If the Dems and GOP aren't doing enough moving and shaking in D.C, it looks like Mother Nature has no problem doing it for them. :)
Hooray for reliable sources! :D Trust your scientists, folks!
-From a fellow scientist
Hmm...the bus tunnel and railroad tunnel that run under downtown seem to have held up just fine. No damage from the Nisqually earthquake either. Somehow, someway, I think we'll all be okay.
Good to see someone on this forum wants to be the crusader for common sense. You tell 'em, Mechguy.
1) A good portion of King County Metro's revenue comes from the sales tax (and since people haven't been buying as much in this terrible economy, their revenue has suffered).
2) They already hiked up the fares for riders across the board. They have also cut back on some routes too.
Yeah, and the people who did show up were advocating for them to pass the $20 fee. It would SEVERELY impact many people's lives if they didn't have the bus service they do (King County Metro is largely supported by SALES TAX REVENUE which has tanked in the current economy). They needed extra funding to help them through this tough spot while the economy (and their revenue) slowly begins to improve. And they already jacked up fares across the board (so the riders are also putting into the fund too).
Please let this be the end to the tunnel debate. Time to build it already!
If only more of the super rich were as forward thinking as Warren Buffett. The tax rate on the wealthy of this country has DECREASED compared to where it was in the past. Will raising the taxes on the wealthy solve all the problems we have? No. But you've got to have spending cuts AND revenue increases if we ever want to get ourselves out of debt again. It's a step in the right direction.
Better to make a decent investment and have it work then to do a shoddy job (i.e. another viaduct) just to have it fall apart again. Not to mention w/o the viaduct, we can actually have a much better looking waterfront and the city could develop property where it stands now and collect tax revenues. THAT sounds like a much better long term solution to me.
I think the tunnel is general will be more stable in earthquakes because the ground around it moves with it as opposed to the viaduct where it has no such "cushion" to hold it together per se. How much trouble has our own bus tunnel had standing up to earthquakes? I didn't hear about any kind of damage to it after the Nisqually quake.
![[Avatar]](/images/avatar26.png){kind=avatar}
Branch