Dori: Sound Transit ‘can’t afford’ $30 tabs, but can hire art consultants

Have you ever wondered what the money for your jacked-up, illegally-calculated car tabs goes to fund at the criminal enterprise that is Sound Transit? Thanks to an email a listener forwarded to me, we know that part of it is going to fund a program called STart — ST and art, get it?

STart, the Sound Transit Art Program, is considering producing a recorded music and audio program to build connections between cultures and generations in South King County.

In order to make an informed decision, STart is seeking a consultant to conduct a feasibility study that makes recommendations about options for recording in studios and on-location, digital distribution methodologies, and program structure, along with identifying related costs associated with a music and audio program aimed at people who ride Sound Transit trains.

The Feasibility Study Consultant [sic] could be an individual or a team, artist, arts administrator, program manager, other creative, or an organization.

And they’re telling us they don’t have enough money? They’re telling us that they’re going to suffer if we vote to give ourselves a tax cut with $30 tabs? Yet they have the money to hire consultants to design music and audio programs for “connecting cultures.”

Dori: Sound Transit spent $250K of your money on steel octopus

You’re telling the people of Pierce County, the majority of whom voted no on Sound Transit 3, that one reason they have to pay these outrageous, illegally-calculated car tabs is to hire a consultant for an audio program?

I can already hear people accusing me of being against music and cultural connections. No, I’m not against those things — I just don’t trust a light rail agency to do that sort of thing. Call me old-fashioned, but I actually believe that transportation agencies should, in fact, pay for transportation projects. Bizarre, I know.

And this is only in South King County. What about the people who want to connect cultures and generations in and North King County and Snohomish County and Pierce County?

Sound Transit has clearly got plenty of money. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, vote for $30 car tabs. And don’t listen when Sound Transit cries poverty.

What an absolute waste of our tax dollars.

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