So says Erica Barnett in an article in yesterday's Stranger: conservatives and transit opponents may be moving to put a version of Sen. Haugen's governance reform measure on the ballot in November. As Erica points out, this would allow all of Washington state a vote on Sound Transit's future, not just the Puget Sound region.
To refresh your memory, Haugen's bill would change the definition of a regional transit authority into a regional transportation authority with responsibility for both roads and transit and run by an elected board rather than an appointed one. Since Sound Transit is a regional transit authority, it would be magically transformed into a completely new entity. Haugen's bill, according to my read, was a mixed bag--some bad, some good. I doubt a version taken to the ballot by conservatives would include much of the good, and would definitely have lots more bad.
At the Slog, Josh Feit questions why liberals can't muster similar ballot initiatives.
I asked that question myself a few months ago. It costs about $800,000 to sell a ballot initiative, according to one activist who was thinking about filing a initiative to mess with Tim Eyman's head. It would have been almost identical to Tim Eyman's initiative to force all tolling revenues to go to roads construction, except that it would have forced all tolling revenue to go to transit operations and roads. But with so much liberal money going to state and federal campaigns this year, pulling together that $800k would not be easy.
