Pierce Transit Plans 34% Cuts for September

13 comments

• M MFP January 15, 2013

  Dislike.

• C Chris January 15, 2013

  I don’t understand how the City Council expects to lobby the legislature for additional transit funding when they already have the power to put a stop to these cuts with their Transportation Benefit District authority. Yes, it needs voter approval, but Tacoma voters approved Prop 1 by a 7,000 vote margin. A TBD vote for a vehicle license fee and/or 0.1% sales tax could be a lifeline for transit riders. An option like this should be on the table.

  The Legislature can be squeamish about granting additional tax authority when municipalities already have tools available to solve their own problems. I wonder how Ryan Mello and Marilyn Strickland would respond to those concerns at a bill hearing in Olympia. Why wait for that uncertainty? Come up with a backup plan that we can move forward with in case the legislature doesn’t come through.

• K Karen January 15, 2013

  The sales tax again! It is time to find another source of funding, otherwise we are going to continue this dance of cutting and adding routes every year.

• J Jesse January 15, 2013

  Did you ever stop to think that the city is holding the TBD monies for funding of LINK expansion and capital improvements? Perhaps they don’t want it spent on everyday operating expenses.

  As well, the sales tax funding mechanism for transit sucks. It’s so inconsistent. They need to fund it with a better idea. I think it should be a tax on surface level (ground level only) parking spots (not curbside spots) at retail stores and pay lots as part of their property taxes. It’d be more consistent funding and take away some emphasis on getting places with a car and more emphasis on transit use. As well, it would make building a parking lot upwards more feasible as far as a per stall cost because you could own a whole garage and as long as there aren’t any stalls on the ground (storefront) level, you wouldn’t pay the tax. It would also make developers use vacant lots for other things besides parking and therefore curb sprawl by encouraging the upwards buildout.

• J Jane January 16, 2013

  Why is it that the poor and disadvantage have to bear the burden again because the city council and transit board of directors forgot that they are 90% of whom use the service Single working mothers catch the bus everyday to provide for thier children. We speak unkindly of them when the go get on welfare but look we are taking another tool away from them to become financially stable. I hate and yes I said hate the way my country is turning I’m a recent returned veteran of operation enduring freedom. To think I and my brotheren fought for the freedoms that which our country has always said we live by, but not today. My cities elected leadership should be ashamed of themselves, career politians who have lost touch with the cities people we are suppose to protect those who are vulnerable. Funny we bail out bankers who took billions and got paid bounuses whom took paid vacation with our tax dollars and foreclosed on honest hardworking people’s homes but we can’t find money to keep the buses running.

• F fred davie January 16, 2013

  Jane, I’m going to nominate your posting for the prestigious “Exit 133 Most Bizarre and Incoherent Posting of the Year.” I can’t stop laughting. Thanks.

• M Mofo from the Hood January 16, 2013

  Tacoma is one city out of thousands of cities in the world. In light of the history of civilization, considering Rome lasted centuries, Tacoma is just a dumbf—k outpost. That’s why things are the way they are.

• T talus January 17, 2013

  Fred’s take on comment #5 is vindictive and uncalled for, but perhaps also premature given #7.

  I’m a big streetcar supporter but do not support funding streetcar expansion until we can provide a functional bus-based transit system for all Tacoma residents. To do otherwise would appear — and probably is — elitist and extravagant. I’d prefer that transit was funded by something less regressive and more dependable than sales tax, but if the state legislature doesn’t fix that this year, our bus problem needs to be addressed with the taxing authority that actually exists.

• M Mofo from the Hood January 18, 2013

  RE: #8, sentence 1—Sometimes I tend to write comments that are more poetic than literal, but no apologies. Tacoma is a dumbf—k outpost. Year in and year out, confidence schemes in both the private and public sector best characterizes Tacoma. Winning in Tacoma is about enrolling your neighbor in a monthly plan that will have them giving you money for years. Of course, this is how all cities tend to function. Always have, always will. Tacoma is just more blatantly crass compared to many of the world’s greatest cities.

  I could just as easily comment on the post headline in business terms. If Pierce Transit isn’t where it wants to be in terms of profit maximization or purpose maximization, then one should ask PT what were the principles that justified their specific policies of expansion. By what standard, historical or experimental, did they explain, illustrate, reason, that their system of transportation would best fit the needs of Tacoma and surrounding communities?

  Pierce Transit likely had an overall guidline for the direction it would take from say 2008-2013. It’s likely that someone at PT had some concept of what success should look like. What we are witnessing today with PT is their BATNA—Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement.

• J Jacxon Stone January 21, 2013

  I found Jane’s post very understandable to follow. Those who don’t are the short-sighted, narrowminded folks who keep up in the sad situation she described.

• J Jesse January 21, 2013

  @talus: If you’re waiting for transit to have all the money it needs to THEN start thinking about streetcar funding, you’ll be waiting your entire lifetime for it. There is no such thing as “extra money” in any government organization.

• T talus January 22, 2013

  We only need enough money to avoid/restore draconian cuts to buses, Jesse — that needn’t take very long with a stronger coalition and/or small additional service boundary adjustments. After all, we were ~700 votes (out of a couple hundred thousand) from solving the problem in November. If the pro-transit/transportation choices coalition (buses, streetcars, and bikes) doesn’t stick together, the factions within it are not powerful enough to win anything for themselves, but plenty powerful to screw each other over.

• F fred davie January 23, 2013

  “we were ~700 votes (out of a couple hundred thousand) from solving the problem in November.” talus

  Solving the transportation “problem” as you suggest would just create another problem to solve, namely an unconsionalbe level of sales taxes. A better way to free up some money for transportation purposes would be to make substantial increases in fare levels or substantial reductions in pay and benefits for Pierce Transit employees.