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Extra Fizz: Seawall Project Will Still Have to Be Re-Bid

City Hall, Politics   February 5, 2010 at 1:37 pm Erica C. Barnett

Seawall Diagram

Image via SDOT.

Although McGinn advisor Chris Bushnell (Haugen) resigned yesterday, the city will still scrap all of the bids it received to build the downtown Seattle seawall, thanks to a conflict of interest involving the company Bushnell’s wife works for.

Last week, McGinn’s office announced that the city would be reissuing a request for qualifications (RFQ) for companies to design the seawall, after discovering that Bushnell’s wife Megan worked for a company that was on one of the design teams seeking work on the project.

Although the conflict, obviously, no longer exists, Matassa says the city has no choice but to move forward with the rebidding process; “the original bids were formally rejected, and we can’t just go back” and un-reject them,” Matassa says.

The re-bidding process will set the project back about four weeks. Rick Sheridan, a spokesman for the Seattle Department of Transportation, says rebidding the project will cost the city the equivalent of about 40 staff hours.




  • Timothy

    Hey…I saw a stray napkin lying on the floor up at City Hall last week. I wonder what that cost the City?

  • Timothy

    Hey…I saw a stray napkin lying on the floor up at City Hall last week. I wonder what that cost the City?

  • Wells

    A 6-lane ‘stacked’ cut-cover tunnel would sit on bedrock and make the strongest seawall and most stable Alaskan Way streets and sidewalks. It could be built with the AWV mostly in place.

    The current design for Alaskan Way is bogus. The 4-lane boulevard is insufficient. Even a 6-lane boulevard woudn’t cut it. The early design for a 2-lane frontage road is necessary to divide thru-traffic on a 4-lane Alaskan Way from motorists looking to park. The frontage road allows at least 3 of the 13 planned stoplights between Pike and King to be eliminated. It allows for reinstallation of the streetcar and bus lines that would run east. It does reduce the width of the Wide Plaza, but not too much, and it should manage traffic reasonably well.

  • Wells

    A 6-lane ‘stacked’ cut-cover tunnel would sit on bedrock and make the strongest seawall and most stable Alaskan Way streets and sidewalks. It could be built with the AWV mostly in place.

    The current design for Alaskan Way is bogus. The 4-lane boulevard is insufficient. Even a 6-lane boulevard woudn’t cut it. The early design for a 2-lane frontage road is necessary to divide thru-traffic on a 4-lane Alaskan Way from motorists looking to park. The frontage road allows at least 3 of the 13 planned stoplights between Pike and King to be eliminated. It allows for reinstallation of the streetcar and bus lines that would run east. It does reduce the width of the Wide Plaza, but not too much, and it should manage traffic reasonably well.

  • Michael J. Maddux

    OMG Wells!!! It’s not going to happen!!! There will not be a Cut and Cover!!! And don’t you live in Portland?

  • Michael J. Maddux

    OMG Wells!!! It’s not going to happen!!! There will not be a Cut and Cover!!! And don’t you live in Portland?

  • Emerald City

    Taking bets:

    Who wants to bet it goes to the company that was going to get the bid before this all started?

    And that suddenly the contract will be even bigger?

    Takers…anyone…hello…?

  • Emerald City

    Taking bets:

    Who wants to bet it goes to the company that was going to get the bid before this all started?

    And that suddenly the contract will be even bigger?

    Takers…anyone…hello…?

  • sarah68

    After “discovering” that Bushnell’s wife worked for one of the design competitors? You mean we’re supposed to believe that Bushnell had nothing to do with his wife’s company bidding, and no one knew that she did? When Bushnell was so close to McGinn and McGinn probably knew where Bushnell’s wife worked? And the seawall project was McGinn’s baby, no doubt discussed quite a bit with Bushnell?

    Good god. This is just unbelievable.

  • sarah68

    After “discovering” that Bushnell’s wife worked for one of the design competitors? You mean we’re supposed to believe that Bushnell had nothing to do with his wife’s company bidding, and no one knew that she did? When Bushnell was so close to McGinn and McGinn probably knew where Bushnell’s wife worked? And the seawall project was McGinn’s baby, no doubt discussed quite a bit with Bushnell?

    Good god. This is just unbelievable.

  • tikka

    More data is required before the rampant conspiracy theories takever. Like:
    -
    timeline- RFP publish date
    -
    timeline – date of proposal submission
    -
    before or after bushnell’s hire date?
    -
    also: what does his wife do and how does that play into the seawall project
    -
    also: other than the mere appearance of conflict of interest, is there any way that bushell’s position with the mayor’s office could have in any way benefitted the wife’s firm in their ability to win the bid? did it?

  • tikka

    More data is required before the rampant conspiracy theories takever. Like:
    -
    timeline- RFP publish date
    -
    timeline – date of proposal submission
    -
    before or after bushnell’s hire date?
    -
    also: what does his wife do and how does that play into the seawall project
    -
    also: other than the mere appearance of conflict of interest, is there any way that bushell’s position with the mayor’s office could have in any way benefitted the wife’s firm in their ability to win the bid? did it?

  • Jet City

    And why all of a sudden out of nowhere did a “Sea Wall” become Priority Number One for the “Neighborhood Mayor” who ran against everything big and downtown?

  • Jet City

    And why all of a sudden out of nowhere did a “Sea Wall” become Priority Number One for the “Neighborhood Mayor” who ran against everything big and downtown?

  • WOW !

    I wonder how much of a laugh Joe Mallahan is having these days while all his critics suddenly disown their choice for mayor ?

  • WOW !

    I wonder how much of a laugh Joe Mallahan is having these days while all his critics suddenly disown their choice for mayor ?

  • Wells

    It hard for me to say nothing, Mr Maddux, (is that pronounced Mad Ducks?), while Seattle makes another terrible mistake. Why do you refuse to a thorough and revealing comparison of the two tunnel options? Too lazy? Too much a sychophant to the establishment?

    There’s a huge Seattle constituency which has complained about any AWV replacement that wasn’t 6 lanes of something, and another which complained about eliminating access to SR99 at Western and Elliott.

    I’d say the chances of a cut-n-cover tunnel becoming the popular choice are as good as the deep bore actually happening, God forbid. Seattler morons.

  • Wells

    It hard for me to say nothing, Mr Maddux, (is that pronounced Mad Ducks?), while Seattle makes another terrible mistake. Why do you refuse to a thorough and revealing comparison of the two tunnel options? Too lazy? Too much a sychophant to the establishment?

    There’s a huge Seattle constituency which has complained about any AWV replacement that wasn’t 6 lanes of something, and another which complained about eliminating access to SR99 at Western and Elliott.

    I’d say the chances of a cut-n-cover tunnel becoming the popular choice are as good as the deep bore actually happening, God forbid. Seattler morons.

  • Zander

    I doubt Mallahan is having much of a luagh. His ego cost him hundreds of thousands and as the candidate he is to blame for his own loss.

  • Zander

    I doubt Mallahan is having much of a luagh. His ego cost him hundreds of thousands and as the candidate he is to blame for his own loss.

  • WOW !

    My point was not about who won or lost the election Zander but more about McGinn constantly stepping on his dick. Scary thing is McGinn hasn’t even encountered something like a snow storm, riot or earthquake. You know events that require clear thinking and a plan.

  • WOW !

    My point was not about who won or lost the election Zander but more about McGinn constantly stepping on his dick. Scary thing is McGinn hasn’t even encountered something like a snow storm, riot or earthquake. You know events that require clear thinking and a plan.

  • keep us posted

    Erica, can you keep us posted about the RFQ process for the seawall? Thank you!

  • keep us posted

    Erica, can you keep us posted about the RFQ process for the seawall? Thank you!

  • Not Timothy

    Timothy, you’re definitely a frontrunner in the race to become McGinn’s apologist-in-chief. You tell us not to worry about the cost of rebidding the sea wall contract, likening it to “a stray napkin lying on the floor up at City Hall last week” and wondering “what that [stray napkin] cost the City?”
    –
    And then, to burnish your credentials, you insist that Bushnell’s many transgressions are small potatoes. I hope you get what you’re after if it means that much to you. But you might be surprised by the sentiments you’d experience by looking at things head on. And, besides, this is the kind of person the Mayor really needs right now.

  • Not Timothy

    Timothy, you’re definitely a frontrunner in the race to become McGinn’s apologist-in-chief. You tell us not to worry about the cost of rebidding the sea wall contract, likening it to “a stray napkin lying on the floor up at City Hall last week” and wondering “what that [stray napkin] cost the City?”
    –
    And then, to burnish your credentials, you insist that Bushnell’s many transgressions are small potatoes. I hope you get what you’re after if it means that much to you. But you might be surprised by the sentiments you’d experience by looking at things head on. And, besides, this is the kind of person the Mayor really needs right now.