“Are they afraid of what we might tell them?”
Our way or the highway
We’re driving this car but you can get out and go how you like
Editor, The Times:
It is interesting that our elected officials won’t let us vote on straightforward issues when it comes to transportation [”Plan B, now in the making,” Times editorial, Nov. 11].
The recent election lumped together an extension of Sound Transit with some road work. No option for voting for just the road work or just Sound Transit.
Are they afraid of what we might tell them? That we would like better roads and less congestion so we can continue to use our cars? That we don’t want to take the bus, or the billion-dollar train-to-nowhere.
Are private vehicles inherently bad? What if technology provides us an economical way to drive hydrogen or electric cars in the near future? We wouldn’t have to rebuild our entire infrastructure at enormous cost to move people on trains.
Before we let our politicians force us out of our private vehicles, let’s pass an initiative requiring that our public officials use public transportation. Let’ see King County Executive Ron Sims take the bus to every neighborhood meeting he attends. Gov. Christine Gregoire can take the Sounder to Seattle and then a bus to Bellevue for her next speaking engagement.
Let’s face it, a bus is something we want other people to take. We love our cars.
- Bruce Curry, SeattleThe cold shoulder
Just wanted to have the widest venue possible to thank the most-likely SUV-owning (or at least car-owning) Metropolitan King County Council members and Metro bus executives and/or whoever recently removed (without any public notice) the shelters and (paltry) four seats from the Pine and Third Street bus stop.
Oh, thank you! From all us elderly, elderly and disabled, disabled, parents with small children, and often just plain worn-out-tired downtown workers. We appreciate the opportunity to now even more likely get sick standing unprotected in the rain, wind and snow.
Oh, and thank you for our upcoming general 25-cent and unspecified increases for seniors and handicapped people [”King County Council passes 3 new taxes,” Local News, Nov. 14].
Oh, and, did I say? I won’t be voting for anyone or anything that supports “rapid transit” but leaves me and my constituency (see second paragraph) standing in the dust (literally and figuratively) and the rain, the wind and the snow.
- Sojourner Truth, SeattleWe’ll fight if pushed
The American automobile uses 22 percent of the world’s daily output of oil. If you took our auto consumption out of the world’s supply equation, the price of crude would collapse.
I know we can’t do that, but what would happen if we all cut back 10 percent? That would leave an approximate surplus of 2 million barrels a day out of a total of 85 million.
What would happen if we didn’t consume 14 million barrels of oil in one week and every week thereafter? What if we all cut back 20 percent? My calculations, which are rudimentary, show gas prices dropping 40 to 75 cents on 10 percent and 90 cents to $1.40 per gallon on 20 percent.
Why aren’t we trying this? Why aren’t we trying something? Why don’t we fight terrorism with lower oil prices caused by reduced American gasoline consumption? Why isn’t someone in leadership - the president, Congress or governors, someone - suggesting a plan?
Shouldn’t we all have a role, some responsibility in this war on terror? Shouldn’t I be asked to make some sacrifice? Does any presidential candidate have a plan?
No? Nothing. Silence.
- Jerry Forell, KirklandMore flows with sugar
Oh no! We’re going to run out of gas! How will we get to the mall?
Just kidding. However, keeping us chained to Big Oil is no laughing matter, especially with crude nearing $100/barrel. (Ouch!) Though switching to biofuels is made to seem costly and impractical, the fact is, it’s a small price when you consider the alternative (life on a respirator).
I know of a ready supply of ethanol-creating sugarcane: Cuba! I hear two-thirds of its mills are dormant! And transportation would be a snap, given that Havana is 90 miles from Miami! If only we could end the embargo! It would generate income and create jobs, from agriculture to tourism to cigars. (Not to mention it would reunite many Latino families.)
It’s a win-win-win-win situation!
- Aaron Hunt Warner, SeattleYou can find the door
It’s affordable housing, stupid. Not traffic congestion.
Lack of affordable housing near jobs produces urban sprawl. Sprawl produces commuting and congestion. These produce pollution. Commuting also diminishes personal and family time.
Even proponents of transportation fixes admit they won’t make much difference. Unfortunately, that’s where the pork is. So we keep trying to fix the symptom.
Let’s find out how much it would cost to entice people to live nearer their work. Buying down the cost of houses and apartments near jobs might be the solution to all these problems. And it might be cheaper than transportation fixes.
At an average cost of $100,000 per residence, $1 billion would provide 10,000 residences for sale or rent at permanently lower prices.
- Dave Thomas, BellevueWe won’t be walked on
Did the King County Council members skip their economics classes, or am I in the Twilight Zone? Why am I paying for foot ferries that cater to people who are ignoring their selfish lifestyle? [”King County dives into foot ferries,” Local News, Nov. 14.]
They chose to live on the other side of a body of water, and should live with the fact that their commute will be time-consuming and costly.
If this is the direction the council wishes to take, fine. I will sell my home in Seattle, move to a cabin on a small lake in the Cascades and await the new 75-mile tram to take me to my job downtown.
- Charles Brands, SeattleMust we tell you twice?
So the mayor’s wish to spend millions on a new single phone number to reach all city departments got shot down by the City Council [”Human services mark city budget,” Local News, Nov. 10]. Well, it’s nice to see how frugal the council can be when it wants to.
If council members really wanted to save taxpayers some money, they would combine the water/sewer/garbage bill in one envelope. The same goes for making the payment. It goes to two different post-office box numbers, so you have to send two separate checks.
I won’t even suggest the possibility of doing the billing and paying these bills online, as I’m sure that would be too dramatic a change for our city officials to contemplate.
- Frank Lippman, Seattle