Seattle Times: Seattle Transit Seeks a Lift From Obama

[marmar]

Proposition 1 | Backers hope big turnout can propel $17.9B plan; foes say timing is awful


By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times transportation reporter



The fortunes of Sound Transit's Proposition 1, a multibillion-dollar plan to stretch light rail into the Seattle suburbs, may ride on a politician who doesn't live here:

Barack Obama.

Supporters are counting on a wave of young, energized Democratic voters in the liberal Puget Sound area to put the measure over the top, in a high-turnout presidential year.

That theory largely explains why project backers, led by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, rushed back to the ballot after a bigger Roads & Transit measure crashed in the off-year 2007 election.

"We're going to get the people who don't need convincing, the people who are young, who vote for Obama. We don't want them to stop there," said Proposition 1 advocate Ben Schiendelman, 26-year-old contributor to Seattle Transit Blog. With the roads stripped away, global warming in the news, and gas prices around $4, the new transit-only version could appeal to new voters.

"Our opponents don't have a solution," says spokesman Alex Fryer of the Mass Transit Now campaign.

The rival Notoprop1.org camp argues the timing is terrible to increase sales taxes for more rail. The economy is convulsing, and the Seattle area's first light-rail lines, approved in 1996, aren't done yet. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008194706_prop1overview22m.html