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Weird in WA: Color Me Surprised
I can’t believe I am actually saying this, but I think the normally-stupid Governor of Washington State actually did something very good this week. This action leaves me shaking my head in bewilderment, but smiling. It so happens that, this week, Inslee vetoed $445 million in spending passed by the heavily-Democrat legislature. This is simply unbelievable! Finally, there is something more worthy of taxpayer dollars than the usually-leftist policies that get funded in Washington. I’m betting that whatever was funded and vetoed probably won’t be missed.
The second unbelievable action was taken by the leftist Mayor of Seattle. Now, the city has been shuttered and streets empty of traffic for many days. What Mayor Durkan did in support of all the essential workers in town was to make all parking in city paid-parking zones free. Yes, essential workers, who are the only ones allowed out of their homes, now will find all the parking meters and pay-stations inactivated. No more paid parking and no more time limits. The powers-that-be in Seattle are dominated by “get the people out of their cars and into government transportation” leftists and parking has become very expensive, both on the street and in garages and lots. It’s great that they have taken pity on those who must use their private vehicles. At least for a while.
Crossposted at RushBabe49.com. Drop by to read my dispatches from furlough.
Published in Economics
But, it’s so obvious that the ideal transportation solution is to have people packed so tightly into train cars of some sort that burly fellows have to push bulges of people into the car so the doors will close like in Tokyo. Achoo.
Don’t forget the requirement of having your transportation dependent on a bunch of public employees who can bring the local economy to a screeching halt when they go on strike.
The parking policy is terrific — great policy, great politics. Good for them.
What has Seattle done with its homeless population during the quarantine? I’m not trying to be tendentious, I’m asking sincerely.
I think Seattle is opening up shelters, and rearranging the shelters they already have. I know that the Union Gospel Mission is on “lockdown”. Seattle has a pretty hands-off way of dealing with their “homeless”, and they cannot make them do anything. If they are offered shelter, and decline (many do, since they get to deal drugs on the street), they don’t have to go to a shelter. Seattle cares more about their homeless than they do their taxpaying citizens, but their ideas of how to help the homeless are pretty lame, and the camps are becoming more numerous.
I must quibble with this line: “Yes, essential workers, who are the only ones allowed out of their homes, …”
This may seem to be the case but it’s not. People are allowed to leave their homes and are thankful to do so. We just completed a 3.5 mile walk along Seattle’s waterfront and there were a lot of people with families, dogs, friends. Everyone was polite and respectful and were likely grateful to be in the out-of-doors. We have not been disallowed from leaving our homes.
I love the personal vehicle. Life out here is almost impossible without it. The first three months I had to use public transportation without a car when I first moved to the West Coast in 1980 was hell. All street parking in Seattle should be free. Don’t they realize you can’t afford any place to live in Seattle whether it’s your first job or you have a senior essential job, you end up living in the burbs. It’s been that way since 1980. The size of accommodation for what you can afford is too small. Only Microsofties can afford to live downtown. Who do they think they’re hurting with their parking meters? They want to pretend like all big cities are the same. One size does not fit all! We’re not just another West Coast city, we also have geographic restrictions like the lake (Washington) and the Puget Sound that increase travel distances. Anyone who endures the commutes to do business or work downtown should be welcomed with open arms, not shunned because they come in a personal vehicle.
Oh, and Macy’s (formerly Bon Marche), a landmark store that has been here forever, has been closed since well before the outbreak.
I had 10 acres on Vashon Island, planned to be the site of my retirement home. I had it for about 15 years and finally decided I wasn’t going to build and sold it off about 10 years ago. I wonder how the island is doing in all this? At one time, when I still had the property, there was a proposal to build a bridge from Tacoma to the island, similar to the Mercer Island bridge that goes on past. This one would have gone on to the peninsula.
There was a community meeting at the high school to discuss and vote on the proposal. The attendance was 10,000 people equal to the total population of the island. The vote was something like 98% NO ! I was up there a couple of years ago and went over the the island to look around. The walk on ferry to the downtown was no longer but it was much the same.
I wonder if it has been spared due to the limited traffic?