We know that Seattle is about to waste a million dollars. Now we know it’s going to make a few lawyers even richer too. From the Seattle Times:

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ dream of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a four-lane tunnel is as dead as anything gets in Olympia.

Gov. Christine Gregoire, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate and some Republicans joined together Tuesday and said no way, never.

Instead they called for a new viaduct to replace the old viaduct.

And still, ballots are about to go out asking Seattle voters for their opinions — whether to support a tunnel or an elevated structure.

I told you this was going to happen. Seattle is still going to go ahead with the $1 million all-mail vote on the tunnel vs. the elevated viaduct, despite the fact that the state has now decided the issue.

Final decisions rest with the state, not the city. Still, Marianne Bichsel, a spokeswoman for Nickels, urged citizens to participate in the all-mail vote. Ballots will be distributed next week and must be postmarked by March 13.

I also warned you about this…

Meanwhile, Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, an architect, said the city would resort to lawsuits, if necessary, to oppose a new viaduct, which he would fight “to my dying day.”

Pro-tunnel Councilwoman Jan Drago vowed political retaliation against the governor.

Six years ago an earthquake damaged the Alaskan Way Viaduct. It’s been used as a political football ever since.

We’ve seen election ads claiming that if things didn’t go a particular way that people were going to die when the viaduct collapsed. We’ve seen election ads claiming that if money wasn’t spent on a transportation package that included lots of money for light rail and bus service that people would die when the viaduct collapsed. Lots of money and six years later and the viaduct still hasn’t been repaired.

We’ve watched Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council decide they wanted to spend federal highway funds to “spruce up” downtown. They proposed a massive six-lane tunnel so they could get a new seawall for the city and gain lots of “prime” waterfront real-estate. They proposed altering the elevated structure so that it included a massive median with a “park”.

When the cost estimates for their tunnel turned out to be just about twice the cost for a new elevated structure they decided that the people should not be given a chance to vote on whether a tunnel was a good idea, because the people couldn’t be trusted to vote the “right” way.

Whenever it looked like the tunnel wouldn’t be approved they balked. They threatened to pump up the cost of any elevated structure via lawsuits. They threatened to delay any elevated structure by slow-rolling the permitting process. They threatened all manner of obstruction, saying they could make an elevated structure even more expensive than a tunnel.

When the governor and the state legislature told them to put it to a vote they balked, saying that an advisory election would be meaningless. When the governor pushed the issue they decided that in order to save their tunnel they’d try trimming it from six lanes to four, and drop the estimated cost by just over a billion dollars in an effort to make it more palatable to the people.

The ballot title they came up with didn’t bother to include information that the new proposal hadn’t been vetted, and it was challenged in court. Meanwhile the state asked for a review of the estimate, and a review of the trimmed down tunnels safety. The panel trying to review the estimate gave up, saying they couldn’t do the job in the amount of time left. The DOT declared the tunnel-lite option unsafe.

So the legislature acted. They declared that since the tunnel wouldn’t meet state safety requirements it had to go. That should have ended the issue. But now that it looks like the tunnel won’t be built they’ve changed their tune. Now they want the people to vote.

They aren’t really interested in the safety of the people that drive on the state’s highways, they just use it as an issue when it fits with their desire for more funding. They don’t really care what the people think about the costs involved, because the people won’t vote the way they want.

They represent their own self-interests. Peter Steinbrueck is an architect. You can bet he stands to gain a lot of money on any new development in the vast acreage that would be opened up if the elevated structure is replaced by a tunnel. Greg Nickels is a politician looking for a legacy. A tunnel named after him would fit that bill nicely.

The estimate for the elevated structure came in at $2.8 billion. That’s a lot of cash to throw around. The estimate for the tunnel came in at $5.6 billion. That’s an even heftier sum. There’s a lot of room in there for all manner of shenanigans. How many pockets could be lined by siphoning off a little of that money?

It’s obvious to me that the Seattle City Council doesn’t represent the people of Seattle. Why Seattle voters can’t see that and continue to elect these children is beyond me.

Cross posted at Perri Nelson’s Website