A RESOLUTION supporting Sound Transit (A Regional Transit Authority) Proposition 1 ballot measure and urging Seattle voters to vote “Yes” on Sound Transit Proposition 1 on the November 8, 2016 general election ballot.
Item five Resolution 3170 for supporting sound transit Proposition one ballot measure and urging Seattle voters to vote yes on Sound Transit Proposition one on the November 8th, 2016, general election ballot. As I said during a council briefing this morning, this is a resolution supporting sound transit Proposition one ballot measure and urging Seattle voters vote yes on that proposition on the November 8th ballot. We could talk a lot about what this does by adding 62 miles of light rail and growing the existing system to 116 miles. But I'm going to stop there and ask if Councilmember Johnson or O'Brien would like to talk a little bit more about what this resolution. But because mine was context, I am going to move to pass it so we can have what I would assume will be some pro statements. So I'm going to move to pass council bill. I'm sorry, I'm going to move past resolution 31704. Is there a second? Second? Okay. Councilmember Johnson, would you like to begin. Thank you very much. Council President Harrell And when completed, if the voters choose to pass us to three November, our light rail system will actually be larger than Washington, D.C. metro systems. To put that into context for folks, there's a lot to like on this November ballot. This is yet another one of those measures that I think I'm hopeful that my colleagues will support. Regardless of where you sit on this day, as there's something in this ballot measure for you, whether you're building light rail to West Seattle in 14 years or to ballot in 19 years, both at grade separations, they've got travel time and speed reliability. Whether you're building infill stations at Graham Street or the 130th Street Station, whether you're looking at bus rapid transit improvements in Ballard and West Seattle and along Madison as part of our first five years Quick Wins program, whether they're talking about transit oriented development, affordable housing, where we're going to be putting more resources into both of those projects, completing the spine and regional growth, placemaking for the next 25 years is a critical path to ensuring that the region is economically competitive and can handle the growth that we're expected to see over the next 25 years. But the final, final couple of things I want to just say about this. As an environmentalist, I care a lot about this plan because transportation is our largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and we need to get people onto transit to help reduce our fossil fuel reliance. If you care about job creation, as I do, this plan will put $54 billion worth of people to work, creating the next generation of great labor opportunities and labor projects and the associated job creation that goes along with all those major capital project investments. If you care about alleviating poverty, as I do, multiple studies have shown that access to fast and reliable public transportation is one of the most strong determiner to get people out of poverty and into the middle class. And if you care about the economy, as I do, this opportunity to build out our light rail system is going to provide so much more travel time and reliability for folks in this region to get them out of congestion. Just today, I got on a train that left our station a block away and got me to ask you stadium in under 10 minutes. That is a bus trip that used to take 45 minutes. So we need this and I hope my colleagues vote yes. Thank you very much, Councilwoman Johnson. Councilmember O'Brien. I thank you, Councilmember Johnson, for your leadership on this. And colleagues, I also hope we all support this. What we have before as the voters of the region, the peers, Snohomish and King County have an amazing opportunity before us this November. And it's an opportunity that I've heard from people throughout this region asking for it long before I was a city council member. Please get us a transit system that is speedy, reliable and gets me where I need to go. And this package does that. It's an opportunity, as Councilmember Johnson said, to address issues around mobility, around congestion and around the impacts of climate change. We're already seeing it's an outstanding opportunity, and I look forward to supporting this resolution and the ballot initiative in November, and I hope the voters of the region do also. Thank you from Bryan. Any other comments from any of my colleagues? Councilmember Herbold. Thank you. I'd just like to thank Councilmember Robert Johnson and Mayor Ed Murray for their work on this on transit board, Councilmember O'Brien for coordinating the very successful city council resolution to sound transit, stating what the city wanted. And also, of course, Sound Transit Board Chair and King County executive Dave Cosentino for all his fine work in developing the ballot measure. Thank you for those words. Councilmember Sawant. Thank you. President Herold. Seattle's transportation infrastructure is woefully inadequate. We asked. I was to drive their cars, less to say the environment correctly so, and to relieve congestion on our roads. But the reality is that we don't have adequate alternatives. So how can working people get to work on time and do everything that they need for their families without a car in the absence of real mass transit? Many working people understand the impending damages of climate change and would love to take alternative transportation, public transportation, but simply do not have real options that will enable them to get through their day without significant delays. Sounds at Sound Transit three will be a major and long overdue addition to our transit infrastructure, and even this will not be sufficient to our needs, but it will be a huge step forward. And I'm really happy that we as a council are urging people to vote in favor of it by passing this resolution. It should be noted, however, the proposal is not perfect. It is funded by sales taxes, which are the most regressive taxes available. Sales taxes tax poor and working class people at a far higher rate than the wealthy and they are a big part of the funding of this transit project is an important reminder that elected officials need to show leadership not only in supporting and passing progressive initiatives that enable us to deal with climate change, but we also have to make sure that it happens in an economically progressive manner. Ultimately, we need to stop using regressive taxes, and we need to start taxing the many millionaires of this region. However, that is not the fault. Just Dosanjh on the tree. It is true for all taxes in this city, county and state. And the reality is that Sound Transit three is a really important increase in transit. And so it is absolutely critical that we all as voters support this initiative. Thank you. Thank you. Concerns one. Any further comments from any of my colleagues? Okay. So at this point, I'm going to open up for public comments. For many members of the public that would like to speak in opposition of or in support of the resolution to endorse the sound transit measure. Do I see any members of the public? And yes, we do. We have two takers, and this is important that we get to our record. So is there a sign up sheet for these fine folks? Okay. Oops. Okay. Will do. Thank you. So, I'm Alice Lockhart. I came here in support of Standing Rock. But this is a really important issue. I want to echo what the other lady said. This is great. It's not enough. If you know. The science says that. We need to decrease our. Greenhouse gases in this state and elsewhere by 8% per year. If we start now and buy more, if we wait to do that, an incremental improvement in sound transit is not going to cut it. We need, in fact, in this region and we can afford in this region free transit for everyone, which will. As I. Believe it was, Mr. Johnson. Said, also lift many. People out of. Poverty and into the middle class as a mere side effect of free transit. I hope that's the next thing that you all think about. And thank you, Emily, for. Suggesting that today. Thank you. I had Mr. Locke actually signed up on this measure. Mr. Locke, if you want to speak on the sound transit measure, either pro or con on the sound transit measure. And Paul La Belle La. You've already given $6 billion. We can't afford another 2 billion. The rail system should be made and operated to operate like an elevator where you don't need the operators. That's where your cost is. Those people riding on those rigs. Get top salary because they can they can choose the job they take. You're driving a bus or ride Mercedes rail cars. The money is not there. It looks like us who live off investments. The. Bonds in that case tell today's don't have very large payments. But 2%. The last bond i owned was 9.6%. Melissa more bombs. But people are still paying the bill. They're going to get a bill. Property taxes. Inflated the properties. A $70,000 home is now you can sell the thing for $3 million or more. The people are going to be around when all these bills come due. I'm not going to make it. It doing like it did to the Roman Empire. You know, the history books that we used to have. Of 80. Plane is going up against the empire collapsed in. No, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Locke. Our next speaker on this resolution will be Paula Revere. Hi, champ. Thanks for the chance to speak. Nobody knew there were multiple sheets, by the way. Everybody outside. Hitler, abundant in opinions on all kinds of topics. Sound transit. I am totally pro transit as. As a kid growing up. I love trains and busses, and I waited as long as I could to get into a car. And it was because I had good instincts. Unfortunately, besides the tunnel ones which make absolute sense, taking up all the streets and all the parking spaces for our local businesses, I think was a terrible mistake. And I think there's a deliberate effort behind it. I won't get into that because not enough time. And it's not your deliberate effort. So what's happened is the streets are full of these things going by. And I know at some point there'll be thousands of people on them. But watching the city and all the parking and all the small businesses get hurt by all this construction and everything has been really hard to watch. 54 billion is twice the state budget. That's incredible for a very small percentage of the state's people to be driving, to be riding them. They have the double tall busses they could speed around. They're very. Flexible. We're getting transit like 15 years late. That was also deliberate. And then it got rushed in a certain kind of way and everybody was just so happy to have it. I don't think everyone thought enough about it so I wouldn't do it. I think that we need to stop and take a look at something more flexible. Because, you know, 20, 30 years out, this is outrageous for this kind of. Money. And I watch Sound Transit run. All those wonderful people that are there making votes. They ran the timetable. They ran the decisions. And I don't trust them. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Revere. I am going to there are any other people that like to speak in pro con on this resolution supporting sound transit measure. And if not, I will hold I will conclude that the a lot of time for public comment has expired. Okay. So we are ready to vote on this resolution. All those in favor of supporting the resolution vote? I think all those opposed vote no. The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it. Please read the next agenda item.