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Those on either side of the light rail issue will have to wait until next month
to hear what the Spokane Transit Authority Board is going to do about the two
failed advisory votes in the general election.
Board Member Rich Munson,
who represents the city of Spokane Valley, moved to table the discussion; but
after a lesson in protocol, he changed his motion to defer the discussion until
the next board's next meeting. That meeting will be held Dec. 14 in the Spokane
City Council hearing room beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Munson and others wanted
more information on why the electorate, who had appeared to support light rail
in the past had voted the way they did. Board Member Dick Denenny, also a Spokane
Valley council member, suggested that the board educate itself on the promises
it made to the voters in order to get approval of the .3-percent sales tax a couple
of years ago.
"It might behoove the board to bring back those minutes
to look up why we needed the advisory vote on the sales tax," Denenny said.
"The biggest issue I am concerned with now is the reauthorization of the
tax. We might want to bring this back to the next meeting."
Board
Member Brad Stark, a council member for the city of Spokane, said that Spokane
isn't ready for light rail; but he added, "It would be foolish if we don't
move ahead to acquire the right-of-way for the future."
Munson, a critic
of the light rail vote, said, however, that he would like to see the issue dropped.
"I
came to this meeting prepared to end the discussion on light rail," he said.
"And I don't see how anything is going to change in a month."
The
failure of STA's two ballot issues came as a surprise to many on the board and
in management. According to Casey Traver, STA's light rail project manager, a
survey is probably needed to determine what changed the public's mind so drastically.
He said early surveys found that 56 percent of those in the Public Transportation
Benefit Area were favorable to the project and 31 percent were in opposition.
"This
is inconsistent with the ballot outcome," Traver said.
The first
proposition asked the STA Board should go ahead and identify regional funding
sources, local taxing alternatives and a funding plan for the light rail system.
That failed with 52 percent no and 48 per cent yes votes. The vote on whether
the STA should expend funds to do the preliminary engineering work on the proposed
system received 54 percent no votes and 46 percent yes almost opposite of the
survey.
Further, Traver said, all of the jurisdictions in the PTBA did
not oppose the advisory votes. Liberty Lake gave the first measure 62 percent
support, and Fairchild Air Force Base voted 63 percent in favor. On the second
issue, the greatest support came form the small cities of Liberty Lake, Cheney,
Millwood and Fairchild.
Most of the opposition on both issues came
from the unincorporated areas, Spokane and Spokane Valley.
"I find
it curious that the support was so polarized rather than dispersed throughout
the county," Traver said. Click
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By
CHARLIE PLUMB
