What they're saying ...

TIM EYMAN, activist, Mukilteo:

"You don't need me to put another nail in the coffin. This thing is dead. They're asking for too much money and aren't showing enough for it. Too often what works in Olympia doesn't work in front of the voters. ... The package should be split in half and let the voters decide which one they want."

MIKE O'BRIAN, chair, Sierra Club Cascade Chapter (news release, May 14):

"As gas prices soar, it is wrong to lock us into a highway-building program that doesn't help our region's mobility.

"We cannot sacrifice Sound Transit by weighting it down with an overreaching, fiscally irresponsible highway-spending bill that digs the global-warming hole deeper."

GRANT DEGGINGER, mayor of Bellevue:

"The Eastside and especially Bellevue will strongly support this. We've been waiting a long time to get transit and more transportation and I think voters will support it. ... Light-rail transit across I-90 to Bellevue and eventually to Redmond is the future. We may as well start now."

MARIANNE LINCOLN, president, Spanaway Community Association (e-mail to The Seattle Times, June 4):

"I spent Friday afternoon at the local grocery store on 176th [and] Pacific at the inception point of the proposed Cross-Base Highway, questioning and informing residents. The first elderly man I asked reflected a common South County opinion. 'Set a bag limit on 'em,' he said, referring to the environmentalists as 'tree huggers.' ... The area is pushing more than 75,000 cars a day over surface streets through Spanaway alone. Growth over the past 10 years has been 20 percent.

"... Oak trees? The environmentalists admitted themselves there are poisons on that ground [so] it is misleading to refer to it as a pristine place. The squirrels and butterflies might be more prevalent, but they probably vacated or died when the military police gassed it, and us, in the mid-'90s."

STEVE MULLIN, president, Washington Roundtable: "We're going to support the vote because employers in the region share the frustration of the voters of the region with our clogged transportation infrastructure. ... It's clear the voters want a balanced package. It's not clear when — if ever — we will get another chance."