By Frank on March 2, 2011
Whether you support a new SR99 tunnel or a surface/transit option to replace the viaduct, one thing that both sides agree on is that the noisy, elevated double-decker freeway coursing through downtown is preventing Seattle from getting maximum enjoyment from its waterfront. Having recently returned from a brief trip to Sydney, Australia, however, I’m suddenly [...]
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By Frank on September 15, 2010
Seattle future waterfront visualization by WSDOT Steve Thornton gives his take on the future of Seattle’s Waterfront in a guest post at STB. Money graf: Show me instead how wide the storefronts are (25 feet max, with lots of 15s, 10s, even six feet wide spaces (a crepe window, a shoe repair shop). Show me [...]
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By Frank on May 4, 2010
Anyone working on designing the post-viaduct waterfront should have this Boston Globe article stapled to their desk. The Rose Kennedy Greenway was built over the “big dig.” The Greenway, by contrast, is placeless desert. It’s a series of oversize shapeless spaces, none of which seems to have a purpose. Some are paved with stone, some [...]
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By Frank on January 27, 2010
Looks like Mayor McGinn is willing to compromise on his May special-election vote for replacing the waterfront Seawall. It’s looking more and more like the decision to avoid the council was a rookie mistake. Of course, it could have been some kind of brilliant rope-a-dope designed to get them to focus on the date, not [...]
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By Frank on January 19, 2010
Last Thursday, the Mayor proposed a property tax levy, to be approved by referendum, to fund the replacement of the seawall. His reason:
“The current plan leaves the existing seawall in place for far too long,” said McGinn. “Replacing our deteriorating seawall, before it fails, is one of the basic needs for our city. One of the first briefings I had during the transition was on the seawall. It was alarming. The current plan will not see the completion of a new seawall for at least another six years. Based on what I know now, that�s not good enough.“
The city council has concerns. At the very least, they want to be consulted:
“We want to make certain that the City’s Central Waterfront Partnership Committee has full opportunity to participate on this issue,” councilmembers said. “Legitimate questions have been raised about how to best restore some ecological function to the central waterfront shoreline as part of the seawall replacement…the Committee members’ input is vital to the success of the project.”
Why wouldn’t McGinn get the council’s support before announcing this? What is he thinking? If the seawall is in as bad shape as McGinn claims, surely it would be easy to win the council’s support, no?
Finally, there’s a sense that this is disconnected from the overall viaduct debate. Is that intentional? To be sure, the replacement of the seawall has always been a separate, city-funded project, but it’s still referred to by WSDOT as the “Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement” project. The two have been considered, heretofore, as interdependent projects. McGinn would seem to be attempting to disentangle them.
But again, why blindside the council here?
Posted in viaduct
By Frank on September 17, 2009
I very much doubt Mike McGinn will halt the SR-99 tunnel/viaduct replacement.
The Governor has made it clear that the tunnel is the answer. It’s the State’s highway, and as far as she’s concerned she’s appeased Seattle once already by not giving them another elevated structure. End of story. From what I understand, the business community lobbied her hard not to make traffic worse on I-5. And if there’s one constituency that the Governor has done everything to please, it’s the business community.
This comment thread has lots of suggestions for tactics (such as holding up permits) that McGinn can try if he wants to go 10 rounds with her on this, and that’s all fine, but the Governor will make his life miserable if he tries. She’s got the bigger budget, she’s more experienced, and she can do all sorts of things — cut funds to the city or otherwise gum up the works — that will all but guarantee he’ll be an unpopular, one-term mayor.
McGinn’s bold, and I like that about him. But being bold and being successful are two very different things.
I’m happy to be proven wrong on this, but I don’t think I am.
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