Julie Muhlstein hit the nail on the head in her July 9 column when she asked “Why so mean?” People are overworked, overloaded, and they want to take it out on somebody. For some reason, the people who hate transit speak up the loudest. Tim Eyman, the loudest transit-hater of all, has discovered a way to cash in big on being mean.
Initiative 745 was based upon some vague notion that 90 percent of people own cars therefore 90 percent of the money should be spent on roads. Luckily, the voters saw through this deception and told this initiative to hit the road. Now Referendum 51, a close cousin of I-745, is slated for the ballot this fall, mandating 85 percent of transportation funding be spent on roads. Tim Eyman couldn’t have written a better roads initiative himself.
Eyman speaks with contempt about anyone who would dare oppose him whether it be the media, the transit-dependent or the state Supreme Court. His formula for cutting taxes is to get back at the rich and the elite by cutting services to the working class and transit dependent. He has yet to explain how that makes any sense.
He says that cutting spending to agencies like Sound Transit will make them more accountable. Giving the agency less money doesn’t make them any more or less accountable. The same people responsible for the alleged waste will still be in charge of the money. If anything, the waste would become an even larger percentage of the spending as the meat of programs is cut and the wasteful spending would continue.
Of all of the agencies with problems, only Sound Transit has been targeted by this anti-tax warrior. While the rest of the state suffers from these arbitrary tax cuts, Mr. Eyman has found a formula that works to line his pockets while claiming to be the savior of overburdened taxpayers.
People For Modern Transit
Seattle
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