Election 2014: Final Prop 1 results; looking ahead to I-118; mayor to announce ‘proposal to save Metro’

The final results are in from the April 22nd vote on transit/roads-money Proposition 1:

No – 239,834 – 53.95%
Yes – 204,734 – 46.05%

The county says that’s a 39 percent turnout – a bit more than the predicted 38 percent. The final precinct-by-precinct breakout is out too ~~(not mapped yet)~~, earlier than expected. (Added 9 pm, a map by Oran Viriyincy, who gave us permission to use it – you’ll have to grab it and drag it to get West Seattle centered up, and from there you can zoom all the way in to your precinct – mouse over a precinct to see its vote results:)

(back to original report) Earlier breakouts showed Prop 1 would have won if it had been a Seattle-only vote, which has heartened supporters of what is now Seattle Initiative 118, a property-tax increase to raise money for Seattle bus routes. They have four weeks to gather enough signatures to get it onto the ballot, and today they announced a list of endorsements, including West Seattle’s two state House reps, Rep. Eileen Cody and Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon. If they get enough signatures, they’re aiming for the November ballot, which still could leave enough time to stave off planned bus cuts; for example, the four routes that Metro says it will “delete” in West Seattle are not proposed for that “deletion” until September of next year.

ADDED 7:21 PM: After The Stranger reported that Mayor Ed Murray asked a legislator to pull his support for I-118, the mayor’s office tweeted that Murray is getting ready to announce his own plan:

@dominicholden the mayor is putting forth his own proposal to save metro later this week.

— SEA Mayor's Office (@OfficeofMayor) May 7, 2014

gotb May 6, 2014 (9:14 pm)

Murray got a call from some state bigwigs who told him to kill a Seattle solution for transit because they know they need Seattle votes to pass a statewide transportation referendum, and they know they can only get those Seattle votes by holding transit hostage to highways. It’s extortion, pure and simple, and Murray is too wishy-washy to stand up to them. McGinn knew how to talk back to the state dogma, I sure do miss him. And hey! Isn’t it funny that Murray came out against transit funding right after McGinn endorsed it? Coincidence??? Talk about being a sore winner. I’ve had enough of Murray and it sucks in a huge way that were stuck with the spineless schmuck for the next four years.

rob May 6, 2014 (9:32 pm)

Gotb, ditto

rob May 6, 2014 (9:39 pm)

Raise buss fares 20 cents thats it, thats all it will take to save metro. And that was there number before the vote

WSB May 6, 2014 (9:50 pm)

There was a 25-cent fare increase planned in connection with Prop 1.

AmandaKH May 6, 2014 (10:43 pm)

The $.25 increase is happening. It wasn’t actually part of Prop 1.

WSB May 6, 2014 (10:46 pm)

Which is why I wrote “in connection with” and not “as part of.” The whole thing was packaged and announced together, as noted here and other places, even though the fine print clarified that the fare hike wasn’t in the ballot measure:
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https://westseattleblog.com/2014/01/sales-tax-increase-vehicle-fee-fare-hike-proposed-to-hold-off-metro-cuts-could-go-to-april-vote/

tmr98126 May 6, 2014 (10:56 pm)

I know we shouldn’t count our chickens before they hatch, but what are the receipts from the Marijuana tax earmarked for?

Eric1 May 7, 2014 (12:59 am)

It would seem that the vote for buses would go over pretty easily in the city. I just hope we ditch King County and either re-establish Seattle Metro or simply contract King County to only supply Seattle routes. This would not be just the added taxes but all the taxes collected within the city.
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Hopefully somebody will put forth a plan that follows the vote. King county is simply not interested in bus service.

Gene May 7, 2014 (6:51 am)

NO increase in property taxes to fund transit. Make it more of a user fee- increase bus fares to be closer to what it actually costs to ride .

MCJ May 7, 2014 (7:51 am)

Gene,
That’s not how it works.

ivan May 7, 2014 (9:33 am)

“they know they need Seattle votes to pass a statewide transportation referendum, and they know they can only get those Seattle votes by holding transit hostage to highways. It’s extortion, pure and simple, and Murray is too wishy-washy to stand up to them. McGinn knew how to talk back to the state dogma, I sure do miss him.”
—
The McGinn backers live in denial, like the defeated Confederates after the Civil War. They deny that, as the population of the state and region expands, so will the need for highways, along with transit.
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Ed Murray understands that we cannot expand transit without also expanding highways, any more than we can expand highways without expanding transit. Fringe elements on both sides continue to insist on their preferred solution at the expense of the other, when both are needed concurrently.

wetone May 7, 2014 (9:38 am)

X2 Gene, interesting how most bus users have a higher income than the average person that drives but wants everyone else to help pay for their choice in transportation service as it saves them money and convenience. Many people that drive don’t have a choice whether it’s location, their trade, family and so much more. If people want use a service pay for it. I have no problem paying to help out ones that truly are on hard times or low income but I will never vote on any tax increase for Metro till they charge more user fees from the people that use it. Raise the service a $1. per ride, still so much cheaper than parking and all associated cost in driving. Heck a lot of these metro users have their bus fares paid or helped out by there employers anyway and who might that be : )

JoB May 7, 2014 (9:57 am)

if we are stupid enough to let Murray sell us out then we deserve what we get..

West Seattle since 1979 May 7, 2014 (10:14 am)

wetone, the wealthier bus riders would have been the ones more likely to have more than one car, so they would have been paying more had Proposition 1 passed. And they’d be more likely to have higher-priced homes, so if property taxes are being used they’d pay more there too.

WestofJunction May 7, 2014 (10:24 am)

I agree with Ivan – we are not all 30-year old, single, childless and have nothing better to do than to bike back in forth to work in the rain. And no, I don’t hate bikes, but it will never be more than a small segment of the population that prefers this method on a daily basis.

ivan May 7, 2014 (10:30 am)

Well, thanks, West, but I didn’t mention bikes at all. I would say, though, that if people want bike infrastructure expanded, they can hardly expect to get it at the expense of, or in place of, highway expansion.

West Seattle since 1979 May 7, 2014 (10:38 am)

Ivan, the defeated Proposition 1 included money for roads as well as transit.

wetone, I forgot to mention this in my last post, but could you provide a link to statistics that show that “most” bus riders have a higher than average income?

ivan May 7, 2014 (11:36 am)

1979, I am well aware that the defeated Prop. 1 — which I supported vocally — included money for roads. I tried to sell it to voters on that basis. Obviously we did not succeed.

Diane May 7, 2014 (11:56 am)

thanks AmandaKH; I also thought the 25 cents bus fare increase was part of Prop 1; damn, soon low income bus riders won’t even be able to afford to ride the bus
~
for a min wage worker, the RT bus fare can already cost them more than half of their first hour in pay (min wage, $9.32/hr; RT peak bus fare $5, for one-zone); for a min wage worker who can only get PT hrs, that’s a huge hit

Rick May 7, 2014 (12:07 pm)

I think everyone else should pay my way. After all, I live in Seattle and I’m entitled to be entitled.

KeithR May 7, 2014 (12:30 pm)

It is interesting, doing a cursory comparison between the vote map and the service cut maps, that the areas most strongly supporting Prop 1 also seem to be the areas losing the least service.

Also interesting that the demographics in these areas tend to generally be younger people without cars or homes that would be subject to the taxes proposed to maintain the Metro status quo.

West Seattle since 1979 May 7, 2014 (12:39 pm)

Sorry, Ivan! I agree! We need both.

West Seattle since 1979 May 7, 2014 (12:50 pm)

KethR, I noticed the non-support in areas that had already had their service cut too.

I feel like a broken record, but even if they don’t own homes, if they rent their landlords are paying property taxes and probably passing it along to the tenants in their rent. My landlord raised all our rents recently after a large increase in her property taxes.

What kind of tax would be fair, do you think, if property tax is wrong for this?

JoB May 7, 2014 (2:30 pm)

and this.. wouldn’t it be nice if Seattle had a bargaining tool like this?

http://kplu.org/post/would-seattle-transit-initiative-prompt-state-lawmakers-expand-bus-service

tnr98126 May 7, 2014 (9:09 pm)

Prior to giving money to these transportation disasters, it’s time for some audits. They built a new sidewalk on 3rd between Pine and Stewart? I was perfectly happy with the old sidewalk.