TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross

Mercer Island residents say tolls would cut their umbilical cord, turn island into Alcatraz

BY Dave Ross  on January 30, 2013 @ 10:17 am (Updated: 12:17 pm - 1/30/13 )

i-90 bridge
Mercer Island residents at a community meeting Tuesday were not shy about how they feel about potential tolls on I-90. (AP Photo/file)
On Tuesday, I attended an open house at the Mercer Island Community Center to discuss tolling across the I-90 Bridge.

A representative from the Washington Department of Transportation, Craig Stone, was on hand, merely to host an exhibit on the various tolling options, but the presentation quickly turned into an impromptu public hearing.

"Some people said, 'I'm going to get very livid if I don't have an opportunity to talk to an individual," said Stone. "I'm the individual you're talking to. We want your comments, but again I'm not the ultimate decision maker in this. This is a legislative decision."

Island residents weren't shy about how they felt. Outside as I walked up to the hearing room, I found Owen Blauman waving a 'No tolls on I-90' sign outside of the hearing room, but visible through the large picture window to the people inside. When I asked why he was waving the sign, he said:

"Mercer Island's finest told me that even though it's a public facility, that I have to be wearing my sign. So for a while I had it shoved down my pants, but that was a little awkward, a lot of splinters, so I'm out here now watching from the outside."

Blauman said the tolling will make Mercer Island like a mini-Alcatraz.

"We don't have choices. If you've lived here for 40 years like I have, I don't have a choice."

I've heard Mercer Island described as many things, Alcatraz is not one of them.

Of course, the original bridge was tolled in the 1940s, but since then, there's been no toll. Slapping a toll of perhaps $4 in each direction is a major lifestyle change.

I talked to some people inside who explained to me why Mercer Island is a unique case.

"The City of Mercer Island only has 20,000 residents and has far fewer services and resources than a town of 20,000 would normally have. There is no alternative to I-90. It literally is my umbilical cord to the rest of the world," said one man, who continued to say not everyone that lives on the island is wealthy.

"I just moved here a year ago. I purchased by house for $215,000. If you don't believe me look it up on Redfin. The truck I drove in here cost only $3,400. This jacket was $18 and this hat was $6."

If there were a few more services on the island, things might be easier the resident said.

My own wife pointed out, that you can't even get stitches, for an injury requiring them, on the island.

We tried to stay impartial, but it's hard when you know everyone that lives on the island.

After Dave gave his report on the meeting, news anchor Linda Thomas pressed him on how he feels about the tolls as a Mercer Island resident.

"Look, we made our bed back in 1999 when we killed the car tab fees that were paying for about one-third of the transportation budget," said Dave. "Nobody wants a gas tax, nobody wants a car tab fee. It's either tolls or you're not going to get a bridge. I don't know how else to say that. People are saying, 'Well we have to pay this toll for somebody else's bridge.' That being the 520 bridge, that's why they need the money. But if you raise the gas tax, that means people of Eastern Washington pay for two bridges which they might never even visit. So none of it's fair."

You might also be interested in:

Luke Burbank: Why tolling I-90 is unfair

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (41)


  • Add A Comment

  • HockeyMom wrote...
    I just don't understand
    January 30, 2013 10:00 am
    How do you toll one road for a different road? Part of the toll is that a driver has the choice if they are going to be using said tolled roadway or not. This forces people to pay for a road they are not using. Just seems like they want everyone else to pay for their inability to do a cost effective project on time and on budget.
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  • logical open mind wrote...
    Daqve Ross-you and them libs never, ever want to look at welfare, medicaid and medicare and fraud. Because you need to appear hip you and seattle libs refuse to pressure the state to llok at the downside of gov dependency.
    January 30, 2013 5:58 pm
    this toll is only the start man. The taxes will keep going up and putting middle class and working poor in a jam. BUT YOU CAN STILL TALK YOUR UTOPIA AT THE WINE And cheese parties. Just wait and see what happens when interest on the state and federal debt starts climbing. My grandparents were so much better people than you PHONY 60'S LIBS!!!
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  • shark75 wrote...
    Just shut up and keep voting democrat
    January 30, 2013 10:02 am
    and pay your taxes and tolls like a good citizen. Tolling is patriotic.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    sorry dave, but you made your bed when you moved to an island
    January 30, 2013 10:15 am
    and preached your tax and spend liberal arguments every day to the fools in our area who actually bought it. you wanted to pay more taxes. while here's your opportunity!
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  • dori monson fan wrote...
    options for mercer island folks to avoid paying the toll to get to their own little hawaii
    January 30, 2013 10:23 am
    ride your bicycle. mcschwinn surly won't toll the bike lane on I-90. drive your boat or borrow a neighbors. take a bus. fly kenmore air. walk or jog the I-90 ped lane. start a mercer island homeowner's association and use the revenue to operate a ferry.
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  • flipper wrote...
    But...
    January 30, 2013 10:25 am
    ...we still have a very large portion of our CAR TAB fees going to pay for RAPID TRANSIT. Please explain why I pay a fee on my car for rapid transit. That seems to be a mutually exclusive idea...
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  • djw wrote...
    because we voted for it!
    January 31, 2013 4:06 am
    "Please explain why I pay a fee on my car for rapid transit." Easy question: because of a little thing called "democracy". The voters of King/Snohomish/Pierce voted for that tax because they recognized the need for more and better public transit in the region. And you're benefiting--if ST wasn't shuttling around as many commuters as they are, you'd have a lot more competition for space on the road, and traffic would be considerably worse. And, of course, gas taxes, tolls, and other taxes only cover about half the road repair and construction costs in this country, so as a driver, you're getting a substantial subsidy. See here for details: http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/01/23/drivers-cover-just-51-percent-of-u-s-road-spending/
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  • monkeyal wrote...
    Mercedes Island folks
    January 30, 2013 10:26 am
    will somehow find a way to exempt themselves from any I-90 tolls..they halted I-90 expansion and improvements for decades so they could get landscaping and lids.
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  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    I'm Confused?............
    January 30, 2013 10:47 am
    Isn't being separate from the rest of the Puget Sound region what Mercer Island residents have always hoped to achieve?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    "If there were a few more services on the island, things might be easier the resident said. "
    January 30, 2013 10:48 am
    You shouldn't be so picky with your zoning laws, of course the residents seem to think your little paradise should not be self sufficient. Ride the bus or the train or the light rail that you wanted diverted from the gas taxes....enjoy. I doubt you will find any sympathy from us normal folks.
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  • djw wrote...
    Exactly.
    January 30, 2013 9:07 pm
    The lack of services on the island is by design, and it's not like the residents had a problem with the zoning practices. The reality here is that a group of (mostly) very rich people want their special "island character" plus very easy access to the services our city and region provide, and they want someone else to pay for it.
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  • grow up/get real wrote...
    I-90 Bridge was paid for years ago. . .
    January 30, 2013 11:07 am
    It is a part of the Federal Interstate Highway System. It is NOT a State Route like 520. It was paid for years ago at a cost of just $93 million, most likely with lots of federal funds. The rebuilt I-90 bridge reopened in 1993--That is 20 years ago folks! Leave the bridge alone-It's paid for! It's usage should be free. If the state doesn't have enough funds to finish the 520 bridge, then why the h_ll did they start construction?
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    gu/gr...
    January 30, 2013 11:20 am
    amen.
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    honestly,..
    January 30, 2013 11:17 am
    i don't care what the mercer island people want/are like/do with their time.

    that's a different issue.

    my problem is that the STATE couldn't FORCE people to use 520, and they've come NOWHERE NEAR the money they needed from tolling it. SO, they're now trying to CUT OFF(toll) the other road that people started using MORE to AVOID the TOLL!

    that shows that there's a bigger problem. this SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN. who CARES about mercer!? TOLLING I-90 is WRONG. it's just a money grab to fund something that was not properly funded in the FIRST PLACE.

    NO TOLLS ON I-90! the state MUST be forced to SOLVE their OWN problems of mis-managing roads monies!

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  • flipper wrote...
    From the DOT...
    January 30, 2013 12:08 pm
    I sent an email about tolling and was told that the state considers I-90 and SR 520 a "transportation corridor" that have to be looked at together. Seems like the didn't look at things together with the original SR520 proposal.
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