I-912 Generalizations Confuse Issues

The Herald (Snohomish) ran a letter today that I'm reprinting in full for two reasons. Firstly, the writer makes some good points about how I-912 proponents are short on applicable examples and long on confusing the issues by associating the WSDOT to Sound Transit and the Monorail Authority. Secondly, at least for me, the letter would not display correctly in any of my browsers due to a scripting error on The Herald's page. I had to view source to find the letter's text.

Managing and maintaining the highway system requires a huge investment by taxpayers each year. Initiative 912, if passed, will rescind the gas tax increase passed by the Legislature. Without this revenue projects that are desperately needed sit unfunded. A big problem with the gas tax is it does not have a provision for factoring in inflation. That being said, occasionally the tax needs to be raised.

The conservative radio shows are preaching to the voters that the Washington State Department of Transportation is wasting the taxpayers' dollars. They paint with big brush strokes when they attack projects around the state. Examples we hear about like Sound Transit and the monorail are not even DOT projects. It's ironic that many of the same people who back I-912 are the ones complaining about traffic problems. They complain about commute times and businesses' ability to move goods and services. What gives?

Whenever you have a large business or government agency there is going to be waste and inefficiency. I work for a large corporation and I see firsthand how hard it is to manage waste. Not everyone has the same motivation to control costs. There will be projects and daily business that are not managed like we would like and all the taxpayers can do is have faith that checks and balances in the system find and fix them.

The DOT's own engineers say that 900 of the states' bridges are obsolete or deficient. The citizens have been taking it in the shorts by big oil the last few months to the tune of $7 billion of profit per month! That being said, I think the citizens of Washington can handle the 9.5 cents a gallon over four years for the future benefit of our state. Vote no on I-912.

John Vavrousek
Marysville