Powell Barnett and others looking plans for Powell Barnett Park, 1970

The Forward Thrust

ballot initiatives In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...

were a series of

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

propositions put to the voters of King County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in 1968 and 1970, designed by a group called the Forward Thrust Committee. Seven of the twelve propositions in 1968 were successful; four of the remaining propositions were repackaged for a vote in 1970, when they were defeated in the darkening local economic climate of the

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

Bust.Patrick McRoberts
King County voters on Forward Thrust bonds approve stadium and aquarium and nix transit on February 13, 1968
HistoryLink, January 1, 1999. Accessed online 19 July 2008.HistoryLink Staff
Voters reject rail transit plan and three other Forward Thrust bond proposals on May 19, 1970
HistoryLink, September 19, 2002, corrected April 15, 2003. Accessed online 19 July 2008. One of the most visible accomplishments of the Forward Thrust levy was the eventual building of the Kingdome, ultimately the first home of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners. The initiatives were variously under the aegis of METRO (the Municipality of Metropolitan

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

), King County, and the city of Seattle. (METRO and King County merged in 1992.) The Forward Thrust Committee was founded by James R. Ellis and effectively disbanded shortly after the 1970 defeats. It disbanded formally in 1974. Seattle Mayor Dorm Braman was also a strong backer of the 1968 initiatives. The US$118 million passed in 1968 in support of the Department of Parks and Recreation was, at the time, the largest parks and recreation bond issue ever passed in the United States. The failure of the

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

propositions meant that a nearly $900 million federal funding earmark that had been secured by U.S. Senator

Warren Magnuson Warren Grant "Maggie" Magnuson (April 12, 1905May 20, 1989) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Washington in Congress for 44 years, first as a Representative from 1937 to 1944, and then as a senator from 1944 to 1 ...

if local bonds passed went instead to fund

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

's MARTA.

Results

The elections took place February 13, 1968, and May 19, 1970. Each initiative required a 60% supermajority to pass. The results were as follows; bold typeface indicates successful propositions: Sources:

Notes

{{reflist

External links

Preliminary Guide to the Forward Thrust Records 1966-1970
University of Washington Library
July 2019 archive.org snapshot
* https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv52255/op%3Dfstyle.aspx?t=k&q=WAUForwardThrustSeattleWash1707.xml —

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

archive (as of July 2022) History of Seattle Washington (state) elections 1968 Washington (state) ballot measures 1970 Washington (state) ballot measures

Results

See also

Notes

External links