Citizens to Keep Auburn Moving
1402 Auburn Way N., #369
Auburn, WA 98002-3309
Email: auburnmoving2012@gmail.com
Recent News
Election Day
Vote to approve the Bond MeasureApril 17th, 2012
The big day is here.
Citizens to Keep Auburn Moving
A citizen led effort to improve local roads
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 9, 2012 at 7:30 am
Timothy S. Olsen
Auburn wants more money from it’s citizens to rebuild roads? What happened to the “Save Our Streets” program? I already have approximately $600 extra a year added to my property taxes from the school levy….how much more will this cost? I have been asking the Mayor when my street will be fixed and have been lied to time and time again (and I have the emails to prove it!). How much money did we pay to have someone evaluate the streets just to tell us what we already know? Over a $100k like the “More than you imagined” slogan? Our tax dollars are already supposed to be going to repair the streets, we shouldn’t have to pay more to maintain them.
Sincerely,
Timothy Olsen
1310n 23rd St SE
Take a drive down 22nd or 23rd sometime…these are streets that need to be fixed.
March 9, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Terry Davis
Tim: Thanks for submitting your comments regarding the KEEP AUBURN MOVING proposal.
First off, you are correct that 22nd and 23rd still need to be fixed. I understand the frustration you must be experiencing with the City, about the timing of the repairs in your neighborhood. For what it’s worth, at least the City Council has continued the original SOS program after the expiration of the 6 year limit. This decision provides the funding to fix the remaining 17 residential road miles still needing to be repaired.
Please understand the roads that KEEP AUBURN MOVING are focused on restoring are not residential street in front of our homes; they are the key connector corridors that we all use to move throughout and around Auburn. I’m sure from the maps you’ve viewed on our site, you can agree that these roads are in very bad condition and need to be restored. I, for one, have memorized customized pathways to avoid the pot holes and crumbling conditions present throughout Auburn. I feel strongly we deserve better. These connector streets can’t be restored using residential SOS funds, since they aren’t residential streets. The truth is funding for local roads has been greatly reduced over the last couple of decads and there are no other state or federal funds available or coming in the future to address the immediate and sizable need we have in Auburn. This is the reason for our proposal. This is our problem to solve. Also, if we don’t approve this measure the problem doesn’t go away; it is going to only get more expensive as roads that can be patched/overlayed today move towards needing a complete rebuild. Rebuilding roads is 4 times more expensive.
In our opinion, this bond proposal is very affordable and the right way to address our need. It is different from School Bonds because it doesn’t front load the complete need up front. Instead it takes out bonds in phases for the funds that can be spent over 18 months. This allows the property tax cost to be very small over the first 5 years at $3 to $6 per month ($36 – $66 annually) and peaking around year 15 at $8 to $9 per month ($96-$108 annually). From the peak point, the cost steadily decline and is eventually retired.
Again, I appreciate your relevant questions regarding the KEEP AUBURN MOVING measure. I hope you find our response answered them. I encourage you to attend an upcoming community meeting that the City is holding regarding this measure. These meetings provide factual information on the measure. Also, I invite you to join us in helping pass this proposal, so we can solve this problem now and make our streets safer and ready for future generations of Auburn.
Vote yes on April 17 to Keep Auburn Moving.