It didn’t get repealed.
Last week I posted this message about the other Mayoral candidates working to eliminate funding for neighborhood streets and pedestrian improvements, while simultaneously supporting the $4.2 billion viaduct tunnel. With the Mayor flip-flopping and almost all the candidates urging elimination of this funding source, repeal looked like a done deal.
Early In the Campaign Season, the Pressure Was On To Repeal the Head Tax
But I wasn’t the only one calling out these skewed priorities. Neighborhood, environmental and pedestrian advocates urged the City Council to keep the “head tax,” not just for neighborhood improvements, but for the jobs it provides.
And today, the city council indicated that they are going to put off any discussion of repealing the head tax until the end of the year.
Good for them. Cutting money for local streets and local jobs because of the “symbolism” of the tax just doesn’t pass the smell test.
We are in an era where we have to make real choices about how we are going to build the Seattle we want. If we want to reduce taxes and wasteful spending then let’s get out of the bad deal to build a deep-bore tunnel on the waterfront. It’s time to move from a manufactured debate about the head tax to a real debate about Seattle’s priorities.
A municipal fiber-optic network would “address poverty, the digital divide, environmental sustainability, the need for civic engagement, education, and many other concerns,” said Reclaim the Media’s executive director, Jonathan Lawson, in a Seattle PostGlobe report yesterday. Michael McGinn similarly views a municipal fiber-optic network as an opportunity to boost the economy and create jobs, to close the digital divide, and to give consumers a better deal. Reclaim the Media, a Seattle nonprofit organization, is urging the City of Seattle to build a municipal fiber-optic network within six years, the PostGlobe reported, and McGinn has promised to build such a network when elected mayor.
Federal stimulus funds could partly finance a municipal fiber-optic network, Reclaim the Media noted, because the federal American Recovery and Renewal Act Initial allocated $7.2 billion for local governments to build modern Internet broadband infrastructure. continue reading »
Greg Nickels today announced he would eliminate the “head tax” on Seattle businesses, which currently collects $4.7 million a year for street repair and walking and biking improvements.
If Nickels really cared about taxes, transportation, and local businesses, he would stop championing the $4.2 billion tunnel project, which includes a $930 million commitment from Seattle residents in new taxes, utility rate increases, and local fees. Even worse, the state legislature has passed a law requiring Seattle to pay for all cost overruns, which on a project like this could run into billions of dollars. continue reading »
The voters of Seattle are speaking clearly: They want a mayor who understands the $4.2 billion tunnel is a boondoggle. But more than that, they want a mayor who, instead of dedicating $1 billion of city money for a two-mile-long tunnel and leaving Seattle taxpayers on the hook for cost overruns, will allocate more resources to Seattle’s real priorities: reducing overcrowding on buses, improving our public schools, and preparing for a clean-energy economy.
A poll recently commissioned by the McGinn for Mayor campaign shows that voters don’t want the tunnel:
continue reading »
Last night was the first public candidates forum that included both Nickels and Drago. The media, which loves reporting on conflict, was probably looking for the negative campaigning.
But I think voters want a debate about the future of Seattle. So I try to accomplish two things in my limited speaking time.
First, point out that we have to make good choices in our future — schools, transit, internet infrastructure and community — and oppose the bad choice of the tunnel , whose cost and potential cost over-runs threaten all our other priorities. continue reading »
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