Press

Notable editorials, articles, and letters to the editor.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: No way on I-985
“Initiative 985 invites Washingtonians to encourage red-light running, make the streets more dangerous, demolish a good option on the financing of a new Highway 520 bridge and rob the state of the ability to provide for schools and other general fund responsibilities. This inanity, nastiness and shortsightedness are being presented as a guise to reduce traffic congestion.”

Seattle Times: Get smart: Say No to I-985
“I-985 is a poorly-packaged jumble of different agendas that will — please, listen carefully — worsen traffic in certain areas. It makes no sense to design a functioning, complicated traffic system by initiative.”

Tacoma News Tribune: I-985: Look under the hood — it won’t run.
“I-985 takes micromanagement far beyond the point of absurdity…This shows the utter folly of trying to trying to pre-empt complex traffic engineering decisions with a simplistic initiative…What drivers would chiefly see from I-985 are traffic jams from the measure’s unintended consequences and greater threats from speeders and red-light runners.”

Spokane Spokesman-Review: Just Vote No
“Eyman’s solution would not address the aches, pains and runny noses elsewhere in the state. In fact, it takes money from those areas and pretends it is cost-free.”

Yakima Herald-Republic: Initiative 985: Latest Eyman proposal doesn’t benefit area, shouldn’t be approved
“[I-985] takes away local control of local traffic light decisions and replaces it with a state mandate… Puget Sound freeway gridlock issues…really don’t apply to much of the state. When is the last time you took an HOV lane through Yakima ? … Eyman’s claim that his initiative won’t cost the taxpayers anything is pure smoke and mirrors.”

Vancouver Columbian: Vote No on Inititiave 985
“[Eyman’s] credentials as a traffic engineer are suspect…All of those [traffic] decisions should be made by experts, overseen by elected officials whom we send to the Legislature…And how do you suppose the task “dedicate certain taxes” would be achieved? That’s right, by taking hundreds of millions of tax dollars from vital state services at the worst possible time: during a sagging economy.”

Columbia Basin Herald: I 985–Vote No
“If passed, it will remove money from the state general fund — used for traffic safety improvements, schools, health care, etc. — and direct the funds to easing traffic congestion…[t]errible for Grant and Adams counties. Last we looked, congestion was not part of our transportation troubles.”

The Stranger:
“Eyman claims his initiative would ‘reduce congestion’; as evidence, he cites his own irritation driving (alone) from Seattle to Renton and seeing an empty carpool lane. We say it won’t do much except line Eyman’s pockets—while robbing Washington State citizens of funding for critical needs when we need them the most.”

Longview Daily News: I-985 won’t help solve state’s traffic problems
“Initiative 985 is poor public policy and a lousy deal for rural Washington . We urge voters to reject the measure.”

Tri-City Herald: Initiatve 985: No
“This latest from professional initiative sponsor Tim Eyman would funnel money from across the state to spend on Seattle ‘s traffic problems. Even worse, the measure likely would exacerbate the West side ‘s traffic woes rather than reduce congestion. The restrictions I-985 would put on tolls could kill the best plan the state has come up with for adding new lanes across Lake Washington, according to Seattle business interests. And common sense says decisions on the best use of carpool lanes ought to be based on traffic studies, not arbitrary hours set into stone by a voters initiative…There’s so much wrong with this hodge-podge measure that the folks who have the most to gain from improved traffic flow around Puget Sound are lined up against it.”

Everett Herald: Want worse congestion? Vote for Initiative 985
“Eyman’s message is at odds with itself. I-985, which Eyman calls his ‘Reduce Traffic Congestion Initiative,’ barely resembles the transportation audit Sonntag’s office hired contractors to perform. And in a key and fatal section, the opening of carpool and bus lanes to all traffic during narrowly-defined ‘nonpeak’ hours, I-985 threatens to do the improbable: make congestion worse throughout Puget Sound .”

Renton Reporter: A red light for Eyman’s latest
“Eyman bills his latest initiative as relieving highway congestion but in reality it punches a multimillion-dollar hole in the state’s hemorrhaging general fund and likely would doom Renton ’s red-light and school-zone safety programs.”

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