Tag Archives: republicans

Washington transit system: Our roads got a grade of D , light rail reduced and now our bridges


520bridge

Dear Washingtonians

Below is a snippet of an article and petition you should sign from the Washington Chapter of the Sierra Club. I put it in a separate post.

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.

The reason I attached it to my old write up from 2012 is because Washingtonians need to ask … what did our savings of $2 million with the elimination of the “Free Zone” do for our transportation when our bus services are still being 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

                          

Roadless forests under attack–help stop new coal mining on roadless lands!


Give today!

Our roadless forests are under attack!

A thicket of aspen in the Sunset Roadless Area. (Ted Zukoski / Earthjustice)

Arch Coal just got the go-ahead to bulldoze for dirty coal in one of our pristine roadless national forest areas.
Help us fight back!

Arch Coal is at it again.

On April 6, the Forest Service announced it was paving the way for the second-largest coal company in the United States to bulldoze across thousands acres of pristine roadless forests in order to mine up to 350 million tons of coal.

When final, this deal will allow Arch Coal to reap huge profits while adding hundreds of millions of tons of climate pollution to our atmosphere—all at the expense of thousands of acres of beautiful, wild and public roadless forest.

I’m furious. And today, I’m asking for your help.

We’ve successfully stopped Arch Coal in the past. We can do it again.

Will you help us stand up to dirty industry with a gift of $5 or more?

As someone who has hiked in the Sunset Roadless Area for over a decade, I can tell you that this land is beautiful, and it provides important habitat for wildlife such as black bears and rare lynx in addition to beaver ponds, aspen stands, and giant spruce.

But unless we fight back and win, Arch Coal will soon turn this special place into an industrial zone of drill pads and roads—destroying wildlife habitat and valued recreation and hunting areas—all to benefit a single corporation.

Additionally, burning the 350 million tons of coal the company would extract would dramatically undercut efforts to slow the pace of climate change.

My team and I are determined to protect this critical habitat and ensure vital long-term protections for our other national forests…but we need your urgent gift today to see this and other difficult legal battles through.

For decades, Earthjustice has taken the lead to fight dirty energy and protect roadless forests across the country, but today we need your help.

We’ve stopped Arch Coal before. Help us win once again.

Thank you,

Staff photo

Ted Zukoski
Attorney
Earthjustice, Rocky Mountains Office

30,000 for infrastructure jobs


Rebuild our infrastructure!

Click here to sign the petition.

 

Americans need jobs. America’s roads and bridges are in crisis. And our communities need more high-speed Internet and clean energy.

All of these problems have the same solution: We need big ideas that invest in America’s infrastructure and create jobs.

Today, I’m introducing the Rebuild America Act — a bold trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that is endorsed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the AFL-CIO, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Some in Congress will be fearful of a proposal this big. I need your help to show my colleagues and the entire political world that the American people are not afraid of big ideas, are not afraid to create the millions of jobs we desperately need, and are not afraid to rebuild America.

Can you sign the petition saying Americans want a big infrastructure jobs program? Click here to sign.

I met with the PCCC team last week to discuss infrastructure and other big ideas. And I’ll need your activism to push big ideas like this to the center of the national debate.

When the Progressive Change Institute did a national poll this month, major investment in infrastructure was popular by 71% to 18%. That’s a bipartisan landslide.

The public enthusiasm for big ideas is inspiring, and Congress needs to hear about it.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Senator Bernie Sanders

Help the Duwamish River … Ms. Margie’s 4th grade class


WordpressduwamishI’m Ms. Margie, a teacher and MoveOn member in Wallingford, WA, and I started a petition with my 4th grade class to King County Executive Dow Constantine, which says:

Constantine, which says:

Make Seattle’s only river clean enough for locals to fish. Sign Ms.’s petition

We are a 4th grade class in Seattle, Washington. We are petitioning Dow Constantine, King County Executive, to give enough money to clean the Duwamish River for citizens to be able to fish safely. The Duwamish River is one of the most polluted rivers in the U.S. and the only river in Seattle.

The Duwamish River is affecting people’s health. Residents who live closer to the river die 13 years younger than others who live in Laurelhurst.1 There are three tribes that eat fish from the river. It’s in the tribes’ culture to fish in the Duwamish and we shouldn’t take that away from them, so we want King County to give enough money so that people can eat the fish without the risk of getting really sick.

The Environmental Protection Agency has already released a $342 million, 17 year-long cleanup plan to help.2 However, it is not removing enough toxins so that locals can fish from the Duwamish safely. Although it will cost King County a lot of money and time, people and animals around the Duwamish will be saved.

Our goal is to collect 3,000 signatures by June 1, 2015. June 2 we will be holding a protest and presenting our petition signatures. If you add your name, it will really make a difference to the people and animals that live or fish in the Duwamish River.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Ms. Margie’s 4th grade class

Source:

1. “The Duwamish: River of no return?” Crosscut, July 7, 2014
http://crosscut.com/2014/07/duwamish-river-no-return/

2. “$342 Million to Clean Duwamish River Superfund Site: EPA Finalizes Plan,” Indian Country Today, December 4, 2014
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304554&id=117895-17809870-FDkiIDx&t=1

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Ms. Margie’s 4th grade class didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.