[nfbwatlk] Fw: "Seattle's Pedestrian Master Plan" sent you a message on Facebook...

[Jacob Struiksma]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Facebook" <notification+mk_3mhdm at facebookmail.com>
To: "Jacob Struiksma" <jacobstruiksma at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 1:29 PM
Subject: "Seattle's Pedestrian Master Plan" sent you a message on 
Facebook...


Rebecca Deehr sent a message to the members of Seattle's Pedestrian Master 
Plan.

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Subject: Please contact City Council/Mayor about the Head Tax

As you may know 
(http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://seattlepostglobe.org/2009/07/07/removing-citys-head-tax-more-complicated-than-it-seems), 
discussions are happening now regarding the possible repeal of the Employee 
Hours Tax that is also known as the "Head Tax". This is a $25 per employee 
per year tax to employers for each employee who drive alone to work. The 
"Head Tax" does not apply for employees who ride transit, bike, walk, car 
pool or ride share to work. Also, businesses with two or fewer employees and 
those with under $80,000 in revenues per year are also exempt.

Funds from the "Head Tax" support transportation projects in Seattle, 
including pedestrian and bicycle programs.

The Pedestrian Master Plan is slated to be funded through Bridging the 
Gap -- which is made up of the Head Tax, the Commercial Parking Tax, and 
levy funds.

The Downtown Seattle Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce 
have been lobbying Seattle City Council and candidates for Council and 
mayoral office to eliminate the "Head Tax".

Recently, City Councilmembers Tim Burgess and Richard Conlin and Mayor Greg 
Nickels announced their plans to rescind the "Head Tax" without a guarantee 
of replacement funds for pedestrian and bicycle project. Last week in the 
Council Transportation Committee meeting (watch it: 
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=2130913), 
Jan Drago and Nick Licata expressed their commitment to pedestrian and 
bicycle programs and recommended that Council wait until budget sessions to 
discuss the "Head Tax" issue. Their leadership on this was greatly 
appreciated but may not be enough to hold off the pressure from the Downtown 
Seattle Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce to remove 
the tax ASAP.

Neighborhood, pedestrian, bicycle and sustainability advocates are uniting 
in an effort to ask Council and the Mayor to retain the "Head Tax". And, we 
are asking that if Council and the Mayor eliminate this tax, that 
replacement funds be bindingly committed for bike and pedestrian projects 
and that a similar incentive for reducing vehicle miles traveled be found. 
Most of the bike and pedestrian projects are capital in nature and bring 
much-needed jobs to our city in this challenging economic time. And, they 
help our community to do the right thing in biking and using transit and 
reduce vehicle miles traveled.

If funding for neighborhood pedestrian and bicycle programs are important to 
you, please contact Council and the Mayor this week before they make a 
decision to repeal the "Head Tax" without replacing funding for pedestrian 
and bicycle programs.

Councilmember's and Mayor's e-mail addresses

Tim.Burgess at seattle.gov
Sally.Clark at seattle.gov
Richard.Conlin at seattle.gov
Jan.Drago at seattle.gov
Jean.Godden at seattle.gov
Bruce.Harrell at seattle.gov
Nick.Licata at seattle.gov
Richard.McIver at seattle.gov
Tom.Rasmussen at seattle.gov

Citizens are directed to the following website to complete a form to
send an email to the Mayor's Office.
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/citizen_response.htm

Thank you!
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To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox/readmessage.php&t=1023268757930&mid=c5884bG2e652e5bG2347f44G0

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