The vote to approve the 15-year transit plan was 16-2. King County Executive Ron Sims and King County Councilman Peter von Reichbauer were the only "no" votes.

The plan provides $17.9 billion to build light rail to Lynnwood, Redmond and Federal Way, plus more bus and Sounder commuter rail service.

The Sound Transit board's second vote - when to submit the plan to voters in a three-county area - was 18-0 to put it on the November ballot instead of waiting until 2010.

The plan would raise the sales tax in most of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties by 0.5 percent.

It would take another public vote to come up with the money to extend light rail to Tacoma. Light rail would reach South 272nd Street at the northern edge of Federal Way in 2023.

Pierce County's share of the package would be up to four more round-trip Sounder trains between Tacoma and Seattle (and connecting Lakewood, too).

There also would be more bus service from Tacoma to Sea-Tac Airport and Seattle.

Update: Here is Sound Transit's press release on the package:

=> Read more!

The Secretary of State's office finished counting a sample of the signatures on Initiative 1000, and found enough of them were valid to qualify for the November general election.

Election ‘08: Initiative 1000 cleared for November ballot

OLYMPIA…Secretary of State Sam Reed announced Thursday that Initiative Measure No. 1000, former Governor Booth Gardner’s measure dealing with assisted suicide or “Death with Dignity,” has enough valid signatures to qualify for a spot on the statewide ballot in November.

According to elections officials, a random check of petition signatures submitted in support of the proposal showed that the measure meets the constitutional requirement for a minimum of 224,880 valid signatures of registered voters. It is the second initiative to be certified for the Nov. 4 General Election ballot. Initiative 985, Tim Eyman’s measure dealing with transportation, was certified last week. One other measure, Initiative 1029, which would provide for certification of long-term care aides, will be checked next. Sponsors of I-1029 submitted more than 300,000 signatures.

The official ballot summary prepared by the state Attorney General for I-1000 says: “This measure would permit terminally ill, competent, adult Washington residents medically predicted to die within six months, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician. The measure requires two oral and one written request, two physicians to diagnose the patient and determine the patient is competent, a waiting period, and physician verification of an informed patient decision. Physicians, patients and others acting in good faith compliance would have criminal and civil immunity.”

The complete text is available online at www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/people.aspx?y=2008.

Sponsors of I-1000 submitted 317,272 signatures to the Secretary of State by the July 3 turn-in deadline. Election officials conducted a 3 percent random sample of 9,520 signatures, checking that the person was a registered state voter and that the signature matched the one on file. The check showed that 8,546 signatures were valid and the rest were not registered, duplicate signatures or otherwise invalid. The statistically valid random sample was used to project that Gardner’s initiative secured more than enough signatures.

Talking to supporters in downtown Tacoma and calling the cleanup of the Thea Foss waterway an inspiration to other seaside communities across western Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire launched a two-day campaign boat tour that focused on her work with a new state agency created to promote the cleanup of Puget Sound.

Gregoire also announced that, should a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell become law, an office of the Environmental Protection Agency overseeing the cleanup will be located in the to-be-built Urban Waters building in Tacoma.

“This is undeniable what’s going on right here,” she said. “I don’t want to put the money in more studies. I want to get things done. We had studies when I was at (the Department of) Ecology. It’s time for us to move forward.”

And Gregoire is relying on the Puget Sound Partnership, created last year with the goal to clean up the Sound by 2020, to coordinate the work. She said the Sound should be on par with Chesapeake Bay as a working, livable, healthy body of water.

Gregoire’s stop in Tacoma lasted less than an hour, and the tour continued to Des Moines, Seattle and Edmonds. On Friday, she will cruise from Bainbridge Island to Twanoh State Park on the Hood Canal and finish in Bremerton.

“How do you do a bus tour and talk about Puget Sound?” she said. “We wanted to bring attention to the good things going on in the Sound.”

=> Read more!

The cities of Federal Way, Burien and Lynnwood all had council members voicing their support for Sound Transit's proposed 15-year plan.

The plan would bring light-rail to South 272nd Street, northern boundary of Federal Way, and to Lynnwood by 2023.

Lynne Griffith, president of the Washington State Transit Assocation, and spokesman for Futurewise, also favors putting the plan on the November ballot.

Snohomish County Councilman Mike Cooper, a former state representative, also asked the ST board to put the plan on the ballot. He said he hopes the board later will commit to hiring "local union workers" and local union companies to build the projects.

Aubrey Davis, former Mercer Island mayor and former state Transportation Commission chairman, urged the board to get on with it.

Davis is in his 80s. He's been around for almost all of the planning for the rapid transit plan for the region.

"We've been working on this for 40 years," Davis said. "Let's get going."

The Washington state Democratic Party's Coordinated Campaign will soon become the "Campaign for Change," according to an e-mail from party Chairman Dwight Pelz to party leaders.

Obama's Campaign for Change "will operate as a project of the Washington State Democratic Party," according to the e-mail forwarded to us by a party insider.

Look for an official announcement from the Obama campaign later this week.

Click on to read the full text of the e-mail:

=> Read more!

Former state Sen. Jim Horn, a Mercer Island Republican,just testified. He noted the sales tax in the 15-year plan that Sound Transit appears poised to put on the ballot is 0.5 percent. That was the same tax source that Sound Transit was going to get from the $18 billion Proposition 1 ballot measure that was defeated.

"Your proposal is not a reduced program," said Horn, now president of the Eastside Transportation Association. "The taxes are the same. The only thing you've reduced is the amount of infrastructure you promise to deliver.

"You can't fool the public when the taxes are the same," Horn said.

The plan mainly changes the horizon. Instead of building parts of the light-rail system through 2027, the new plan would build until 2023, and then would need voter approval to continue.

Trevor Curtis, the Sound Transit IT guru, fixed my laptop so I can take advantage of the wireless features in the Ruth Fisher room of Union Station, where Sound Transit board holds its meeting.

My thanks to Trevor and Linda Robson, Sound Transit spokewoman.

More to come.

Pierce County voters in November will get a chance to tweak the process of appointing citizens to various boards and commissions.

The Pierce County Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to send a revised appointment process to voters in the form of an amendment to the county charter.

The county executive appoints people to numerous county boards, ranging from the Planning Commission to the Chemical Dependency Advisory Board. The County Council must approve the appointments.

In cases where the appointee must come from a specific County Council district, the executive must choose from among three people recommended by the council member representing that district.

In November voters will consider:

• Requiring the council member to recommend candidates within 30 days of a board vacancy.

• Requiring the executive to forward appointments to the council within 60 days of a vacancy.

• Allowing the council to make appointments for positions vacant 90 days or more.
Council Chairman Terry Lee, R-Gig Harbor, said the council is trying to ensure vacancies are filled in a timely manner. He said there have been some cases in which boards failed to reach a quorum because of vacancies.

Lee said he doesn’t think board vacancies have been a big problem. But he supported the measure – proposed by Councilman Roger Bush, R-Graham.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Lee said of the proposed changes. “But I don’t know that there’s a real need for it.”

I’m trying to reach Bush and County Executive John Ladenburg.

Gov. Chris Gregoire asked us press hacks if there was a card-everyone-who-enters-a-bar law. Why? Because after attending some of last week’s Capital Lakefair festivities, she entered Hannah's Sports Bar & Grill. The guy manning the front door asked to see her ID.

She left hers in the car. And even when the doorman was told who he was carding, he was adamant. She needed to show ID.

“Do you guys see something that I don’t see in the mirror?” she asked, laughing.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is speaking before a group of about 50 people at the Des Moines harbor now. She spent about 10 minutes speaking near the Museum of Glass on the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma, and then she took an hour-long boat ride here.

The topic of conversation was the Puget Sound Partnership. The pack is about to head back to Tacoma, and I’ll have more about what she said online shortly.

Someone forwarded this e-mail from Washington Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond to Sound Transit officials. It makes for interesting reading.

From: Hammond, Paula [mailto:HammonP@wsdot.wa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:22 PM
To: Earl, Joni; Ilgenfritz, Ric
Subject: WSDOT ST2 Response
Joni and Ric,
First, thank you for the thorough briefing this morning (and afternoon). I can tell that Brian and Ric and the rest of your staff have carefully worked this plan to achieve the long term goals of high capacity transit for the various subareas of the region.

I continue to have concerns on the level (or lack thereof) of immediate bus service relief for the region's commuters, who are suffering at the
gas pump and in their family budgets. I don't believe it's enough to ask people to tax themselves now for a long term transit benefit, without offering more of an immediate transit relief to get them through these tough times.

To that end, and in keeping in mind your ability/capacity to support extraordinary levels of bus service I have attached a proposal that I'd like you to consider. The four year "surge" of service provides bus rides now to meet the ever-increasing demand in key corridors of the region. As local transit providers ramp up their services through their various transit plans (over the next 4 years), ST could hand over the service routes in 2015 and beyond.

I also would like to get resolution on your letter on the 1-90 light rail cost commitment by the end of the day. I'm preparing an ammendment to propose to the board if we are unable to reach an by the end of the day. Let me know what your thoughts are. I'm going into another meeting now, but Jo can find me if you need to talk.
Thanks again,
Paula

Here's a link to a map of what the Sound Transit board is likely to adopt today.

I'll be heading up there in about 90 minutes for the 1 p.m. board meeting. Sound Transit's Linda Robson is going to help me tap into their wireless network so I can blog live from the meeting.

The Washington Policy Center thinks the Sound Transit plan is a huge waste of money, costing something like $700,000-plus for every new rider. Here's a link to the center's view of the world.