Seattle’s levies are ‘pure malarkey;’ residents already funded transportation project

Plans to fund transportation investments in Seattle through a nine-year levy is going too far, says the executive director of the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association.

Faye Garneau is a native Seattelite and told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that the Move Seattle transportation levy is “way too much.” The new levy will replace an existing one that was supposed to pay for the city’s transportation problems, she said.

“That was pure malarkey,” she added.

Mayor Ed Murray’s levy calls for $930 million, collected through property tax, over the course of nine years. On Tuesday, council member Nick Licata proposed an alternative approach to the levy, which would take some pressure off homeowners, but add a 5 percent commercial parking tax, employee hour tax, and a transportation impact fee on future development.

Raising the parking tax is ridiculous, Garneau told Dori. There’s already a tax.

“And there’s nowhere to park,” she added.

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Dori wanted to know if Garneau believes the levy is part of a plan to support property developers and give them the biggest perks.

Allowing a developer to build a 40-unit apartment building without any parking; that’s giving them preferential treatment, she responded.

“[They’re] living in a dream world,” she said.

The Move Seattle levy would replace the “Bridging the Gap” levy that expires at the end of 2015. The new levy would cost a median Seattle household, valued at $450,000, about $275 per year; the expiring levy costs the same household about $130 per year.

The city is spending millions to support modes of transportation, other than vehicles, Dori said. Seattle’s gridlock is some of the worst in the country.

The city’s focus on things such as bike lanes and streetcars shows that officials have “no remorse” for people and their vehicles, Garneau added.

“The free movement of goods and services is what makes this country great,” she told Dori. “And somebody, somewhere, has forgotten that. Too many people have forgotten.”

Many of the business owners Garneau knows are considering leaving the city. However, they aren’t quite sure where to go because more and more cities are picking up on the idea that cars and the people who drive them are the enemy, she said.