Snohomish County voters are making a habit of saying “no” before they say “yes” to Sound Transit.
Thirteen years ago they and their compatriots in King and Pierce counties gave an emphatic thumbs down to the regional transit authority’s first light rail plan.
A year later, in November 1996, county voters helped pass a slimmed-down “Sound Move” plan with its promise of trains to Sea-Tac International Airport and its cost of a higher sales tax and car tab fee.
Last year, 56 percent of county voters in the Sound Transit district rejected the $17.8 billion Proposition 1, a smorgasbord of mostly road and rail projects for the price of a boost in sales and motor vehicle excise taxes.
Last week, 54 percent of voters in the same areas reversed course and embraced Proposition 1 the Second, a $17.9 billion buffet of light rail extensions and bus service expansions paid for with a higher sales tax.
What gives?
Why did voters reject the multi-billion dollar transportation plan in 2007 and approve its multi-billion dollar transit-only replacement — with a tax hike — in 2008?
A few factors stand out in a crowd of possible explanations.
First, Sound Transit guessed right on bringing it back quickly.
A predicted surge in new and young voters and ones a little star-struck by the allure of traveling by train paid dividends, just as the board’s consultants told them it would.
Second, it helped that this election had a lot going on.
All the noise and commotion on matters like the race for governor muted substantive debate on Prop 1 allowing Sound Transit to ease past a mostly distracted electorate.
The measure sat unobtrusively at the end of a long ballot unlike last year when its predecessor enjoyed celebrity status as the marquee item to be decided.
Third, opponents didn’t muster much of a fight this time.
Maybe they simply were overconfident. Maybe they thought voters would remember beating down the 2007 offering with its similar price tag and tax hike.
Those fighting it spent around a million dollars last year and only about $150,000 in this round.
Finally, by their action, Snohomish County voters’ may have a newfound willingness to park their cars and ride public transit.
All along, any success of selling this plan to voters did not lie in the lure of light rail trains arriving in Lynnwood in another generation, or two. It was in the promise to put more buses on major roads in the busiest travel times of the day starting in 2009.
Backers keyed in on promoting a nexus between the tax hike and voters’ travel time; if one went up, the other should come down.
Sound Transit got the green light, now they have to drive home the deal.
Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. He can be heard at 8:15 a.m. Mondays on the Morning Show on KSER (90.7 FM). Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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