SURVEY: Councilmember Saka seeking D-1 opinions on proposed transportation levy

| Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

When the mayor introduced his transportation-levy proposal Thursday (WSB coverage here), that opened a three-week period for feedback to further shape it before he formally sends it to the City Council. The councilmember who will lead the council’s review, District 1’s Rob Saka, is asking for your opinions too, in a survey. It’s short, asking you to rank 10 potential spending areas in the order you’d want to see them prioritized – and also asking if you have a priority you don’t see on the list. Here’s where to find Councilmember Saka’s survey.

Jay April 6, 2024 (7:00 pm)

It’s a weasel move lumping tree canopy protection in with personal EV charging. The mayor and conservatives on the council want to make it easier to cut down big trees. Most people are against this, but also don’t want to see city funds going to personal EV charging. I refuse to take the survey like this.

Amy April 6, 2024 (7:26 pm)

OMG I just noticed that-AFTER I took the survey. Lame.
KM April 6, 2024 (9:04 pm)

I noticed that too. Ugh.
Donna April 7, 2024 (5:48 am)

This seems to be a survey created by Saka to provide him with information that he’ll hopefully use in the process. Send him an email about the tree canopy. That’s what I’m going to do. Or try to sign up for one of his virtual office hours. I was pleasantly surprised when I got a response from a staff member and virtual appointment with them (not Rob) because they said all the in person and virtual appointments had quickly filled. They took copious notes about my ideas about affordable housing and residential density and assured me it would all be passed on to Saka. Granted I’ve sent several emails about other things and received no response but the response offering virtual time when I asked for it came within a couple days.
- ttt April 7, 2024 (7:53 pm)
  
  Saka’s survey takes the choices straight from the city’s plan pages. He did not make up the choices on this survey.
Shawn April 7, 2024 (9:02 am)

Why are you assuming they are going to cut down more trees than they plant? It just says Tree Canopy. Which I interpret as Pay Attention To Tree Canopy. As in plant more trees. Also we need more chargers, and significantly more reliable chargers with attendents like any gas station. Lack of reliable charging infrastructure is right behind high initial price in keeping people on gas burning cars. Prices will come down over time, but we need chargers.I will agree it’s weird they are tied together, but they are both good things.
- sgs April 7, 2024 (7:33 pm)
  
  I read it the same way. City tree canopy and EV charging stations are not mutually exclusive. I would also understand “personal EV charging” to mean general infrastructure for everyone, not “private EV charging” on private property. But I guess we’ll find out as this develops.
- Jay April 8, 2024 (1:20 am)
  
  New tree policies in Seattle require cutting all significant trees on lots to be developed. 1 for of space for every 1″ diameter. The city is making developers clear cut old trees. We’ll both be dead before any seedlings reach the size of many of the trees being cut down.
people over trees April 7, 2024 (9:34 am)

“Tree canopy” is a dog whistle for NIMBY politics. If people are dying in tents because we lack housing, trees are not a priority. Trees grow back, dead people don’t.
- Shawn April 8, 2024 (7:24 am)
  
  False dichotomy. You can be a yimby and pro tree at the same time. Yes you have to cut down trees sometimes to build houses. Fine! Plant two more trees. Problem solved.
CAM April 7, 2024 (3:17 pm)

I don’t support your personal gasoline refueling. Can we stop the infrastructure support for that?

AF12 April 6, 2024 (9:48 pm)

Seattle needs to look at the city of Bellevue’s Traffic Impact Fee as an example/ model to improve its transportation infrastructure. In addition, I don’t believe the city can use “Levy” to do maintenance on its existing infrastructure. The levy should be only used for new capital transportation projects.

sixbuck April 6, 2024 (11:42 pm)

I don’t think we should be giving politicians more means for separating us from our money.

TheArroyos April 7, 2024 (1:15 am)

Thanks to your comments I was able to clarify that preserving tree canopies is vital while personal EV charging infrastructure is a luxury for some. Tax dollars should not be used for this.

Sigh April 7, 2024 (8:27 am)

Poor fright and cargo. No random resident of any neighborhood is going to put those first, but they still have a big impact (that most people don’t understand) on the area. Would be great to have leadership that was able to look at the whole picture and just make good decisions for everyone.

bill April 7, 2024 (9:49 pm)

Oh I understand the impact the Port has. It mooches off property tax payers instead of running a tight operation and clogs and damages the roads with diesel-belching trucks.