Sick of Issaquah's traffic? We all are.

With this transportation package, we’ll be able to get around town easier — to schools, parks, local businesses and our homes. We’ll make important local streets safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, including our youngest and oldest neighbors.

Every one of us living in Issaquah knows that traffic passing through town is clogging up our streets. That’s why the City is working aggressively with the State, King County, Sound Transit and neighboring cities to find long-term solutions to these regional problems.

Meanwhile, this bond pays for local projects we must do ourselves.

These four local road projects will benefit Issaquah residents. A citizen task force carefully chose these projects — and a way to pay for them — after months of study and extensive public input.

As Issaquah residents, we have to tackle these long-overdue, critical projects. Each one has been a priority for years, and with this package we’ll finally make them a reality.

Stand up and be counted with your yes vote — we are one community committed to tangible solutions, including this ballot measure. To learn more, go to OneIssaquah.org.

Let’s take real action. Vote yes.

Will this Proposition actually “fix traffic”?  No! It doesn’t offer tangible traffic flow relief, the top issue tied with growth, that citizens identified in the 2015 survey.  Issaquah’s spending priorities should focus on the needs of its citizens first, not to promote more unsustainable growth that continually relies on taxpayer money.  

Flawed Thinking:  Rents and taxes are skyrocketing now.  Issaquah is rapidly becoming unaffordable.  Congestion is the City’s responsibility, and wouldn’t be such an issue if development fees had been raised sooner, and the pace of growth moderated.  This 25 year, $50 million bond is too expensive, far too short on details, lacks any measurable commitments, and does not provide any meaningful congestion relief.  This is not a one and done Proposition.  Car tab fees, street levies, future bonds, and other new taxes are all under consideration. 

Promised, and not delivered:  These needed projects should have already been built years ago.  Providence Point and South Cove are great examples of neighborhoods held hostage by long promised traffic projects that could have been built using existing revenue streams.  Is the City neglecting needs in your neighborhood too?  What’s in this bond for you?  Please make your voice heard, and vote “No”!

They’re right. “These needed projects should have already been built years ago.”

So let’s do it. With this bond these local projects will finally get built. 

Issaquah’s unique challenges and tough realities make a simple fix impossible. That’s why the city is working on multiple solutions for our traffic mess. 

Learn how these projects fit into the big picture at OneIssaquah.org.

We can complain about past mistakes. Or we can keep moving forward. Vote yes.

Submitted by: Barak Rosenbloom, Keith Watts, www.OneIssaquah.org 

For years the City has failed to prioritize, fund, and build the projects in this bond, or work effectively with the region.  Instead we got landslides, chemicals in drinking water, bulldozed trees, blue buildings, giant retaining walls and ever increasing traffic.  This bond enables Issaquah’s growth addiction to continue.  More importantly, it doesn’t address our massive traffic congestion problems.  We deserve real solutions, not more empty promises.  Trust them with your $50 Million?  Vote No!

Submitted by: Bryan Weinstein, Cory Christensen, Althea Saldanha, trafficbondinfo@gmail.com

Complete text of measure

60% yes vote and a minimum turnout equal to 2,666 voters (Washington Constitution, art. VII, sec. 2(b))

For questions about this measure, contact: Wayne Tanaka, City Attorney, 206-477-7000, wtanaka@omwlaw.com