No Loss for Words

Voters are on the hook again this fall to decide about another transportation initiative.  Any bets on how that vote turns out?  This is another case where there is clearly a need to invest in the infrastructure, but there is no confidence in government doing the right thing.

With regard to Sound Transit and the whole transportation system, the perception is that dollars will be sucked out of our county and funneled south to fund improvements in King County.  If an when the day comes when the light rail comes to our borders and WE need funding for projects to Lynnwood or Everett, those King County interests will already be focused on a light rail extension across Lake Washington to the Eastside.  The burden of funding light rail in our county will fall on us alone if that day ever comes.  I don’t expect voters to support initiatives that send money to King County.  We need to look at congestion management issues we can address without billions of dollars.

We need to look for ways to improve transit services.  People in the county need to understand the cost to subsidize a route with low ridership so they will know why there is sparse service in rural areas. 

Community Transit needs to look at a transit route that serves the SR-9 corridor from Arlington to Woodinville in addition to the routes to Everett. The market is not just east-west, it is becoming north-south as well, particularly into King County.

In the area of County relations with the State, our Council should meet with legislators representing Snohomish County prior to legislative sessions to discuss agendas and after sessions to discuss results.  This would give both sides a chance to better understand the problems the other side faces.  The issues do go both ways.  Having a regular dialog creates opportunities for bi-partisan support of issues.

I would ramp up support for Economic Development Zones within the county specifically targeting locations that would take advantage of infrastructure capacity already in place.  I would be looking at traffic patterns that could stand a reverse commute.  There is no reason for a corridor to have only one direction at a time.  Economic Development Zones would come with some financial incentives; for landlords to build facilities and for tenants that might need assistance.

I would encourage more intense use of the fairgrounds in Monroe.  I would look at developing an arena with similar capacity as the Everett Events Center.  The investment in the fairgrounds needs to produce more revenue on a year round basis rather than beating up the ten day fair run for so much revenue.  The Evergreen Fair Grounds needs to be an Enterprise Zone.

The Evergreen Fair needs to be more people friendly and less greedy.  This strategy will only come to fruit if more revenue can be grown during the other months.  If the arena were enlarged to seat five to six thousand with nicer facilities, we could attract conventions and events.  This proposal might require some work.  The Evergreen Fair Advisory Board could work with a management company and neighboring cities to develop a marketing plan.

Posted on October 7, 2008 at 9:55 am in Political commentary, Snohomish County Political Commentary   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL