McGinn: Let the people vote on tunnel project
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SEATTLE -- The gloves came off on Wednesday between Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and the president of the Seattle City Council as tunnel turmoil threatened to turn into a bare-knuckles brawl.
The fight is over a showdown vote on the tunnel replacement project of the aging Alaskan Way viaduct.
At the Alaskan Way Viaduct, work goes on. The mayor says right now the city is working closely with the State.
But a referendum to force a tunnel vote could change all that. It could throw the project into limbo.
The mayor says because of the referendum, he will carefully review any requests for city permits.
"We'll be looking closely to make sure we don't take any irrevocable actions or actions outside our authority given where we stand right now," he said.
What does that mean?The state worries the mayor is about to end city cooperation.
And listen to city council president Richard Conlin: "The fact is we have a mayor who is causing cost overruns. He is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. He keeps raising the specter of cost overruns. I guess he can't find any other way for them to happen, so he's causing them himself."
Conlin and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes say the referendum is illegal. They'll ask a court to throw it out and keep the project on track.
The mayor says the people deserve to vote; the council must give citizens a say.
"If this isn't the right way to vote, then what is the right way to vote? Or do they simply oppose any effort to let the public vote on this?" McGinn said.
"I don't know where he's getting this idea from," said Conlin. "The fact is we have had 10 years of process. We have had many hundreds of meetings. We've had 15,000 public comments."
On Thursday, Conlin will join Gov. Chris Gregoire and others to spell out how much is at stake.
But for now, the work continues with fear that the mayor won't grant a city permit the project might need, and the costs will climb millions of dollars every week.
The mayor has other money woes as well. His budget office says the city budget may be $16 million in the hole. The mayor is now asking all departments to submit plans for cuts of up to 3 percent.
McGinn says no department, including police and fire, is immune from mid-year budget cuts.
The fight is over a showdown vote on the tunnel replacement project of the aging Alaskan Way viaduct.
At the Alaskan Way Viaduct, work goes on. The mayor says right now the city is working closely with the State.
But a referendum to force a tunnel vote could change all that. It could throw the project into limbo.
The mayor says because of the referendum, he will carefully review any requests for city permits.
"We'll be looking closely to make sure we don't take any irrevocable actions or actions outside our authority given where we stand right now," he said.
What does that mean?The state worries the mayor is about to end city cooperation.
And listen to city council president Richard Conlin: "The fact is we have a mayor who is causing cost overruns. He is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. He keeps raising the specter of cost overruns. I guess he can't find any other way for them to happen, so he's causing them himself."
Conlin and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes say the referendum is illegal. They'll ask a court to throw it out and keep the project on track.
The mayor says the people deserve to vote; the council must give citizens a say.
"If this isn't the right way to vote, then what is the right way to vote? Or do they simply oppose any effort to let the public vote on this?" McGinn said.
"I don't know where he's getting this idea from," said Conlin. "The fact is we have had 10 years of process. We have had many hundreds of meetings. We've had 15,000 public comments."
On Thursday, Conlin will join Gov. Chris Gregoire and others to spell out how much is at stake.
But for now, the work continues with fear that the mayor won't grant a city permit the project might need, and the costs will climb millions of dollars every week.
The mayor has other money woes as well. His budget office says the city budget may be $16 million in the hole. The mayor is now asking all departments to submit plans for cuts of up to 3 percent.
McGinn says no department, including police and fire, is immune from mid-year budget cuts.
