Getting a vote on the viaduct is a challenge
Published Mon, Jan 29 2007 6:29 PM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, Transportation
For the longest time now the Alaskan Way Viaduct has needed repair or replacement. After suffering earthquake damage you'd think that there was a high-priority need to fix it. Instead it's been an opportunity for the Seattle City Council and Mayor Greg Nickels to push their own agenda, while accomplishing nothing.
After deciding that they wanted a tunnel, and then realizing that the cost would be outrageous, they quickly moved to make sure that the people wouldn't have a say in things. After all, the people can't be trusted to make the right decisions.
After much criticism, they left the decision up to Governor Gregoire. She decided that the people should vote. Unfortunately she decided that only the people of Seattle should vote, and not the rest of the state, despite the fact that the highway in question is a state highway and that the funds are coming from the State and the Federal Government, and not just from Seattle.
So the Seattle City Council waited until almost the last minute to get the ballot measure put together. They substituted a new, un-vetted plan for the original tunnel proposal, and put it on the ballot. Now that ballot is being challenged. From the Seattle Times:
Longtime monorail backer Peter Sherwin has filed a court challenge to the wording of the two Alaskan Way Viaduct ballot measures on the March 13 ballot.
...
Sherwin said he's not trying to stop the election, which will be conducted entirely by mail, but wants the ballot title rewritten.
...
In his challenge Sherwin argues that the ballot title does not make clear that:
- The state has not agreed to a four-lane tunnel.
- No significant funding has been secured for the tunnel option.
(The city says the funding is secure.)
- Seattle residents may have to pay certain taxes and tolls.
- All cost overruns would be the sole responsibility of the city of Seattle.
...
The ballot language was not the only challenge aired today against the tunnel.
The city of Seattle has said it would save $100 million in the proposed four-lane tunnel by forgoing improvements to the Battery Street Tunnel north of the viaduct on Highway 99.
However the state Department of Transportation has questioned that move, and Gregoire made it clear on Monday she, and legislative leaders, oppose shifting the money.
"The Battery Street Tunnel has safety issues. We put in $100 million to address them. And we have every intent that is going to happen. We owe that to the citizens," Gregoire said. "I will not abandon essential safety investments."
It just never seems to end. It's not enough that so much time has been wasted with no work actually being done to fix the viaduct. Now they want to risk public safety by moving funds from one repair job to another.
What's the next delay going to be? Sure, this challenge may not actually delay the vote. But after the vote, if the Seattle City Council doesn't get their way, some members have promised to use all sorts of procedural blocks and even lawsuits to slow down the repair or replacement, and to drive up the costs.
If the Seattle City Council does get their way, will they mis-use the funding the same way the monorail funding was mis-used? Will the first thing that gets funded be lots of expensive television commercials telling us how good it will be when it's finally here?
That's what happened with the monorail. Lots of money spent on television commercials about how good it was going to be. And then the project was shut down. I hope that sort of thing doesn't happen here, but who knows. History isn't on the side of responsible transportation management here.
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