MISCmedia by Clark Humphrey » Blog Archive NOTES FROM AN OFF-OFF-OFF-YEAR ELECTION

»
S
I
D
E
B
A
R
«

NOTES FROM AN OFF-OFF-OFF-YEAR ELECTION

November 9th, 2005 by Clark Humphrey

Smoking in bars and restaurants officially ends on Dec. 8. There should be some kind of ceremony. Perhaps a ritual lowering of the giant Camel billboards inside the Showbox, or a ceremonial giveaway of the last Lucky Strike bar ashtrays.
The gas-tax repeal is apparently going down. In double-negative terms, that means the higher gas tax is still on. The viaduct replacement project is still on, as are assorted commuter highway projects. The Republican-leaning rural voters of Eastern Washington, who imagine themselves to be self-reliant but traditionally get more out of gas-tax funds than they pay in, voted for the repeal (i.e., against the tax).
The city and county political establishments, with little organized opposition, easily remained intact, with incumbents winning the races for mayor, county exec, and city council.
And, oh yeah, the monorail finally lost on the fifth vote. This means the four previous votes, and the millions already spent on engineering, design, and real estate, may be for naught. It’s a “victory” of sorts for the municipal establishment, which never liked this populist interloper messing up its carefully planned system of projects. All along, the monorail threatened to takeup taxing and bonding capacity the politicians would rather put to use on their own pet projects.What I’d like to see now: The city should sell or donate the monorail project’s assembled real estate and R&D documents to either King County or Sound Transit, with the proviso that they be used to build a public transit system on the two legs of the monorail route (Ballard to downtown, downtown to West Seattle). This re-christened system need not use monorail technology or elevated tracks. It could involve retro trolleys, modern streetcars, light rail, or even buses on bus-only street lanes. Just as long as it’s something other than expecting everyone to own a private car.
Back East, meanwhile, Democrats won big in Virginia and New Jersey. But in NYC, that supposed liberal hotbed to top all liberal hotbeds, the Republican mayor won an easy re-election with hardly a peep of opposition.