Only pockets of support for transit, road plan
The only part of King County that supported this week’s Roads & Transit Proposition 1 was the liberal 43rd Legislative District in north-central Seattle, which delivered a 53 percent yes vote.
Support dropped below 40 percent in parts of South King County, even in places that stood to gain projects, according to legislative district counts released Friday by King County Elections.
Overall, the measure failed in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties with a 44 percent yes vote, based on Friday’s figures.
Seattle’s 43rd District includes Capitol Hill, the University District, Roosevelt, Wallingford and part of downtown, and is considered a reliable source of votes for public-works measures. Backers were counting on strong support in Seattle and King County to compensate for expected weaker showings in outlying areas.
Proposition 1 offered 50 miles of light rail to Lynnwood, Overlake and Tacoma - including a segment through the University District to Northgate - along with 186 miles of new road lanes.
Although a majority in the 43rd voted yes, the showing was weak, said state Sen. Ed Murray, a Democrat from the 43rd and vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “The telling thing there is the 43rd District usually votes for tax increases or against Tim Eyman [anti-tax] measures by a margin of 70 to 80 percent. Fifty-three is not a victory,” Murray said.
Murray said a big issue was neighborhood distrust of a possibly bulky design for a new Highway 520 bridge. The measure offered $1.1 billion toward a $4.4 billion bridge.
“About 90 percent of my e-mails and constituent calls on Prop. 1 were concerned with giving the state a blank check on design,” he said.
Southwest King County was in line for an extension of Highway 509, widening of Interstate 5, expansion of the I-5 interchange at Highway 18 in Federal Way, and light rail from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Tacoma. Its King County Council member, Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, promoted the measure.
Yet the 30th District in Federal Way gave only 39 percent support, and the 33rd District, for SeaTac, Des Moines and much of Kent, produced a 41 percent yes vote.
“There was a strong anti-tax bent to it, for sure,” said Patterson aide Jon Scholes. “You can see that for other measures on the ballot.” Initiative 960 passed to hinder state tax increases, and a measure to allow easier passage of school levies was trailing.
On the Eastside, support hovered around 45 percent in Redmond, Bellevue and Newcastle, and 43 percent in the Issaquah-Sammamish area.
Although every legislative district opposed the measure in the Snohomish County voting area, precinct-level breakdowns showed majority support in parts of Edmonds, where a transit hub was proposed, and in sections of Monroe, which stood to gain from Highway 2 and Highway 522 changes.
King County Elections did not make precinct-level data available Friday. No Pierce County breakdowns were available.
Low voter turnout resulted in an older, more anti-tax crowd, Proposition 1 supporters say.
Concerns about adding road capacity and global warming probably cut support, especially in Seattle. Sierra Club exit polls found a 6 percent bloc of voters would say yes to a transit-only plan, but went against Proposition 1.
The poll found much larger numbers of voters objecting to the tax increase. Proposition 1 would have boosted car-tab and sales taxes to raise $38 billion by 2027, when all projects were to be finished.
Sound Transit says it can still afford the planned light-rail tunnel extension from downtown Seattle to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium by 2016.
Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com