Mayor Nickels ready to act like spoiled child
Published Fri, Nov 24 2006 1:12 AM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, Transportation
Northwest Cable news reports on the spoiled mayor of Seattle's plans for a tunnel.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says the city "will not support" any option other than a multi-billion dollar tunnel to replace the aging Alaskan Way viaduct, regardless of what the governor decides. The mayor's alternative? Send all those viaduct drivers onto city streets.
...
A surface street option would mean diverting 103,000 trips per day through the waterfront and downtown, in a city already choked with traffic.
If Gregoire opts for anything other than the mayor's tunnel, he could try to block the plan by not approving permits, withholding funds or through legal action.
...
A Department of Transportation study found that diverting viaduct traffic onto surface streets could increase congestion downtown from four hours a day to 13 hours a day
It seems to me that it's long past time for Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council to be replaced. The Alaskan Way viaduct can be repaired for a lot less than building a tunnel would cost or even replacing it. But if Mayor Nickels and the Seattle City Council get their way, it will be years before it's replaced.
Replacing the viaduct with a tunnel will mean 3 years of 13 hour per day congestion in downtown Seattle, and will cost at least $4.6 billion. Replacing it with another elevated structure will take considerably less time and only cost around $2.8 billion, provided the mayor and the city council don't act like spoiled children and try to block it. If these so-called leaders continue their childish actions it could cost over $5 billion.
Whose money do they think they're spending anyway? Every penny of the money that will go into this comes out of the taxpayers pockets. Some of it comes from taxpayers as far away as Florida or Hawaii, since the repairs are partly federally funded.
It's obvious that Mayor Nickels and the Seattle City Council don't give a damn about what the people want. They refused to put this up to a vote when they found out that things were going to cost more. Now they want their way regardless of what the governor decides, despite the fact that it means higher costs, and a longer period of inconvenience to Seattle.
It is not in Seattle's or the surrounding area's interests for these spoiled children to continue in power.
Cross posted at NWBloggers.com
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