Eyman, Eyman, Eyman
I know what you’re thinking, and no, Applesauce hasn’t become an all Tim Eyman, all the time, blog.
It’s just that my latest conversation with Eyman covered a lot of territory and he said some interesting things about issues relevant to Wenatchee politics, so Applesauce is doing its best to make sure you know about it.
For example, Eyman’s latest initiative involves red-light cameras, something Wenatchee has been considering installing at selected intersections.
An excerpt from a story I filed for tomorrow’s World:
Initiative guru Tim Eyman said he mortgaged his home to finance his latest project, I-985.
He said it is the first time he has had to do such a thing for one of his initiatives. Eyman typically has financial backers who help fund his initiatives.
The initiative would lift occupancy restrictions in carpool lanes during some hours and use money from red-light cameras for traffic-congestion-relief projects. The Wenatchee Police Department is currently looking into installing red-light cameras at selected intersections.
Eyman said the $250,000 from the mortgage will cover signature-gathering costs to help get his measure on the ballot. He said he expects to have the 225,000 signatures required to make Novembers ballot by the end of this month.
“On one hand its less stressful, relatively speaking, for me because I know I will have the money to pay the bills for signature gathering and get this thing on the ballot,” Eyman said during a phone interview Friday. “On the other hand its sort of scary because you never know what will happen when its on the ballot.�”