I-912 Will Make Us Less Safe - Vote "No" On I-912!

(Seattle PI) David Horsey

Hurricane Katrina is a warning to us all that we must not neglect the infrastructure of our cities.

In New Orleans the levees and bridges were at risk and the they failed, despite warnings that they would.

In Seattle we also have bridges that might sink, a double decker roadway that may not survive an earthquake, and an aging seawall. Throughout the rest of the state of Washington there are countless other important safety improvement needs.

A hugely vital transportation bill was passed this year that will raise money that will help us deal with these problems, fully funding 241 projects. However, Initiative 912 seeks to undercut the primary funding source of this bill, a funding source that was agreed on by members of both the Republican and Democratic parties in the legislature, by repealing the gas tax portion of the bill.

Initiative 912 is shortsighted, and reckless. It appeals to everyone's natural desire to pay less taxes, and less at the gas pump, but ignores the reality of the state's transportation infrastructure needs, and flies in the face of prudence and safety. Repealing the transportation bill's funding source puts our region's aging transportation infrastructure at great risk, for the sake of mere pennies. Gas prices meanwhile have increased by half a dollar since the Initiative was placed on the ballot, benefitting no one but the oil companies and countries like Saudi Arabia. Drivers today would be hard pressed to identify that a gas tax increase of 3 cents was even a part of the $3 dollars they are now paying for a gallon of gas. If that was the only reason for the increased price of gas we'd be paying far less than we are.

Passing I-912 will not stop gas prices from going up, and it will not eliminate the need to raise taxes to fund these transportation infrastructure projects, but it will severely delay our ability to address them, and given how long the larger projects will take to complete, it will increase the chance of a natural disaster - an earthquake, gale force winds - occurring before we've prepared our infrastructure to survive.

We need to get our priorities in order, or we'll find ourselves paying for it far worse later - in lives and in dollars. The aftermath of hurricane Katrina should be a wake up call for all.

Vote for safe roads and bridges in Washington state. Vote "No" on I-912!

For more details about what the transportation bill seeks to fund I suggest you read this good article from the NW Progressive Institute.