5views.com

I just got the license renewal notice for my car. It’s going to cost me $95 plus the cost of the emissions test. What happened to those $30 tabs we voted for in 1999?

Then, after opening that little bombshell I find out that there’s a survey up at Sound Transit. It’s obviously a precursor poll to crafting a ballot measure for the fall elections. It is a very badly written survey for several reasons.

The bottom line of the survey is ‘how much should we expand’. Nowhere did they ask the question ’should we expand’ or ’should we just go away and stop wasting taxpayer’s money’ (Think: monorail). They also lumped potentially good solutions in with bad ones and then forced a choice (example: lumping buses and commuter rail in with light rail). Almost every question offered selections that forced me to pick the least objectionable answer, while only a few offered options that I favored.

Since their survey was so narrow-minded I thought I would help them with the questions they should have asked.

Here’s my list:

• Should Sound Transit ever expand?
• Should Sound Transit just go away and stop wasting taxpayer’s money just like the monorail did?
• Considering that Link Light Rail is costing taxpayers about $7.62 for every person who boards the little train, should we make it longer and cost the taxpayers even more?
• Would you like to charge Link Light Rail riders $7.62 for the 1.6 mile ride they’ll be taking in Tacoma?
• Light rail has always been sold to the public as a traffic congestion relief measure. Now that it’s becoming clear that it will not do what was promised should it be brought back to the ballot box with accurate information?
• Should commuter rail be expanded with cost effective solutions instead of the gold plated version that has been built so far?
• Since Light Rail clearly will not be implemented between counties for a long time to come, should a separate measure be on the ballot for each county involved in Sound Transit and the RTID?
• Should we charge every family $125 for mass transit whether they use it or not, or should we just charge them $100 each (Oops, my mistake, that one is on the survey).
• Should the Sound Transit board be replaced with people who are honest about what they’re really asking from taxpayers?
• We’re already taking money from every gallon of gas you buy and from the license fees we charge you for the privilege of owning a vehicle, would you like us to also take some money from every purchase of anything that you make by adding another half of a percent to the sales tax, making it 9.3% in Tacoma (another oops, that one is on there too)?
• Do you think we should have asked different questions?

I’m sure there are other questions that could be asked. Please take the survey and then come here and add any questions into the comments that you think should have been on it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Puget Sound, Tacoma Contradictions, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.