If you think traffic is bad now, you just WAIT! And don't kid it....Organization of Exporting Countries is coming and gasoline is going to be over 2 bucks a gallon SOON! There is a solution to this crisis.....kick the turkeys out of their cars! What we need are low cost solutions that can be implemented THIS MONTH, THIS YEAR. These ideas need to be "doable", and can be implemented quickly, but most of all need to be low cost. Already we have a vision in Seattle of the transportation future....light rail under Capital Hill, a commuter rail line from Everett to Tacoma, Ferry Boats on Lake Washington, and a region wide HOV bus lane system, with express stations. Now we need to complete the rest of that vision with those other (thousand of) ideas. What we need is a clear environmentalist vision of what we want and where we want to go. We need the tools to implement that vision, of an "environmentally friendly/lower cost transportation system". Cars are subsidized and it is time we remove those subsidies. It is time Seattle, stood up to Seattle,and told the rest of the State of Washington....to KEEP YOUR CARS OUT OF SEATTLE! Har,har,ha.

SHOULD ANY STREET WIDER THAN 4 LANES, HAVE THE THIRD AND FOURTH LANE BE MADE INTO AN HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE AND TRUCK/CARGO LANE. In effect, the third and fourth lane of any major street is converted into an HOVlane, for buses,carpools, and vanpools. Left turns would be ok. Also, the lanes would be for Commercial Trucks (large vehicles) and Commercial Fleet Vehicles. Trucks are important,and when trucks are stuck in traffic it only drives up our cost of living, and prices. It is time there was a cap placed upon the number of Single Occupancy Vehicles on the road. The bus system would operate faster, and carry more people per hour....if the cars got out of the way. Presto: instant rapid transit....the only cost is signs and paint. These lanes can have level's of service...for example,during rush hours, the lanes would not permit parking, during non-rush hours parking would be only permitted if the vehicle is attended (like package delivery), and during latenight parking would be permited (ie.midnight to 6AM)....it is time car drivers got the message....your parked car is just like cholestrol...clogging the arteries UP!

SHOULD ALL NEW VEHICLES BE REQUIRED TO PAY TEN PERCENT OF THE PURCHASED VALUE OF THE VEHICLE FOR OBTAIN TABS. Tax the rich. It is the NEW cars from factories that are needed additional road space...it isn't us lowly USED CAR people, we have already paid for that additional road space! Besides, I don't know many rich people who deliberately choose to drive used vehicles that break down often! Call it the revenge of I-695! People who own new cars drive more than used car owners....oh yea, the homeless drive shopping carts! And the revenue used...to finance those non-car/non-gasoline ideas.

SHOULD SEATTLE'S RESIDENTIAL STREETS REQUIRE THAT PARKING BE ONLY ON ONE SIDE, AND A BICYCLE PATH ADDED TO THE OTHER SIDE. This would reduce the cost of garbage/recycling pickups, since now streets are one-way, and the trucks only travel once up the street...instead of twice. Presto: instant bicycle/motorcycle path system, city-wide. Go take a look, but having cars park on both sides of the street makes it harder for even firetrucks to get to the fire.....by restricting parking to only one side....it will open up a city wide bicycle path system. Make it nice, with solar powered lighting, barriers...but at first paint it in. Incorporate neighbors as part of the design phase! This is something that is low cost to do, and can be done quickly.

SHOULD SEATTLE CONVERT ALLEY WAY RIGHT-OF-WAYS TO BECOME A MOTOR/TRAIL BIKE TRAILWAY. Neighbors can access their back yard,but only at 5 MPH. The intersections would have stop signs,and even "solar powered stoplights". This is an underutilized right-of-way.

SHOULD PARKING BE BANNED ON ALL STREETS WITH ELECTRIC BUSES. Presto: double the capacity of the electric buses....unlike diesel buses, electric buses have faster acceleration, but the system is stuck behind parked cars. Imagine... Capital Hill with an HOV/Cargo lane on the side, and parking "in the middle of the streets".....it is time businesses understood.....stop marketing to parking places...as people spend more on traffic, that is less money for entertainment, shopping, groceries, etc.

SHOULD THE CITY OF SEATTLE PUT IN ALTERNATIVE FUEL STATIONS FOR CARS. It is time the "Seattle Billionaire Club" stopped blacklisting alternative fuel technology. We need a system of electric recharge stations for electric vehicles, and places to refuel for natural gas. Ironically, Seattle has the nation's largest number of natural gas vehicles....but NO public fueling station. NONE of the gas stations really want alternative fuels, oil companies are out to black list alternative fuels. Watch people panic when there is another oil embargo...it is coming. At first the stations would be used for city vehicles, but later open to the public, just like regular gas stations.

SHOULD ALL COMMERCIAL PARKING LOTS BE REDUCED IN SIZE 50%, AND VEGETATION PLANTED. Businesses can go to valet parking,where cars are packed together. Cars are gluttons for land area, and we need land for other things like houses, farms, grass trees....why should people in North Bend, WA have grass and trees, and us people in Seattle well we have to be guest....by sacrificing our grass and trees for Pavement...already 50% of city is pavement...let's reduce the size of parking!

SHOULD ALL COMMERCIAL PARKING BE PAID. Yep, you pay that one dollar an hour. No more "subsidized" parking. Free Parking is not free, and if shopping malls provided paid parking, instead of free parking...it would reduce the cost of prices...better yet pay the taxes. People who do not use the parking place (because they walked!) should be rewarded.

SHOULD ALL STREET PARKING BE PERMIT PARKING. That is one sure way to get the message to all those "out of town" guests. Make Tacoma, Bellevue, Everett...pay our property taxes. People who live in Seattle get "free" parking permits....and people who don't live in Seattle....will pay! Few know this, but Seattle's gas tax revenue is used to subsidize rural road maintenance,that is nice of us...but we have a real problem....everyone wants to drive into and thru Seattle. Let's make the out of towners pay.

SHOULD BUSINESSES BE REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT TRAFFIC REDUCTION METHODS. Let's put some teeth into programs whereby businesses help their employees buy bus passes, or join car/van pools. Many restaurant chains are "getting around" the existing laws....since each restaurant franchise is a "small business". It is business that causes traffic,it is business that can solve it. McDonald's restaurant could put in a restaurant-to-restaurant van shuttle...that way employees can travel to any McDonald's and work at another. It is time business implement other ideas, like Internet Delivery. Banks could hold classes in transportation planning....literally every business in some way spends over 1/3 of their budget on transportation. Let's see the schools put in a school-to-school system, and teachers can use it. Start marketing to more noncar ideas, like buying electric vehicles for carpools. Let's see some business people start thinking. If Boeing engineers want more money...got a piece of advice....put in a building to building transit system, and have all employees, including management, leave their cars at home.

SHOULD BUSINESSES DISTRICTS BE CONVERTED TO PEDESTRIAN AND TRANSIT MALL. Forgive me for suggesting it, but businesses districts, like Wallingford, University District, even Ballard, should be converted to pedestrian malls, with wider sidewalks. General use traffic is rerouted to go around! Cities are for people...not the four wheeled species.

SHOULD SINGLE OCCUPANCY VEHICLES BE RESTRICTED FROM DOWNTOWN SEATTLE DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS. Get the message across...only transit, carpools, vanpools, bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians, and trucks (commercial fleet) should be allowed downtown. Let's stop giving "free" incentives to yuppies!

SHOULD THE CITY IMPLEMENT A MIDNIGHT BUS EXPRESS SYSTEM,INTEGRATING BICYCLES AND MOTORCYCLES. For example, the routes 80,81,82,83,84,85,86 NightOwls can be converted to microbuses that carry also bicycles and trailbikes...even shopping carts. The microbuses would have platform loading (no stairs), and only operate between midnight and 6 am every night. Right now we have no real alternatives. Some bus routes should at least have hourly service....even if it means sacrificing some day time runs. There are a lot of people who can use the service, if available. There is a lot more night activity than car drivers want us to believe.

SHOULD SEATTLE BUILD A SOLAR/WIND POWER PROJECT. It is time we converted our homes to run on solar and wind energy, and be self-sufficient. Don't believe the big lie from the oil companies! Seattle can be converted to run on solar. If we generate most of our energy from solar, it will mean less hydropower is used...thus more water for salmon recovery. It can be done....few know this but the solar industry in Washington state is over one billion a year! And employs over 5,000 people. It would be bigger if the investors stopped blacklisting the industry from capital investments.

SHOULD THE CITY OF SEATTLE PURCHASE THE NATURAL GAS PIPELINES. Let's lower our natural gas bill! Pukit Power (Energy) charges a profit, and gives upper management excessive wages. Maybe the ratepayers should own the gas utility instead. By converting Seattle to solar, it will free up a lot of natural gas,...which then can be used for commercial cogeneration...a method of making electricity from the furnace or hot water heater...you generate heat and electricity at the same time. With conversion of our homes to alternative energy....it will make more electricity and natural gas available for our cars! Instead of burning natural gas in the furnace, now you "gas"at home.

SHOULD THE CITY PUT IN A SCHOOL TO SCHOOL TRANSIT SYSTEM. That way teachers can leave their cars at home. Integrate it with the present school bus system, and have buses (hauling bicycles and motorbikes) run express from highschool to highschool...that way the entire educational system becomes a giant class room. Educational TV could be put on the buses, and made into traveling classrooms.

Hey, it is time car drivers faced reality! Kick that car blocking the crosswalk in the bumper! No more Mr.Nice Guy. Car drivers have gotten to be so greedy, that they honestly believe it is OK for this nation to use the military for mercenary purposes. Right now as I speak, most wars in some way have something to do with OIL! Chechnya, in southern Russia, is over Oil! They have a big, big reserve there, and the pipeline is essential. Niageria is at war, and the Columbia/Venezuela is not a "drug war", but a war over oil. China is threatening to invade Vietnam...over oil. East Timor islands have offshore resources. Literally, you can predict the next war, simply because we are too lazy to change our energy wasteful lifestyles.

With the new "green" city council, the council could put non-binding questions like this the voters. Not only will it "tick off" car drivers, but it will also open a discussion (debate) about practical/ low-cost/ quick-to-implement ideas. It is time Seattle served notice to the rest of the state...that we are not, repeat not, a dumping ground!