Today in history: King County voters reject proposals for regional rail transit
May 19, 1970 was not one of the region's best days. On that day, King County voters opted to reject four bond issues that would've included storm water control, community centers, a new County public health and safety facilities, and a regional rail transit system.
It was an initiative by the Forward Thrust effort to get light rail in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and which never quite grabbed the voters the way organizers wanted.
Though the transit system would have been heavily subsidized by the federal government with 500 miles of bus routes and 49 miles of rail, the package first failed in 1968.
If local bonds had passed in 1970, $900 million in local funding would've covered all but 1/4 of the total system's costs ($1.321 billion, at the time); $80 million for storm water control; $55.3 million for new community centers; and $40.2 million for new County jails, police stations, and public health centers.
All four failed to secure 60% of the vote, with only 46% of voters approving the initiative.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/today-in-history-king-county-voters-reject-proposals-for-regional-rail-transit/ar-AABAJ0L
1970 was the time of the Boeing recession. Nothing was going to pass then. In 1968 a majority of voters voted yes on the rail measure. It did not receive the required 60% however.
