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McGinn Sends May Seawall Ballot Proposal to Council

News   March 2, 2010 at 9:40 am Erica C. Barnett

Mayor Mike McGinn sent the city council legislation this morning to run a special May election to replace the downtown waterfront seawall. The legislation calls for a 30-year, $243 million bond measure.

In a letter to council president Richard Conlin this morning, McGinn laid out his reasons for proposing a bond measure rather than paying for the seawall through other sources, such as a local improvement district (LID). “The regional and critical nature of this project lends itself to a regional and stable revenue source,” McGinn wrote. “Additionally, a Local Improvement District will take time to establish. This is not something that can be easily created in 2010.”

The council has stated, more or less unequivocally, that they have no interest in putting the seawall measure on the ballot in May. I’ve got calls out to several council members to see if they’ve changed their position. Assuming the council still opposes a May vote (which would cost the city around $1 million), the measure could go on the ballot in May or August.

McGinn also reaffirmed his commitment to  funding the remaining Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement projects through sources other than a parking tax or a vehicle license fee, which he has said he’d prefer to reserve for projects like light rail expansion and the bike and pedestrian master plans.

I’ll have more after a press briefing at McGinn’s office this morning.


  • Seawall

    DOA

  • Ira

    You might want to fix that headline? Read it and see if it makes “sends”.

  • "Car tabs for highways"?!?!

    Can he add up all the money we need for light rail, seawall, other viaduct related things esp. the transit part of surface transit, and the proposed financial impact of viaduct highway cost overruns on Seattle?

    All this finance planning is too piecemeal. It's best to get everything on the table to see the whole picture. Here he is saying parking tax or a vehicle license fee might be needed for AWV replacement, is he saying we might have to pay for the cost overruns with a parking tax or car tab fee?

    Those sources should be for transit. Is the AWF overrun issue going to eat up all funding for transit?

  • hmmmm

    I will not vote to raise my property tax to fund McGinn political ambitions.

  • morning fizzy

    Yes, we should look at all the major plans and see if they make sense and fit together.

    We should explore possibilities with a couple hundred year time horizons and be honest about what we are doing.

    For example, the floating bridge concept is basically flawed. The structures only have an expected life of about 75 years, most likely less if they have light rail on them. Major storms and significant earthquakes will shorten that useful time. It is time to ask why 4 of the 5 longest floating bridges in WA. Why haven't they caught on?

    If we are really going to try to get people to live closer to where they work, we should start now. Building more capacity for people to travel great distances by any mode will not accomplish the ends desired.

    The real advantage in reducing energy consumption from density comes from short travel distances and shared wall construction. We will not realize those benefits by making longer commutes easier.

  • soapboxin

    It never hurts to ask, does it?

  • West Seattle Waiter

    The Council has to have the guts to say NO. Unclear if they have the guts to say no. McGinn is calling their bluff.

  • soapboxin

    Latest emerging trend w/McGinn: blatant disregard for budget considerations when it comes to his pet projects. A few hundred K for a consultant here, a million for a special ballot measure there, and we'll figure out where the cuts come from later.
    -
    He's obstinate, he's determined, he's ballsy, he's maverick-y!

  • http://twitter.com/fattailed fattailed

    You wrote: “Assuming the council still opposes a May vote (which would cost the city around $1 million), the measure could go on the ballot in May or August.”

    Does that mean the seawall could still go on the ballot in May whether or not the council supports it? I don't really understand the ballot date setting process, but it could also just be your syntax.

    Speaking of which, isn't the entire question whether the council is opposed to the May vote “more or less unequivocally”?

  • hans

    Puget Sound has a lot of floating bridges because Lake WA and Hood Canal are too deep and long for traditional span bridges like at the Tacoma Narrows. It's our glacial geology, that's why.

  • giffy

    I'll be voting no mostly as a protest to wasting money on a special election, the games McGinn is playing with this, and the lack of the 1st Ave Streetcar. Though I doubt this will see the light of day.

  • J.R.

    Measures are placed on the ballot by Council vote–the Mayor can only ask their permission.