State Senate Offers Relief to Drivers Gouged by Sound Transit

Seattle PI | Joel Connelly | March 1
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/Car-Tab-Sound-Transit-Seattle-12720742.php

“The Washington state Senate, burning the midnight oil, has voted to reduce car tab costs that went sky-high in 2017 following passage of the massive Sound Transit 3 light rail package in the 2016 election. The legislation, headed for the House, would revise the car tab calculation scale to more truly reflect an automobile’s value. Under the legislation, SB 5955, car owners would be eligible for a retroactive credit for the inflated costs they paid before Sept. 1, 2018. The owner of a 2010 Nissan Altima would save $30, while the owner of a 2015 Accura RLX could save $140.”

Home Prices Surge 6.3% in December Amid Critical Housing Shortage

CNBC | Diana Olick | February 27
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/home-prices-surge-amid-critical-housing-shortage.html

“Sky-high demand and record-low supply continued to push home prices higher in December, far faster than income growth. U.S. home prices increased 6.3 percent compared with December 2016, according to the much-watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home prices index. That is an increase from 6.1 percent annual growth in the previous month…The boom is strongest in Seattle, Las Vegas and San Francisco, which reported the highest gains.”

New Online Archive Lets You Explore Seattle’s 50-Year-Old ‘Freeway Revolt’                

Seattle Times | Mike Lindblom | February 27
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/new-online-archive-lets-you-explore-seattles-50-year-old-freeway-revolt/

“What do University of Washington students, Montlake homeowners, the League of Women Voters and the Black Panther Party have in common? Their coalition resisted a Seattle plan in the late 1960s for freeways through the Central Area, Rainier Valley, South Lake Union and Lake City, during the golden age of automobile travel and three years after new Interstate 5…Fifty years later, “Seattle’s Freeway Revolt: A Directory of Historical Resources” has been posted by Seattle Public Library, to make searching easier for hundreds of history and transportation buffs. Some sections of the 113-page guide contain dates and titles of the records that exist online, while others contain hyperlinks for people to read maps and reports directly.”

Sound Transit Light-Rail Riders Increasing by the Millions

Seattle Times | Michelle Baruchman | February 23
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sound-transit-light-rail-ridership-continue-to-grow/

“Greater Seattle  saw the highest growth in the number of people choosing transit compared to all other major metropolitan areas, adding more than 4 million trips in 2017, according to new numbers released Thursday. The region’s rate of growth – 2.5 percent – ranked second behind Phoenix, which held at 2.7 percent, and ahead of Houston, which fell at 0.2 percent, according to ridership reported to the National Transit Database. Sound Transit’s light rail alone carried 4 million more passengers in 2017 than the previous year, boosted by a full year of newly opened stations at the University of Washington, on Capitol Hill and Angle Lake. Tacoma’s light-rail service and Sound Transit’s commuter-rail and transit services for people with special needs also saw more ridership, contributing to an overall increase of Sound Transit services by 10 percent, according to fourth-quarter performance reports released Thursday.”