so can you. Do hate the person, hate the opinion. God Bless

Sorry Jason, but most of us need gasoline to get around, it's not as simple as "just don't buy it." If you think this tax is such a great plan, maybe you would like to donate on behalf of all of us who don't want to pay it...? By the way, Tim Eiman works to have initiatives put on the ballot, it's the voting public who ultimately approves or disapproves. I, for one, appreciate that his efforts result in my having a choice on the ballot to say no to politicians' greed. I'll be voting YES on I-912.

Can't we all just get along? You can't make everybody happy, but at some point we all have to agree that something has to be done about traffic congestion in the Puget Sound region. Hell, filling up my muscle car is going to cost me an extra $1.35 per week. Big deal!

Lee and Jason anonymous has a verry good point to get around period means gas! Secondly if your so excited about the bus you try it for a day!!

I am in a rural area of pierce county and no transportation is not an option! Futhermore biulding progects with no idea what they look like simply makes no sense!! Also,Where's the traffic relief? The DOT wuold rather force us out of our cars given the area I'm living in I have a real problem with that!!

With transit ridership the lowest it has been in the last say 30 years and more $ going to that & alomst none for traffic relief that is why I'm voting for I-912!!

I guess my frustration is that while we're voting to repeal this gas tax nothing is getting done to relieve our congestion on the road.

After reading a lot of the comments, I feel like the biggest complaint is that, we as tax payers, don't feel comfortable paying 9.5 cents, when the government hasn't fully defined what they're going to spend the money on? If this is the case, Im in total agreement. However, as someone who does drive the roads in Washington State, I want something to get done. I am frustrated that everyday at 6:00 pm it takes 45 minutes to get from Kirkland to Seattle over 520, and that if you hit the I-5, highway 16 interchange, in Tacoma on a Friday or Sunday that it takes you and hour to get through the area.

I just want to see some progress. I dont think they anyone is trying to force us out of our cars, especially if you live in an area where there is no mass transit. However, if there was a train from the eastside to Seattle, I would use it, and I think a lot of others would also. I also believe that the 520 bridge and the viaduct are disasters waiting to happen, so rebuilding them, bigger and better would be money well spent.

Anyway, I love these blogs, because it gives, us, the citizens, a great outlet for our views, and mostly our frustrations with our government. KEEP BLOGGING, maybe someone will notice.

Here we go again with another knee-jerk right-wing tantrum initiative that will end up costing the state millions more by the time its all done and over. Do you people really believe that this initiative is going to send a "message" to the state that is going to have any resonance? Honesly, you've wasted $66 million so far now that the state has had to halt the projects due to this stupid initiative. Get a grip people, we need to spend money to make the roads safer and less congested. You are doing nothing but wasting eveyones time and money with this boondoggle. If you want to save the 9.5 cents, drive 3 miles an hour slower and you get it back. It's as simple as that. I'm voting NO on I-912. Our children deserve safe transportation, not time wasting nonsense.

I believe that we get what we pay for, so paying taxes is an unfortunate necessity. That said, I'm completely against any further regressive taxation in Washington, so I'm voting for I-912. Oregon has the right idea --- no to sales tax and yes to income tax. Otherwise, Bill Gates and I are paying the SAME amount of taxes for a tank of gas. Bad idea.

Another point: When I lived on Orcas Island, the state was paying less and less for our "highway", the ferry system, and charging us more and more of a "toll" for it. Meanwhile, my taxes were paying to clear snow from the mountain passes, where I never traveled, so that eastern Washingtonians could get to the west, and vice versa. My taxes were also paying for the I-90 replacement bridge that I never used. Ad nauseum... The point is, if certain Washingtonians are supposed to pay "tolls" for their highways, why shouldn't everyone else have to? The last thing I'd be willing to do after that experience is pay another 9.5 regressive cents per gallon to pay for someone else's traffic improvements, in view of the abandoned islanders.

I am voting yes on 912, for the same reasons that have been outlined above. I do not believe the majority of Seattle is willing to use transit/HOV options, and I do not trust govt to spend wisely. I will consider tolls, while I do not like them, as I think they are a better option than irresponsible spending by WSDOT.

I think it would be in the best interest of the entire state to pass 912, table this discussion until after I-900 has time to take affect. I am very curious to see what the performance audits reveal. We all claim that DOT and other govt agencies mis-manage our money, however I am not sure any of us can really come out and say (sure you see things that make no sense, but its still not complete proof). Once we have a clearer picture of what our available funds are, then lets consider a gas tax/toll to pay for needed fixes.

In the meantime, I think we need to prioritize what is most important. Unfortunately it would probably mean putting a lot of projects outside of the Seattle/Tacoma area on hold, as the Puget sound area projects will impact the highest number of citizens. We can re-direct funds to things such as the 520 bridge and the viaduct, and once more funds become available through increased awareness from performance audits, or the clear need for a gas tax, then we can re-start those projects in other parts of the state.

I am voting a resounding NO on I-912!
I keep hearing supporters of the initiative and their right-wing radio sheep saying that the government hasn't done anything to help transportation in this state. Hmmmm? Do you think that might be because every time the legislature and governor pass a transportation plan, some wing-nut goes on an anti-tax crusade that destroys all of the work we elected the politicians to do?
The idea that the government isn't spending our taxes wisely and already has enough money for road improvements is ridiculous. Where exactly is the money going to come from if this initiative passes? The road projects either won't happen or the money will come from other much needed areas. There's no way the legislature is going to go back next session and come up with another tax... and there is no other money for transportation projects except the gas tax. Tolls are fine... but remember there are more than 200 projects around the state, do you want a toll road everywhere you go? As for the accountabilty for WSDOT... it's called the Grey Notebook. The Grey Notebook outlines every WSDOT project and explains exactly how the department spent its money. It's easy to read and excessible to everyone. I suggest you all read the WSDOT website for the Gray Notebook and also to look at all of the projects the tax is intended to pay for around the state. Now imagine what the future of our state will look like when we're all stuck in traffic in those very same locations for the next 20 years... while the population of the state keeps growing.
Don't waste the time, money and patience of everyone in this state just because you din't like the outcome of the Governor's race or you're too greedy to pay an extra $35 a year for gas.
Vote no on I-912!