Last week Seattle City Council's Transportation Committee voted 5 - 2 to go ahead with the South Lake Union streetcar - at a cost of more than $50 million. Unless there is an outcry from the public, full council approval on Monday, June 27, seems assured. Millions in limited city transportation dollars will be siphoned off to underwrite the construction of the 2.6-mile line designed to shuttle office workers, tourists and residents into and out of billionaire Paul Allen's glitzy new South Lake Union neighborhood.
What's worse, the City Council also signed off on the mayor's plan to take funds earmarked for new Metro bus service hours in Seattle and divert those monies to help cover the streetcar's estimated $1.5 million annual operating cost. Literally half of all new Metro bus service (9,000 annual hours) committed to Seattle's neighborhoods for the years 2002-2007 will be taken away. And when the streetcar's operating expenses rise above projections or when fare box revenues don't bring in expected revenues, the streetcar plan approved by the council would allow even more neighborhood bus service to be reduced to cover the shortfalls.
A small contribution
Councilmember Richard Conlin developed this streetcar proposal working closely with Paul Allen's development company, Vulcan Inc., and the mayor's office. Property owners in South Lake Union (including Vulcan) will be asked to pay only $25 million of the streetcar's construction costs through creation of a Local Improvement District (LID) plus an estimated $4 million to set up and administer the LID. These property owners have flatly refused to pay more even though a recent appraiser's "special benefits study" showed they stand to realize a $70 million increase in property values due to the streetcar. As the principal owner, Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. will likely realize as much as a 10-percent increase in property values due to the streetcar and will reap the lion's share of that $70 million benefit.
That leaves the public to foot the bill for the remainder of the $50 million price tag. The public's portion would be covered by tapping limited federal, state, county and local transportation funding sources.
Despite the backlog of more than $500 million in neighborhood transportation needs enumerated in a recent city study - including 39 bridges that are seriously deteriorated - our mayor and City Council have prioritized this streetcar and other South Lake Union street improvements.
One of these is the reworking of the Mercer Corridor at a cost of more than $200 million, a plan that city studies show will do nothing to reduce traffic congestion in that area. Since virtually all major public improvements of this kind come with enormous cost overruns, those costs too are likely to be passed on to the taxpayers. The Conlin/Nickels/Vulcan streetcar ordinance certainly does nothing to insulate the taxpayers from covering extra streetcar costs.
Funding amendment
Councilmembers Rasmussen, Godden, Drago and McIver supported this streetcar plan. Councilmembers Licata and Steinbrueck first proposed amendments that would have limited the use of our city's transportation funds and curtailed the taking of neighborhood bus service hours for the streetcar. At one point Councilmember Licata almost begged his colleagues to consider the needs of the rest of Seattle "before we commit so much of our city's future transit service hours for this streetcar....
"Shouldn't our neighborhoods first be given an equal say over how these resources are used?" Councilmembers Godden and McIver looked at him as if he was from another planet. After Steinbrueck and Licata's amendments were voted down, both of them outright opposed going ahead with the streetcar.
There are 19 bus routes now serving South Lake Union. Currently, those bus routes have a frequency and ridership that exceed the frequency and ridership projected for the streetcar. Moreover, those buses operate at 30 percent less cost per hour of service than a streetcar. The streetcar will putt along at an average speed of 6 mph while buses will travel nearly twice as fast through the area.
Many say 'no'
Last year, more than 130 community leaders called on the City Council and the mayor to say 'No' to use of the city's limited transportation dollars to pay for the streetcar. Businesses benefiting from this frill should pay for it themselves. As The Seattle Times said in a recent editorial, the streetcar is not a transportation improvement. Rather it is designed to "jazz up the area for investment."
We agree. The South Lake Union streetcar is an ornament provided to enhance the value primarily of Paul Allen's properties. That our limited public transportation dollars should be spent for the benefit of one of the world's richest men is a travesty. That the mayor and most of the City Council would even consider raiding promised bus service hours to pay for streetcar operating expenses when so many of Seattle's neighborhood needs are going unmet, that, too, is a travesty.
Beneath its liberal façade, Seattle City Hall operates a lot like the U.S. Congress. Corporate development interests pay for election campaigns and then collect on their investment when elected officials make decisions. These interests are dominating the city as in no other time during the previous three mayoralties. This streetcar decision highlights the growing disconnect between what is needed for our neighborhoods and what routinely now prevails at City Hall.
The full council will take a final vote on the streetcar measure Monday, June 27, at 2 p.m. Call or write your councilmembers to let them know what you think of their plan. Four councilmembers are up for re-election this fall. Will they listen to the voters or to their campaign donors?
John Fox and Carolee Colter are members of the Seattle Displacement Coalition. They can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.
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