The Seattle Times reports that the incidence of automobile theft in Seattle is climbing at an alarming rate:
The value of all the cars stolen last year in Seattle totaled more than $40 million; 8 percent of all auto-theft cases from last year have been solved.$40 million is in the same ballpark as the amount of money that the implausible yet insatiable Monorail steals from car-owners each year in the form of bonus registration taxes.
Meanwhile in Olympia, Seattle Representatives Murray, McDermott, Sommers and Santos sponsored a bill to force Seattle car-owners to pay the Monorail tax or lose their cars. If the bill passes the Senate it will cost me hundreds of dollars a year, all for the privilege of owning a Monorail that is too far from my house to do me the least bit of good. I wonder what I'll have to cut back on in order to come up with this dough. Hmmm. Well I hope I won't have to forego any of those campaign contributions I had been planning to make to some of the legislators who went on to surprise me by voting for this abomination.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 19, 2004 07:00 AMCall me Mr. Cynical, but don't "car thefts" often spike in slow economic times? A bunch of newly laid-off proles suddenly can't afford the payment on their Prius's and ... gee... what happens?
Posted by: Matt J Kurlander on February 19, 2004 07:40 AMThere are better arguments against the monorail and Sound Transit. They could be worth the money we'll have to pay if enough people were to ride them to reduce traffic where we drive. (They probably won't though, so I think that is the best argument against them.) Would you be happier with the monorail if they managed to spread the cost amongst more taxpayers (got Fed money like Sound Transit) so your cost was reduced? I wouldn't. I am disappointed that the monorail is not working out as described by its boosters, but at least we had a vote (which was ignored once or twice before) and it seems fair that the electorate that voted for it have to pay for it. IIRC we didn't get a vote on the even more expensive Sound Transit light rail project, or if we did, it was voted down. It seems unlikely that it will be possible to find enough money to successfully conclude both projects. And I may be paranoid, but it seems to me that Sound Transit supporters have been trying to sabotage the monorail idea for years, despite its popularity with the voters. Why didn't the 'brains' and political muscle now solidly behind the Sound Transit plan and carping about the monorail help make the monorail idea a success, since it was repeatedly favored by the voters? My answer: many had personal, political and financial interests in the Sound Transit plan and weren't trying to find the best solution to our ever worsening traffic problems. But that's only an uninformed/cynical opinion. I would like to be better informed if someone has a source for good information on the politics behind Sound Transit.
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