I almost always support mass transit, BUT ST3 is too large, fails to address the issues of congestion or target suburban growth, and has astronomical cost. I used a calculator made available by a pro ST3 group and my own taxes would go up over $1000/year for the indefinite future.
I think the project needs to be redesigned to deal with three more focused but disparate issues: 1. Seattle’s needs for transit between the part scattered around by our odd mix of city and waterways, 2. The need to support growth of adjacent urban centers like Everett and Tacoma. This would take some of the growth pressure off of Seattle. We do not need or ant the endless urbanize model of LA by building mass transit that just supports suburbs around a mother city. 3. The need to ties Seattle and Vancouver BC together,
Do we really want to turn Seattle into LA?? I want to see the city build real mass transit in a spoke and wheel fashion so folks can live in West Seattle, Rainier Valley, Lake City and east of the Lake and get into the city easily without a car.
I also want high speed, frequent transit to satellite regions able to sustain their own down towns .. Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham, Vancouver BC, perhaps even Spoikane. ST3 does none of this and at its price will prevent this sort of development.
Look at the tax calculators. Fo me it means about $1500/yr in new taxes. Look at this as raising the cots of housing in Seattle. Imagine Seattle as Manhattan surrounded by suburbs and ghetto’s extending from the shores pf Elliot Bay to the mountains.
Or is that what we already have?