A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered.
Contributors
Peter Callaghan is a local columnist. He’s covered the
statehouse and state politics since 1981. Before joining The News
Tribune in 1985, the Stadium High grad worked for newspapers in Everett
and Lewiston, Idaho, and for The Associated Press in Olympia and
Seattle. Email
Peter
Joe Turner has covered state government and transportation
issues since 1990. Since the Bellarmine grad’s arrival in the newsroom
in 1978, he’s covered police, suburban cities, Tacoma City Hall,
Federal Way City Hall and the Pierce and King county governments. Email Joe
David Wickert covers Pierce County government. Before coming to
The News Tribune in 1998, he covered local government for newspapers in
Illinois, Virginia and Tennessee. Email David
Ian Demsky is a general assignment reporter who specializes in
database-driven reporting. He's been at the News Tribune since 2007 and has
previously worked in Nashville, Tenn. and Portland, Ore. When he's not at
work, he enjoys hiking and science fiction. Email Ian
Les Blumenthal has been covering Washington, D.C. for The News
Tribune since 1990, focusing on issues and politicians involving the
state. Before joining The News Tribune, he spent 13 years working for
The Associated Press in Seattle, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Email Les
John Henrikson is a local news editor who oversees political coverage. He's worked as a journalist in the
Northwest for 19 years, supervising coverage and reporting on local and
state government, the environment and growth. Email John
• Adam Wilson (The Olympian)
• Politics Northwest (Seattle Times)
• Sound Politics
• Horse's Ass
• Richard Roesler's Eye on Olympia (Spokesman Review)
• P-I's Strange Bedfellows (Seattle PI)
• Crosscut
• Statewide School Employee Pay
• City of Tacoma Employee Pay
• Pierce County Employee Pay
• King County Employee Pay
• Metro Parks Employee Pay
• City of Lakewood Employee Pay
• City of Puyallup Employee Pay
• Pierce Transit Employee Pay
• How your lawmaker voted: WashingtonVotes.org
- All
- Attorney General (145)
- Auditor (41)
- Campaign news (1063)
- Congress (198)
- Education (71)
- Environment (17)
- Federal Government (8)
- Funny stuff (57)
- Governor (662)
- Initiatives and Referenda (147)
- Insurance Commissioner (26)
- Journalism (32)
- King County (143)
- Lands Commissioner (41)
- Legislature (1114)
- Lobbying (34)
- Lt. Governor (36)
- Media (1)
- Open Government (38)
- Pierce County (537)
- President (480)
- Inauguration (25)
- Stimulus (12)
- Public Safety (44)
- Ruston (12)
- Schools Superintendent (65)
- Seattle (54)
- Secretary of State (83)
- State budget (387)
- State government (942)
- Suburbs (48)
- Supreme Court (41)
- Tacoma (421)
- Taxes (183)
- Transit (122)
- Transportation (115)
- Treasurer (31)
- Voting (260)
- Washington State Patrol (4)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
- July 2009 (6)
- June 2009 (138)
- May 2009 (164)
- April 2009 (273)
- March 2009 (202)
- February 2009 (148)
- January 2009 (182)
- December 2008 (158)
- November 2008 (240)
- October 2008 (175)
- September 2008 (127)
- August 2008 (110)
- More...
That's what Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson told the City Council during Tuesday's study session.
Anderson, a Sound Transit board member, said the transit agency still is working on an initial plan for what a new regional transportation system might look like. It had hoped to finish by this week, but has postponed its target date from Thursday to April 24.
No decision has been made whether to put something to voters this year, in 2010 or later, Anderson added.
Anderson also referenced a "tug-of-war" between proponents of a north-south rail connector and local streetcar backers. She said it doesn't need to be an either-or proposition.
Sound Transit may be able to buy right-of-way and begin preliminary engineering work for a light rail connection between Sea-Tac and Tacoma, and also extend the Tacoma Link light rail, she said.
Anderson said it's not Sound Transit's job to build local streetcar systems. But it could create a springboard for the City of Tacoma and Pierce Transit.
One thing officials learned from exit polls is that voters said the roads and transit package was too big and would have taken too long to deliver service, Anderson said.
As a result, Sound Transit officials now are looking at what could be done in 12 years instead of 20, and for a 0.4 cent sales tax increase versus a 0.5 cent increase.
No matter what Sound Transit settles on as its new plan, it won't include a central Link to Sea Tac. The cost has gone up too much since the failure of last fall's roads and transit proposition. "It's going to be a while until people see cranes in the air," Anderson said.
So, are these encouraging words to the folks at Tacoma Streetcar? Or is it disheartening?
COMMENTS:
That said, I can certainly see benefits to "Link"ing the Puget Sound corridor, even if I don't believe that should be top priority. Without having seen the actual figures, I could tentatively support ST spending some Pierce County subarea funds to acquire the right-of-way from Tacoma to the King County border now before it gets even harder or more expensive to do so, as long as Tacoma Link gets extended at least to Tacoma General as well.
In regards to Tacoma streetcars, I think many supporters are hoping ST gets involved primarily because there's so little faith in the City of Tacoma actually finding the funds and political motivation to make it happen themselves. Perhaps the idea of a $20 car tabs increase that would go to street projects that was reported in today's paper could be even higher and also go toward a streetcar network?
I sure hope Tacoma does this car tabs increase. I have a hard time understanding why there would be so much opposition to a $20/year increase. The potholes around my neighborhood near Frisko Freeze easily cause more wear and tear on my car than $20/year! Heck, I'd be fine with a $50 increase, especially if some of that went to funding a streetcar network that could reduce congestion, reduce car pollution, and improve property values!
It is entirely appropriate to expand LINK within Tacoma.
The next Sound Transit package has to stand on its own merits if it expects Tacoma residents to vote for it.
So, are these encouraging words to the folks at Tacoma Streetcar? Or is it disheartening?
Given the number of Tacoma civic groups and neighborhoods that have lined up for an extension in LINK as a priority for Sound Transit package, I don't see any ST package finding much support in Tacoma without a significant extension of LINK within the city on a priority time line.
Fortunately, the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Seattle Transit groups have come to a similar conclusion.
...unless those local streetcar systems are located in Seattle?
We pay taxes to ST, we supposedly have Pierce County representation on the ST Board, but so far all we've gotten out of the deal is a toy train that goes like 15 blocks. No future ST ballot proposal should get a single vote from Tacoma unless it includes LINK extensionS that at least begin to approach what has been done for Seattle.
Seattle and other areas are unlikely to pass ST3 for Tacoma's sake. Tacoma needs to have something stand alone in this round to be worth voting for. With all of its flaws, the last ST proposal which failed at least had light rail within 20 years.
Comments are not allowed from anonymous visitors. Please login or register to comment.
