Seattle Forward

City Inside/Out: Marijuana, Waterfront, Taxis and More

I joined Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw and Jean Godden on the latest edition of the Seattle Channel's City Inside/Out. You can watch the video below:

Bertha Arrives Today

Bertha, the world's largest tunnel machine, will arrive in Elliott Bay today after cruising 5,000 miles from its construction site in Japan. After the ship carrying Bertha docks, it will take several days to unload the various parts of the machine. The State Department of Transportation is preparing for Bertha's arrival by digging an 80-foot launch pit in which it will be reassembled. After the reassembly and further testing, the tunneling will begin later this year. You can follow Bertha's progress here.

The deep bore tunnel is only one element of the massive effort underway to transform our central waterfront and reconnect it to the rest of the city by replacing the seawall, tearing down the viaduct and creating attractive public open spaces. Read more about the creation of a Waterfront for All.

SODO Arena, Crime, Seawall Ballot, Northgate and More

Get the latest on the proposed SODO Arena, street crime, the Elliott Bay seawall ballot measure, Northgate and more on the new edition of the Seattle Channel's City Inside/Out: Council Edition. Councilmembers Nick Licata, Jean Godden and I share our perspectives. 

Hundred Year Choices: Central Waterfront Design

The City named the design firm for the central waterfront project yesterday.  The selection is excellent and is aptly summarized in this piece by Cary Moon over at Publicola.

Where's Euell Gibbons?

OK, Euell Gibbons is not exactly the metaphor or spokesperson I'm looking for, but he'll do just fine.  Those of my generation may remember watching those Euell Gibbons television commercials in the 1970s for Grape Nuts cereal.  Gibbons was a natural foods advocate and author, but his popular image centered on a "return to basics," hence his pitching of Grape Nuts.

I thought of Gibbons today when I read this excellent piece over at Crosscut about the importance of paying attention to our nation's crumbling infrastructure.  The author, Michael Godfried, argues that it is especially important during down economic times to focus on the basics, like fixing bridges, transportation systems, dams, public buildings, the core infrastructure of our nation.

Godfried's argument certainly applies right here in Seattle.  The City Council recently completed an assessment of major capital projects across the city, everything from the central waterfront seawall to police and fire facilities to sidewalks we've hoped to bring to the outer reaches of the city for decades.  The list was long and expensive, very expensive.  Prioritization of the list is our next step.  It will be a difficult process. 

Later this morning, several of my colleagues and I will join the Governor and Senator Patty Murray, among others, at the two-way Mercer Street groundbreaking ceremony.  This is an essential infrastructure project that is about so much more than transportation.  It will reconnect the South Lake Union and Uptown (lower Queen Anne) neighborhoods.  It creates three additional east-west crossings of Aurora (SR 99) at John, Thomas and Harrison Streets, meaning there will be five such crossings between Denny Way and Mercer.  It recreates an open vista leading to Lake Union Park. It vastly improves pedestrian and bicycle mobility.  And, with the eventual completion of the West Mercer phase of the project, it protects freight mobility and gives Magnolia, Interbay and Ballard residents easy access to the north portal of the new SR 99 tunnel.

Infrastructure projects will be part of our fall budget deliberations for 2011-2012.  In addition, I will be focused on these major areas in this priority order:

• Public Safety services, the city government's highest priority
• Safety-net Human Services, essential protections for those with the greatest survival needs
• Protecting transportation corridors, expanding alternatives
• Preserving jobs and creating opportunity, especially for locally-owned small businesses
• Public education, a vital and important area for the city to be further engaged
• Quality-of-life features, such as parks, athletic fields, arts, music and cultural enhancements

These are tough economic times and we face some very difficult decisions that will result in good people losing their jobs and services being cut back.  At the same time, as Godfried successfully argues, we must not lose sight of the long-term.  Investing in our core infrastructure is necessary and will pay huge dividends long into the future. 

The Sally's

Got squeezed between the Sally's on TV last week.  It's amazing what C. R. Douglas can pry out of us.  We covered a host of issues.

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

Mayor McGinn's State of the City

The Mayor addressed the City Council this afternoon and offered his view of the state of the city.  Former Mayor Nickels used to pack the Council chambers with city employees, often leading to the opening of the rear doors for the standing-room-only crowd.  About a third of the seats were vacant for today's mayoral speech; I suspect the Mayor's staff will check the "fill the room" box next time around. 

The Mayor covered a host of issues, including his lists of our civic assets and challenges.

Council Speaks on Seawall

Eight of us on the City Council signed a letter to Mayor McGinn this afternoon regarding his proposal for a special bond election in May to pay for central waterfront seawall repairs.  You can grab the letter here: Download Elliot Bay Seawall Repair Financing Plan 011910

Elliott Bay Seawall: Questions to Ponder

Mayor McGinn has proposed a quick election in May 2010 so Seattle voters can determine whether to tax themselves to rebuild the Elliott Bay Seawall along our central waterfront. (Mayor's press announcement here.) The Mayor gets credit for recognizing the danger a deteriorating seawall poses and he's right to jump-start a brisk discussion about how we should proceed to repair the seawall.  But before I can support a special taxation election, I need to get answers to the following questions (after the jump).