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April 29, 2009 5:23 PM
Seattle, on the hook for the tunnel?
Posted by Bruce Ramsey
At the insistence of House Speaker Frank Chopp, the legislation for the state to pay for the deep-bore tunnel under Seattle left property owners in the Emerald City on the hook to pay for any cost overruns. I asked Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels about that yesterday. He wasn't taking it too seriously.
"That language is the state's problem," Nickels said. "Not mine." If the state wanted to extract a few hundred millions exclusively from Seattle property owners, the state would have a difficult time doing it.
"It's an unenforceable bit of language," Nickels said. "There is no mechanism for them to encorce that. They cannot create a Local Improvement District legislatively. It's a meaningless piece of legislation."
As a Seattle resident, I hope so. A billion dollar overrun amounts to more than $1500 per Seattle resident. Of course the sponsors of the tunnel have said there won't be any overruns, because they have built a big cushion in on the price--and I don't believe them for a minute.
But I am inclined to believe our mayor. There would be a lot more fireworks right now if the Chopp proviso were serious.
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