I’m voting yes on Pierce Transit Proposition 1, but I’m not really excited about it. On one side it’s curbing taxes and employee costs, and the other side it’s preserving transit for our young people and community safety net.

The fact sheet prepared by the board of commissioners for Proposition 1 is brimming with gloom and doom but is absolutely nil on strategic vision. I believe that this stems from the structural makeup of the board itself. How can “elected officials representing Pierce County, Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, University Place, and one non-voting union representative,” busy with their own budgets and agendas, ever hope to foster the structural changes necessary to not only preserve Pierce Transit but to lead the agency to the next level?

Regardless if Proposition 1 passes or fails, I think we as transit riders, voters and taxpayers should push for a switch in oversight to an independent, directly elected board of commissioners. Then we can choose representation committed to creating the dynamic, accountable and innovative Pierce Transit that we all desperately want to support.