petition for citizens to vote on the tunnel
there've been a fair amount of anti-tunnel articles and some citizen groups like the unfortunately-named "scat". it's an issue without easy answers. one part of the controversy is the city deciding on a $4.2 billion project without residents having directly voted on it. protectseattlenow.org has until the end of march to gather enough petitions to put the tunnel on the august ballot. if you think that's worthwhile, you can print a petition and have people you know sign it. there's also a facebook page about it.
regardless of whether you're pro or against, i think there's value in having people directly vote. if it's shown that most of the city wants it, those in favor will have a better case for why we should stop delaying a solution. if most people don't want it, time spent arguing about the tunnel would be better spent finding a viable alternative.
i'm a UW student. if the proposed budget passes, the school will have lost 50% of its state funding in a 3-year period. there've been two 14% tuition raises in the last two years, and more are yet to come. the situation is so grim that a partial solution being considered is eliminating the entire program that i'm trying to get a degree in (the information school) which has a program ranked 4th in the U.S. a few of the subjects are web design, project management, and network administration. 71% of UW grads stay in washington for at least 5 years post-graduation. despite the current state of the economy, many local tech companies are hiring... and they continue to relocate employees from other states because they aren't able to find sufficiently skilled local people to hire.
i don't envy those who have to make tough decisions about what gets cut. but since the tunnel will inevitably run well over budget, more decisions like this will occur. i'm not posting this to change anyone's mind about the tunnel. i've read a lot of pro-tunnel commentary from intelligent people. i'd just feel better if i knew that you and the other people around me had voted directly and that if a tunnel gets built, it's because you think it's truly the best option.
(for the curious, more lovely news about the impact of the UW budget cuts on people who are not UW students in this pdf, and here's an example of one student it could impact.)
regardless of whether you're pro or against, i think there's value in having people directly vote. if it's shown that most of the city wants it, those in favor will have a better case for why we should stop delaying a solution. if most people don't want it, time spent arguing about the tunnel would be better spent finding a viable alternative.
i'm a UW student. if the proposed budget passes, the school will have lost 50% of its state funding in a 3-year period. there've been two 14% tuition raises in the last two years, and more are yet to come. the situation is so grim that a partial solution being considered is eliminating the entire program that i'm trying to get a degree in (the information school) which has a program ranked 4th in the U.S. a few of the subjects are web design, project management, and network administration. 71% of UW grads stay in washington for at least 5 years post-graduation. despite the current state of the economy, many local tech companies are hiring... and they continue to relocate employees from other states because they aren't able to find sufficiently skilled local people to hire.
i don't envy those who have to make tough decisions about what gets cut. but since the tunnel will inevitably run well over budget, more decisions like this will occur. i'm not posting this to change anyone's mind about the tunnel. i've read a lot of pro-tunnel commentary from intelligent people. i'd just feel better if i knew that you and the other people around me had voted directly and that if a tunnel gets built, it's because you think it's truly the best option.
(for the curious, more lovely news about the impact of the UW budget cuts on people who are not UW students in this pdf, and here's an example of one student it could impact.)