In a few weeks, the ballots for the November election will be mailed to voters. One of the ballot issues is for new taxes for Sound Transit 2, a scaled-down version of the proposal voters rejected previously. ST2 will cost billions of dollars over 20 years.

The promises for the Eastside are for light rail from Seattle to Bellevue and Overlake near Microsoft. For the rest of us on the Eastside, there is a vague promise of 17 percent more bus service.

The operative word is “vague.” Sound Transit offers no details for what, if any bus service will be added to serve Sammamish. Sound Transit offers no details for what, if any, bus service will be added to the Issaquah Park & Ride and/or Issaquah Highlands Park & Ride, both used extensively by Sammamish residents in addition to those in Issaquah and elsewhere.

I wrote Sound Transit seeking information about what kind of service Sammamish and Issaquah might expect in ST2. The agency did not reply. I wrote Issaquah City Councilman Fred Butler, a member of the Sound Transit Board, seeking the same information. Mr. Butler did not reply. It appears that Sound Transit isn’t concerned with its taxpaying constituents on the fringes of the district, disdaining to reply.

Sammamish City Councilman Don Gerend was able to get a reply from a Sound Transit staffer, who said there is no information and that it was still being formulated. That’s nice — but formulated for dissemination when? Before or after the election?

Be very skeptical of the ST2 package when it comes time to vote. The agency wants billions of dollars in new taxes. We in Sammamish and Issaquah are —so far — being asked to buy a pig in a poke.

Scott L. Hamilton

-Sammamish