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McGinn Pledges City Help for South Park

City Hall, Politics   June 10, 2010 at 11:45 am Erica C. Barnett

At a community meeting at the South Park Community Center last night, Mayor Mike McGinn reassured South Park residents that the city would do everything in its power to ensure the neighborhood wasn’t stranded after the South Park Bridge closes later this month, including providing some funding to replace the bridge. “For a long time, it has been the position of the city government that the bridge belongs to the county and the county has to figure out how to fund it,” McGinn said.  “It may be the county’s bridge, but this is our neighborhood, and these are our residents and our businesses, and we’ll be prepared to work with the county and the state on a funding plan and to do our share to make that work.”

Among other things, McGinn said the city would provide marketing, consulting, and promotion services to South Park businesses, implement cleanup programs in the neighborhood, repair potholes and make safety improvements on 14th Ave. S., and increase youth programs in the neighborhoods.

However, McGinn did not commit to a specific funding proposal or dollar figure for the city’s share of bridge replacement, noting only that his proposed ballot measure to replace the waterfront seawall could free up some money to pay for the bridge. And he referred obliquely to his pet issue, the downtown deep-bore tunnel, noting that if the state hadn’t pledged so much money to that project, it would be able to fund other critical infrastructure needs like the South Park Bridge.

Responding to a South Park resident who demanded that he pledge he would seek $30 million to replace the bridge, McGinn said, “I don’t know how much money I have right now to commit to this bridge. We will work with the county, the Port, and other funders, and we will help. But for me to make a dollar commitment requires, as we know, me working with the city council, so I’m not going to put a dollar figure on it.”

Responding to another resident who said the city had ignored her neighborhood, McGinn apologized, saying, “I think you’re right, and I am sorry. I don’t know if that’s good enough, but I’m sorry and I want to help.”

The South Park Bridge, South Park residents’ primary link to mainland Seattle, is scheduled to close permanently on June 30.




  • McQuimby

    I'm here from the government and I'm here to help.

  • Roger Mortimer

    I still don't get it. Why isn't there any consistency in the Mayor's transportation positions? Don't replace the viaduct which handles 100k+ daily vehicles but do replace the South Park bridge with less than 20k daily vehicles. Also he's ignoring the fact that it's a County responsibility.

  • Roger Mortimer

    “ignoring” is too strong a word because the Mayor does acknowledge it, but I do think the City shouldn't have to pay anything for it's replacement.

  • Edog

    I think the point is more that he is the executive and he feels their pain.

  • giffy

    This is certainly a promising administration!

  • westie

    This is the same guy who helped nix the RTID money that would have paid for a new bridge years ago.

  • iBear

    A) If it was a rich neighborhood, there would be a new bridge by now.
    B) 14th Ave South was all recently re-done with new paving and sidewalks. So he is a little clueless about the state of the streets in South Park.

  • iBear

    and C) all the rest is masturbatory.

  • Edog

    To give him his due, he'll give a person a straight answer as to why he did that. I don't know if that will move votes for him when its time, but he does not run from that action.

  • westside

    The bridge links two city neighborhoods and is vital to the interests of many industries who help pay taxes in Seattle. The city should help and should have done so a long time ago. As soon as the bridge is built the city will annex the rest of South Park.

  • NordicGal

    McGinn should call Dow if he hasn't already and commit Seattle to coming up with some real money. It is the county's bridge, but it serves people who live and work in Seattle. Dow has led the county to step up, now it is McGinn's turn to step up with more than talk. Word on the street is that the Seattle Council has been far more supportive of doing something real for South Park and that McGinn is simply playing the issue for all of his other sinking priorities. Does McGinn plan to move forward on improvements to working Seattle streets before demonstrating that he's doing anything real about South Park? Where are his real priorities?

  • Brent

    I don't think the RTID proposal got a majority in South Park. The proposal, after all, was focused on building new roads, not on maintaining what we've got. It was short-sighted. It was a good thing it went down.

  • Brent

    I like the mayor, but the administration has been talking to itself about what it can do for South Park. Finally last night, it asked South Parkers what we need. I don't know why it took so long.

    The money for promoting South Park is money down the drain, as South Park needs mobility, not marketing. If people can't get to downtown South Park, all the special events in the world won't make a difference.

    If that money is instead used for a foot ferry, gondola, or something else relatively cheap to get people across the Duwamish where the bridge is now, then the marketing won't be needed, and the business subsidies won't be needed.

    South Parkers will use the gondola to get to Boeing and the much better 124 bus route. Boeing lunch-goers will park across the river and get lunch on 14th Ave. The gondola proposal is a life raft South Park needs right now.

  • Noone

    You are flat not credible. You're just a whiny greenie who wants it both ways. RTID would have fixed the South Park Bridge, and that's a FACT. You have no clue how South Park voted. You're just projecting your own shit.

  • Ke

    Nordicgal- it's the the County's bridge because the city annexed all the potentially revenue producing land around it and left the bridge for the county. If the city is so concerned about the neighborhoods, take over the bridge.

  • Brent_youre_lame

    Gondola is not going to happen brent. Mobility is an issue even with the South Park Bridge have you ever tried walking or biking across ? Good luck. Alot of workers from Boeing on the South Park side will still eat at muy macho. Marketing is something that should be happening anyway! I cant believe Muy Macho does not have an online presence

  • Matt_the_Engineer

    Sounds like a simple design problem. The gondolla doesn't have to start and end right at the draw bridge. Bring it out to a logical place to walk or bike. I assume it will need to climb quite a bit anyway, to satisfy the Coast Guard's height requirements.

  • jazzerciser

    Noone–

    I guess you didn't look it up either. I didn't want to spend all day and couldn't find the answer, although it appeared from what I saw that West Seattle and South Park both voted against the RTID. That would certainly be the normal assumption. If you really think they broke with the rest of the city on this issue, and I'll admit it's possible they did, it's your job to find some evidence and bring it to the debate rather than just attack people personally.

    Thanks all,

    jazzerciser

    Jazzerciser

    Best

    Jazzerciser

  • Brent

    Ideally, the east end of the gondola would be close to E Marginal Way, so the walk to the 124 bus stop is minimized.

    The landing on the southwest side might have to be elevated, and include elevators and stairs. The view would be a draw just by itself.

    BTW, the replacement bridge will have wider sidewalks and bike lanes. My suggestions for an HOV/freight lane and an SOV toll lane haven't been dismissed out-of-hand, but they won't be part of the TIGER application.

  • Donolectic

    Nuking the ocean floor could potentially “fix” the leaking oil in the Gulf. Should we do that too?