I live in the Kent/Covington area because it’s possible to afford a home here and let my wife stay at home to raise our children as she wants.  I also like the area.  But I work in Redmond.  This requires about 10 - 15 hours a week for commuting.  Driving is a bit quicker but gas isn't cheap.  Taking the bus is cheap but requires more time, is a bit claustrophobic and guess what, the lack of lanes on I-405 slows it down as well as everyone else.  I don't mind the drive or the bus when traffic is flowing.  But from 6am to 6pm (and sometimes later), that is very rare.

 

I am happy to see that I-405 is getting more lanes.  Many argue against it because of its cost and the perceived environmental issues.  But unless private automobiles are outlawed (which would be a mistake), people will still choose to drive for many various reasons.  Sitting in gridlock causes more pollution than getting people to their locations quickly.  Plus, since much of the widening project is being paid for with gas taxes, its only fair to provide roads for the folks paying that tax.  A friend of mine drives for Metro.  He says a big part of fixing congestion issues is adding more roads and improve existing ones, not just adding more buses.

 

I'm not against options though.  I do enjoy the bus when it’s not stuck in gridlock traffic and people aren't being piled on top of each other at every stop.  An even better option to buses in this case though is an existing rail corridor the Port recently obtained.  It extends along the Eastside from Renton to Snohomish.  Ron Sims wants to turn it into a premier biking/walking trail and rip up the current railroad tracks.  Eventually Sims said they could put in light rail.  But according to a local group and an engineer that say with some repairs and improvements to the rail line, we could have a commuter rail line for less than the cost of ripping up all the railroad tracks.  Light rail has a way of getting to be very expensive and the chances of convincing the owners of the high cost homes around the corridor to let rail back in after its been gone for a few years would be very tough.

 

We need the rail line AND we need to better the roads for those of us who choose to live and work outside of Seattle.  I tire of all the projects that mainly benefit Seattle residents and commuters.  There's a lot of people who live outside of Seattle and many of them work on the East side (Renton, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland).  Turning this corridor into a commuter rail line should be high priority instead of the fluff feel good hiking/biking trail.  It is cold, wet and sort of miserable outside right now.  Not that many folks are going to brave the elements very often to bike 10-30 miles to work this time of year.  A lot more would take a train.  

 

The recent failure of Proposition 1 wasn't a referendum against roads or transit.  It was a referendum against higher taxes with minimal returns.  We already pay steep taxes.  Since those taxes are typically percentage based, we pay more as property values, wages and cost of goods increase.  As more jobs are created and people move to Western Washington, more people are paying those taxes.  Widen 405, add an east side rail line and do it with the taxes we are already paying.  That would be real progress and would show me that I could actually trust local governments with my tax money. 

 

It has been the year for family reunions for us.  Last July we were in Bear Lake, UT for a reunion with my Dad's family.  For Thanksgiving we are in Granite Bay, CA with my Mom's family.  This is a big reunion with about 90 people.  It is my Mom's parents and all the kids, grandkids and great grandkids.  I haven't seen many of my aunts, uncles and cousins since the last reunion about 10 years ago.  We decided to drive down.  We are taking our time on the drive though.  We packed Monday and made the short drive down to Portland area to stay with my sister and her family.  The next day we took advantage of sales tax free Oregon and did some shopping, mainly for Shanda's upcoming birthday.  We then mosied our way to Medford for the night.

 

Wednesday we enjoyed the sight of Mt. Shasta for a good portion of the drive.  We arrived in time for dinner with several family members that night.  Thursday of course was the big day.  The "men" gathered for flag football in the morning.  The 2nd play found me sprawled on the ground, dazed but not injured.  The game was fun, though now I can barely move as I'm very sore.  We all headed back to our temporary residences to clean up and meet at a local church that we had permission to use.  Many of my aunts/uncles live in the Sacramento area so they handled the meal.  It was a great feast with all the usual fixings.  We had a family photo session, pinewood derby race (I forgot to build mine), tribute and birthday celebration for grandma, and in general just enjoyed catching up with everyone.

 

Today we took are time and relaxed.  We had lunch with just my parents and siblings to celebrate my sister's birthday.  This evening we are heading back to the church to for dinner with all the family and a talent show.  I brought several of my outdoor photographs to display.  Tomorrow they have more activities but we will be starting our drive back.  Shanda didn't want to do the marathon all day drive.  That's alright as I hope to stop in Shasta National Forest for a break.

 

Families are important and it has been great to spend so much time with them this year.

 

I've posted pictures of this reunion on Flickr.