Seattle Forward

Why I’m Voting to Let You Increase Your (and my) Vehicle License Fee

I just joined with my colleagues and voted to place a measure on the November general election ballot that, if approved by voters, will increase the annual Vehicle License Fee (VLF) for all vehicles registered in Seattle by $60 for 10 years.  The fee would raise $204 million over the next 10 years for transportation system improvements. (Last year, sitting as the City’s Transportation Benefit District Governing Board, we imposed a $20 VLF and yesterday the King County Council imposed a two-year VLF of $20 to help pay for Metro bus service.)

Why are these extra Seattle VLF revenues needed and what will they be used for?

Vehicle License Fee Survey Results

Last week, I posted a very unscienctific survey about a possible increase in the annual Vehcile License Fee.  A total of 434 people responded and took the survey, 420 actually answered every question, a stunningly high 97%!  Well done, folks.

You can review all of the results by clicking here.  Of course, surveys like this tend to attract the true believers and advocates, a truism for all the online polls you find at news sites and political blogs these days.  But, they're fun and give us the opportunity to share our opinions.  Who knows, we might even influence the course of human events with the next poll we complete. 

Two of my survey questions were particuarly important to me: What do you believe are the most significant problems facing Seattle today? Where should we focus our transportation investments? Here are a couple of charts with the results. (Click on the charts to enlarge them in your browser.)

The City's Transportation Benefit District Governing Board votes at 11 a.m. today whether to give Seattle voters the opportunity to increase the annual VLF.  (The Board is comprised of all nine members of the City Council.)

Should Seattle Increase the Vehicle License Fee? Take the Survey!

The City Council is debating an increase in the annual Vehicle License Fee (VLF) to raise more money for transportation projects to help offset a decline in other transportation revenue.  The current VLF is $20 per year. Voters would have to approve any increase in the fee.

Please share your opinion on this issue by responding to this unscienctific survey.

Click here to take survey

 

How Seattle Avoided Spending Millions to Build a New City Jail

The Council will vote in early September whether to approve a new jail services contract with King County through 2030. If approved, the new contract will save Seattle taxpayers approximately $200 million in jail construction costs and multiple millions more in operation costs. Here's the story on how we got here.

In 2008, my first year on the Council, I joined some of my colleagues and told then-Mayor Nickels that we didn't want to build a new City owned and operated jail for our misdemeanor prisoners. At an estimated cost of $200 million, building a jail wasn't a desirable use of our limited resources, especially when we believed that King County should continue to be the region's primary provider of jail services.

Where Visitors Go

In my most recent newsletter about the Council’s proposal to create a Tourism Improvement Area I asked readers where they take out-of-town visitors. The responses were numerous and varied, but the general theme was: Outside!

People love our city’s parks and open spaces, from Gasworks to Green Lake to Volunteer Park to Alki to Seward Park. Each one offers something different. Several highlighted the versatility of the Ballard Locks, which provides hooks for the range of visitors: gardens, engineering works, salmon jumping.