Below is a snippet of an article and petition you should sign from the Washington Chapter of the Sierra Club.Senator Curtis King, Co-Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, is promoting a new transportation funding proposal that will set us back decades. This new budget proposal fails to fund over $900 million worth of projects that are necessary to operate our transit system, provide street improvements for bikes and pedestrians, and address polluted water runoff associated with roads.

Our bridges are literally crumbling around us. Workers can’t get to jobs because their bus service has been cut. The new road “mega-projects” being considered in the transportation funding proposal would dramatically increase climate changing pollution and increase sprawl. The Senate transportation funding proposal is simply unacceptable.

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Don’t Eliminate the “Ride Free Zone”

 Washingtonians need to ask … what did the savings of $2 million with the elimination of the “Free Zone” do for our transportation when our bus services might still be cut !!!

TO: Seattle City Council

I wrote about The “ride free zone” ending way before the September 29th deadline hoping they would rescind the order to end it. Today, the local media showed and interviewed the people who have suffered from the new change and not in a good way. The thing that struck me most aside from the obvious was the comment about “a one time set-aside for bus tickets,” of $250,000 in emergency money for homeless people to ride Metro.

Below is a video and article that is heartbreaking

Homeless hopes public helps with discounted Metro bus tickets … click on the link below for the video and article !

http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Homeless-council-member-ask-for–174292691.html

It was a nice surprise to hear that people are still protesting the elimination of the “Ride Free Zone”  giving full exposure to the real reasons why the Seattle King Council voted to eliminate the “Ride Free Zone.”  Yes, we all know about that 2million dollar savings but the mission to make the downtown and the transit look and smell beautiful by leaving the homeless, disabled and those needing services out in the cold, which btw are all located on or near the “Ride Free Zone.”

In 2011, king county hit its residents with a two-year vehicle license fee that was supposed to help keep metro alive. Now, Metro Bus Riders find out that a deal done with Republicans will eliminate the “Ride Free Zone,” a Merchant straight away and beautiful feature of the City of Seattle – free for over 35 years.

The facts are; that more than 10 million boarding’s are logged each year inside the Ride Free Area; another 9,000 rides are taken each day without fare. There are reports that without the compromise reductions in Metro would have affected 80% of all bus riders including the poor. Unfortunately, balancing budgets off the backs of the middle and poor has been a Republican mission since 2010. It is with great sadness to think and or believe all that King County Officials seemed to have forgotten or sacrificed for that 2 million “Ride Free Zone” cost savings per year. This includes tourists, people commuting home from across the water, downtown workers accustomed to hopping on the bus to grab a quick bite, or get some dry cleaning, pop into a store all within an hour and low-income folks who, if you ride in the zone now; know they use it to get around daily.

King County Officials say the “Ride Free Zone” will end after Sept. 29; tell them that making deals with Republicans to phase out an urban mainstay for so many, is bad for Seattle.

If, this new mega-projects monstrosity is real yet will create an environment for more pollution and increase sprawl …

We must say NO

challenge who was in charge of spending

demand accountability

We did it! You and I, with our coalition partners and all the individuals we set in motion, have saved metro. The King County Councilenacted the $20 Congestion Reduction Charge last night, after some intelligent, bipartisan negotiation and compromise, and I am so proud of them. Jane Hague and Kathy Lambert, in particular, really rose to the occasion. They not only made those controversial “yes” votes that carried the day, but they improved the proposal by giving 8 free bus tickets to everyone who pays the $20 car tab fee and letting those who don’t want them donate that value to social service organizations. Doesn’t it feel great to see your democratic government working the way it’s supposed to?

The lesson we can learn from this success is that our participation matters. Without the outpouring of “overwhelming” support for transit, this deal never would have happened. When democracy works, it is because we push our elected officials to do the right thing. I know this success has inspired and energized me, and I hope it’s done the same for you.

If you feel a little giddy at this vision of what participating in your democracy can do, here are some ways to keep at it:

1. Join me in going past this temporary 2-year solution. We need to find permanent, progressive funding for transit, and convince the voters to vote for it. If you would like to work on this issue with me and our local organizational partners, please reply to this email. We’ll be starting the discussion with a free movie screening of the film Contested Streets (a transit documentary) on Fri. Aug. 26th at 7pm at Bethany UCC, corner of S. Beacon St. and Graham St. in Beacon Hill. Please join us for the screening and discussion. RSVP

2. If transit is not your pet issue, and you just like standing up for common sense, progressive causes and social justice, there are ways to do that, too. Since last November, I’ve been volunteering with my local MoveOn Council and have found it to be a great way to develop my skills and learn from more experienced and active citizens. Each council is a group of active individuals that works on national campaigns with the national MoveOn.org organization, but can also weigh in on local issues or help members get involved with local advocacy groups.

3. Last but not least, you can make your own petition on signon.org at any time! Any individual can start a petition about any issue, so consider it, and let me know if you have questions.

These are dire times in many ways. We are struggling economically, environmentally, and politically. But there are rays of hope, like this victory today. Just remember, there are more of us than there are of them, and all we need to do is stand up and make our voices heard. Please stand with me in the years to come and help make King County the kind of place we all want to live in.

Thank you and Peace be with you, Julia Deak Sandler

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Final Vote on Bus Cuts on Mon. 8/15

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