For immediate release:                                                                          contact  206-632-0668

City's '09 Budget contains $129 million for Paul Allen's South Lake Union Plan; 5-Year CIP top $862 million! (don't let them tell you they're ain't money out there to maintain funding for the homeless and human services) 

See immediately below this narrative for those charts

"When you count monies already spent on SLU including the streetcar, city staffing & planning, use of Mercer land sale sale revenues in SLU, the costs easily top $900 million!  If they actually go ahead with 'phase II' Mercer Plans - costs would easily top $1.1 Billion!"

* Mercer Corridor's full costs continue to rise: $230 million total and that's only for "phase I". 

As early as tomorrow (or later this week) in committee, councilmembers will vote on whether to release another $30 million for Mercer even though a Council proviso adopted last year and re-affirmed over the Summer stipulated that no more dollars should be released until the Mayor produces a plan to guarantee full funding for project.  That has not been done - if they release money, it would also violate Council Audit's "Best Practices" Rules. (click here for Councilmember Licata's bulletin providing details on this)

For your easy review, the Displacement Coalition has tabulated all the items in this years budget that serve Paul Allen and his South Lake Union redevelopment plans. See immediately below. You'll also see what the city (Mayor) has included in the 5 year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) thru 2014 for South Lake Union.  We've also compared this years numbers to last years and you'll see that with respect to both the yearly budget and CIP plans (this years budgets represent about 20 percent jump in allocations earmarked for SLU). The figures we have provided are taken directly from the Mayor's '09 budgets included on his website.  We also went back to last years budget so you could get an idea of how much the city's allocations and commitments for SLU have risen.  Note we've simply compiled all the line items from this years budget and CIP plans and done the same for last year - it's take directly from the city's budgets.

In order to pay for these SLU projects, the Mayor's budget will tap a range of revenue sources including General Fund monies, Bridging the Gap Transportation revenues (parking fees and the employee head tax), state and federal sources.  Some of the costs would have to be passed on in the form of higher utility rates.  A debate is now going on within City Light over just how much of the electrical costs (which are enormous) will be absorbed by Vulcan and other SLU beneficiaries and how much will be passed on in the form of higher rates. 

Note also that the full cost of Mercer are only for Phase 1 and they now top 230 million when you add the cost of undergrounding the wiring along Mercer and Valley and listed as "mercer relocations" in the budget.   In 2004, the Mayor said Mercer phase I would cost $56-$70 million. In April 06: $100 million. In Aug.'07 it was up to $120 million. October 08, we were told it was $200 million.  This is all for a project that will produce no reduction in congestion and actually worsen traffic according to every study done on the effect of the Mayor's 2-way Mercer plan!

More news to come from the Coalition on the SLU porkbarrel parade:
In a bulletin to follow this one in the next few days - we will provide a special report to you offering more details on the debate now occurring within City Light over what level of infrastructure is needed in SLU and who will pay for it, ie, whether a new substation is needed at a cost of around 200 million or more - or whether projected growth can be accommodated simply thru much less costly improvements to the existing infrastructure now serving SLU. We also will report on alternatives being explored to pay for these improvements - whether the immediate 'users' or customers will pay (ie Vulcan, Fred Hutch, the biotechs etc) or these costs will be passed on in the form of higher utility rates.  Stay tuned.

And call your councilmembers and oppose release of any more money for Mercer under any circumstance! Oppose Jan Drago's motion to release the 30 million immediately. Support Nick Licata's proposal to make Vulcan and the Mayor prove the funds are their to pay for it (they're not!).  Click here for Nick Licata's memo providing more details on the upcoming Mercer Vote. 

And don't let them tell you there's no money hanging around for housing, the homeless, and human services - to maintain and even expand existing programs!  There should be No cuts for Human Services! No cuts for homeless programs

City Council Contact Info & Mayor:
Nick Licata 206-684-8803 
nick.licata@seattle.gov

Jean Godden 206-684-8807
jean.godden@seattle.gov

Tom Rasmussen 206-684-8808
tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Bruce Harrell 684-8804
mailto:bruce.harrell@seattle.gov

Richard McIver (206) 684-8800
richard.mciver@seattle.gov

Sally Clark (206) 684-8802
sally.clark@seattle.gov

Richard Conlin 206) 684-8805
richard.conlin@seattle.gov

Jan Drago (206) 684-8801
jan.drago@seattle.gov

Tim Burgess  684-8806
tim.burgess@seattle.gov

Citizens are directed to the following website to complete a form to
send an email to the Mayor's Office.
http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/citizen_response.htm 

charts immediately follow here (taken directly from Mayor's Budgets)

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