Not one more cent down a rat hole. Pacific Ave between 512 and 176th is some of the worst traffic in the state and I will not address buses, trains or whatever for our rich, northern neighbors as long as the street remain clogged down here, where people are working and receiving Seattle wages and paying Spanaway prices for housing. I'm more than ready to see what Rossi can do with this mess...the demoncrats sure can't get 'er done. Randi for Senate, as well.

We need roads not bus and rail lines. You truly can build your way out of congestion, but you surely can't rail and bus your way out of it.

Most locally don't disagree with the need for better transportation. The arguement is with again a package that places most of the improvements in King County leaving little for Pierce. We are paying for cake and getting crumbs. Pierce needs to pull out of this lopsided "partnership". It's not working and we need to seek a better agency for meeting our transportation goals and needs.

Pay me now or pay me later when it will cost a lot more.

I wonder if Brian Sontag, WA State Auditor would be interested in the fact that Auburn is charging $100 a month for stalls paid for by taxpayers money for Sound Transit parking garage?

I think it would be interesting to see what Auburn is doing with the money...

I guess my husband should fork out the $100 a month to have his own reserved parking stall at the Auburn station. It will probably be $200 a month by September and $300 by the end of the year!!

Michael, you are 100% correct about where that $100 goes. It should be going to ST. I wonder if what the City of Auburn is doing is legal. I know it isn't ethical!

IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON! It hasn't been for decades. This project along with roads should have been in the leaders ability to see into the future and prepare!! The public was telling them but they DON'T LISTEN! I'm voting NO! my wallet doesn't have anymore to give!

$100 a month at Auburn isn’t one of them.

But I'm tired of all the broken promises and blackmail that has been a part of this ST issue from the beginning. Remember, it's a Presidential election year, so the power's that be at ST are "banking" on many more voters actually voting.

Michael,

Yes, it's true that you can have your very own parking spot in the Auburn ST garage for $100 a month. My understanding is that when the garage was in the planning stages
for the Auburn ST station, the City of Auburn would only authorize a parking structure IF they were promised a certain number of parking stalls in said garage for shoppers in downtown Auburn. I don't recall the exact number of stalls, but think it was 30-40? When the shoppers did not appear and utilize said spaces, ST riders put the heat on the directors of ST to force the City of Auburn to "give up" some of these unused spaces. This was the solution that the city came up with. Oh...the $$$$ does NOT go to ST...it goes to the City of Auburn!!! Talk about blackmail!!!

Park and rides for metro buses have NEVER charged for parking. HELLO...isn't that part of what we are being "taxed" for??? The principal of the 6 P's is very obvious here. Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!! That was one of my friend's favorite phrases. There is no way in he-- I'm voting for this "new" plan. I voted NO for the first plan also.

Apologize for the long rant on my first post.

I agree w/another person on here, what about parking? I have heard they were going to use some of the money for more parking for Puyallup/Sumner. There has been talk of moving or making another stop North of Sumner too. Is it true that Auburn is charging $100 a month to park in the garage at the ST Station in Auburn? That may be the next step to get more money from each location, charge for the parking.

But still going to vote NO NO NO

For the person who mentioned building another freeway: There have long been plans or thoughts of a plan to extend another Interstate Freeway from I-90/Hwy 18 interchange North and meet up at I-5 North of Marysville. Will it ever happen? Probably not. But I like that idea of build one as a toll road and that would take away some of the traffic that doesn't need to go through Seattle. How much? Who knows?

Build a freeway, please tell me where? There is no space for another freeway. The only options are other options. Bus/trains are a couple. Living closer to work. Walking/bicycling. We need more options beside the car!

I've seen the same situation in South Florida over 20 years ago. This region has only ONE North South expressway that can take you from Seattle to Tacoma. It's not enough and it never will be. There needs to be serious discussion towards building another freeway to carry the traffic.
Light rail will not make the traffic go away. Adding HOV lanes has proven to be a joke because now they are so under-used that the State is using them as a source of revenue.
The South Florida answer was the creation of two additional North-South Freeways. They were constructed with funds from tolls. That, I'm sorry to say, is the most viable answer. They don't have the difficulty that we have with hills and valleys, their land is flat and they filled in a large part of the Everglades, so construction was easier. But, I think that somebody had better start looking at the construction of at least one more North-South freeway paid for with tolls.

Sound transit, the pickpocket of the Northwest, takes the money and vanishes leaving virtually nothing to show for what they promised they would do for decades now!
When are people going to wise up to the biggest con in the Northwest?

Because, the poll that Sound Transit said it did came out with different result, so what was Sound Transit's poll questions and who did they ask?

It just makes sense to follow-up with the details of this story; for example, The News Tribune should ask Sound Transit's poll-taker-people this polling-difference-question and publish an article why the poll differences results apparent between this TNT poll and the positive completed Sound Transit polling? I, for one person, would be interested in the polling results differences and why?

ALL have cars and will probably never use it. If they use it once, it's still statictically zero. Save yourselves about 50 billion (the actual cost after delays, inflation, etc.) That amount could probably buy a new Mercedes for every man and woman in this state. Pull your heads out.

Ask people how light rail in Portland is working. Check out how much it costs the taxpayers over the fares being paid.

I will vote NO.

As Dave Ross show stated today, 17 billion now, 22 billion total cost over 30 years...Sound Transit won't tell us the TRUTH what it will cost.

I too, am in favor of more buses and Sounder Trains. However, to get hourly service from Seattle to Tacoma to Dupont, we will have to pay BNSF to triple track their line from Tacoma to Seattle. Most of the track Tacoma to Nisqually is single track, there will need to be more double track in areas. There are plans in place tp triple track in Auburn area North, but no room in Puyallup or through Sumner. The Auburn 3rd main line would start at the South end of the old NP yard in Auburn. We have paid a lot to BNSF already for more track between Seattle/Tacoma.

There are talks supposedly going on between BNSF and Union Pacific to run directional freight trains between Tacoma and Seattle. All trains out of Tacoma would go North on the UP (old Milwaukee) to Tukwila area where the tracks merge back together for the run into Seattle. BNSF tracks would be used by both UP and BNSF for southbound. This would help the flow of trains out of Tacoma heading east. There is also rumors that BNSF and State of WA are going to improve Stampede Pass so double stack trains can go through the tunnel. If that happens, rumor is that UP is going to get trackage rights across Stampede. BNSF needs to get more capacity available on Seattle to Portland for the increase Amtrak Cascades service. Stevens Pass is close to capacity now. And if Ports continue to get more business then Stampede needs to be able to handle doublestack trains. For railfans in this area (I am one), this is an exciting time with all the stuff going on.

But, back to Sound Transit, every time I see someone say "ST is building this new light rail line on time and on budget from Seattle to SeaTac.. BULL!!! It is years late and over budget. Who are they kidding?

Tacoma not seeing light rail to SeaTac for over 20 years? Ridiculous. We don't need light rail running up Pacific Highway, run more buses, it can be implemented sooner at less cost. Why not install Bus Rapid Transit lanes on Pacific Highway where ST Tracks would go. True, it's going to take time to get buses too, since manufacturers have a backlog of orders, plus infrastructure needs to be built to store and service more buses, plus hire more drivers. It would be quicker than building light rail. There was a guy on Dave Ross show about month ago and he said that Seattle's cost per mile for ST Light rail is $174 million dollars a mile!!!! The highest cost in the country! And I thought Tacoma's Light Rail to NOWHERE was bad at 84 million for 1 and 1/4 miles. And they originally said about $35 million to build Tacoma's then it went up to 50 million and up and up and up. Oh yeah, don't forget people, Pacific Avenue is going to be torn up soon from about S. 17th to S. 25 because the road is already got potholes and sinking etc because of the "expertise" of ST engineers. So we have to pay more to fix that.

Pacific Highway from Tukwila S. 128th thru S. 272 has been widened, new sidewalks, new infrastructure installed. S. 272 to approx S. 300th is being done now. Then only section left to put sidewalks and new road, etc would be from S. 336th to Pierce/King County line. So Sound Transit should not have the extra expense of redoing the street/infrastructure like they have had to pay in Seattle down ML King Way. So where will they put ST light rail when it comes South from S. 272nd? Military Road since it needs to be updated?

I still think the light rail should be either elevated and run at higher speeds, that is how you will get more people out of their cars and onto transit. Look at BART in CA. It runs between freeway lanes and you see people stuck in traffic and the trains fly by.

And if you vote YES for this, remember this too...then we are going to hear from the Governor, oh we need another 3 or 4 BILLION to rebuild I-5, so we need to raise your taxes again about 10 cents a gallon on gas and more sales tax and put tolls on all the roads too. We haven't heard anything about rebuilding I-5. They thought gridlock was going to happen last year with the 1 mile stretch in Seattle that was closed? What's going to happen when they tear up I-5 for miles?

They need more buses and trains between Sea/Tac if they rebuild I-5, not a light rail extension that is 15 years away.

Pierce County is taking the shaft on this one.

Oh yeah, for you young people, if Light Rail ever connects Tacoma to the outside world, be ready for an upgrade of the Tacoma section that will cost another 80 million or more. Cause the trainsets and wiring will have to redone. That's already been stated.

Thanks John Ladenburg and Councilwoman Anderson for not getting more for Pierce County like the Snohomish County officials did.
One more reason why I say TERM LIMITS stay in place for Tacoma City Council. Ladenburg is more concerned about being Attorney General and worrying about his "Ladenburg Links" and the tournments. Oh yes, how about Pierce County Taxpayers coughing up another 30 million for the new Clubhouse? Oh yeah, we can float bonds and borry the money cheaper then the company managing the course. And don't forget Councilwoman Anderson wants to be able to call in to meetings/study sessions cause she is already working a job for the State of Washington. If she can't be here for the Council study sessions, you shouldn't be on the job. That is why I want TERM LIMITS to stay in place. Connie needs more time to finish her trail, wish she had the ability to focus more on infrastructure problems in Tacoma like our streets. Hell, we can't even get the City to paint crosswalks anymore, "we don't have the money".

instead of focusing on building link, they should be doing a .2 or .3 sales tax plan (or find some alt. funding source) and add just SOUNDER and ST EXPRESS buses. Lets get all day sounder to DuPont (Hourly atleast), and more parking and feeder buses at sounder stations along with more regional express buses to places not served by sounder.

.

Neglected and patched from roads to bridges we continue to put off rebuilding and reinforcing our infrastructure. It's one of the most important aspects of daily life for people everywhere. Not only that, but improving existing and building new infrastructures employs people across all industries from secretaries and accountants dealing with the paperwork to porta-potty companies to engineers, laborers, manufacturing companies for materials, inspectors, welders, truckers, and more. THAT's an investment worthy of billions. At the end of all that employment they don't leave and we have nothing. They leave and we have a solid mode of transportation and subsequent employment for rail workers in addition to congestion relief on the roads. What is the downside to those benefits?

Sound Transit’s $17.9 billion, just for starters. Then it will be 40 billion, that will be to study it it for awhile. After they study it some more for a few billion then they will need another 50 billion a 100 billion if you want the gold wheels, you do want the gold wheels don't you?Hey what's a few billion here or there, it's not your money really.Liberals, your so funny and retarded.At the cost of this, every person living in Puget Sound could be helicoptered and limousine-d for the rest of their life.Unless the government ran the service, then all bets would be off.Hey Tacoma, Seattle has their million dollar toilets "porta-pottys" for sale.You might get a bargain on them. Their self cleaning and a great place for to do your drugs, or prostitution.Be a great asset to the water front.

I'm voting for this. It's a good compromise. I'm a young guy, and I know that we won't be getting full scale light rail to Tacoma until I'm probably over 40, but that should give time for Tacoma to build up its local transit system and density levels.

For all you people who were around in 1968 who voted against the original plan though, shame on you. The system would have been completed twenty-three years ago and we would have paid off the bonds last year.

Think of the time and money we could have saved when the Feds were funding transit projects on an 80/20 basis instead of a 20/80 basis.