Friday Brownbag on Tolling

Grab your lunch and join Transportation Choices Coalition Friday, April 7, for our monthly Friday Forum. This month, we will discuss HOT lanes, congestion pricing, variable pricing, and any other synonym for tolling you can think of. What is the future of tolling in the Puget Sound region? Is it a sure thing? If so, where? How will people in the region react to tolls? We'll hear from a panel of participants including Bruce Agnew, Director of the Cascadia Center for Transportation and Regional Development and Transportation Choices staff.

What: April Friday Forum, Tolling in the Puget Sound Region, guest Bruce Agnew

When: Friday, April 7, 12:00 – 1:30

Where: Wells Fargo Building, 999 3rd Avenue, between Marion and Madison, 6th Floor, King County Dept. of Health in the Orca Conference Room.

Hope to see you there!

SMP car-tab tax decision tonight

The SMP board is deciding tonight whether to keep collecting MVET at the current rate, but only until fall of this year, or to prolong the tax until May 31, 2007, but at a lower rate. Updates as they become available.

Karma hits Mayor Gridlock

Remember when Mayor Gridlock gave SMP an impossible deadline for a new finance plan? Washington State Legislature just gave Nickels's terrible tunnel until April 1 to raise the additional $1+ billion they need to get the project out of the red. Gridlock probably wishes it's just an April Fools joke.

Check out peopleswaterfront.org for a more affordable and earth-friendly solution.

Legislature to change where the MVET goes

This Times article is so dense with info about the future of the MVET, it's hard to pull a good quote from it.

Some of the tax may end up paying for other transit projects. That could be a result of a bill passed in the state House Tuesday, which calls for greater consolidation of transportation planning and financing in the Central Puget Sound region. The measure, House Bill 2871, also would shift part of the monorail tax to new non-monorail Seattle transit projects if the measure passes and city voters approve the change.

Go read the whole thing.

Two viaduct events

From the Mayor's Office:

What: Viaduct Open House. Discussion on the Mayor's tunnel option.
When: Thursday, March 2, 2006
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Seattle Aquarium, Pier 59, 1483 Alaskan Way

What: Tour of the Viaduct
When: Saturday, March 18, 2006
If interested in attending please RSVP at: viaduct@wsdot.wa.gov.
Confirmation and event details will be forwarded.

Numbers for the land sale

From the Puget Sound Business Journal. SMP started $100M in debt.

So far, SMP has been able to repay about $21 million in debt from cash on hand -- including $10 million initially set aside to purchase the "sinking ship" parking lot in Seattle's Pioneer Square, said Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Jonathan Buchter. That leaves some $89 million still owing.

A significant portion of that debt was incurred in purchasing the 34 properties condemned by SMP along its proposed 14-mile route. SMP spent a total of $62 million acquiring its property portfolio and an additional $10 million on related expenses such as the cost of relocating tenants and property owners.

The bids will be finalized on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), so we'll see if they can turn a $72M investment into an $89M land sale. If not, us taxpayers are paying the difference.

Free "Mayor Gridlock" t-shirt

I have a Size L Mayor Gridlock t-shirt for any activist who wants it. Comment or email me with a sensible plan to relieve Seattle's gridlock without breaking the bank; the best one gets the shirt.