This afternoon, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that she has halted all but one of the ongoing projects associated with the Center City Connector streetcar, pending an independent review.
Two weeks ago, the Seattle Times published an article claiming that SDOT’s estimate of annual operating costs are as much as $8 million too low — and that SDOT hid that information from the City Council when it was debating the budget of the $177 million streetcar project last fall. In response, Mayor Durkan announced that she would hire an outside consultant to do an independent review of the project to be completed by June. At the March 20 meeting of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee, SDOT Interim Director Goran Sparrman and City Budget Director Ben Noble informed the committee that the investigation would be run by Noble’s office, and it would likely take 2-3 weeks to hire a consultant. What that means: the independent review hasn’t even started yet, but the City Budget Office has already found enough information to warrant halting the project and potentially incurring other costs for on stopped contracts in progress.
Deputy Mayor Mike Fong sent a letter to the City Council today with an update on the situation.
According to Fong, the independent review will begin next week, but their preliminary financial review has already discovered an additional capital shortfall of more than $23 million — bringing the total capital cost of the project to over $200 million. Fong also notes that the Mayor’s Office is working with the City Attorney to investigate the project’s management.
The streetcar project is relying on a $75 million federal transportation grant, which may be in jeopardy if SDOT provided false, misleading, or incomplete information to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grant may also be in jeopardy if the Mayor’s “hold” on the project pushes it out too far and the feds decide to withdraw the grant.
The Council has been hardly unanimous in its support for the project, with Herbold, Sawant, and former Council member Kirstan Harris-Talley arguing against it — suggesting that it might have more value as an economic development project for the businesses along its path than as a transportation project, and that investing in buses might be a better choice given the rapid pace of growth in Seattle. O’Brien and Johnson have been strong proponents, however; at last week’s committee meeting, Johnson came to SDOT’s defense in arguing that the $8 million discrepancy in operating cost estimates could simply be due to ongoing negotiations between SDOT and Metro on an operating agreement. The internal Metro memo at the heart of that debate suggests otherwise: that (from Metro’s point of view) SDOT was consistently underestimating costs of the new streetcar, refusing to hear feedback that contradicted its own projections, and also failing to staff the First Hill streetcar operations consistent with the higher-than-expected mechanical failure rate of the existing fleet of streetcars.
This is not the first time SDOT has been accused of flawed financial planning for a new project — and of withholding information from the Council. Two years ago, the Council was debating a similar situation with the Pronto bike share system, which had overrun costs, missed revenues, and quietly transferred money between budget line-items to hide the deficit without informing the Council. And similarly, Johnson came to SDOT’s and Pronto’s defense.
In her press release this afternoon, Durkan said:
“The City of Seattle has a critical obligation to spend taxpayer dollars wisely and an equal obligation to transparency,” said Mayor Durkan. “There are too many questions about the true costs of this project and the risks to taxpayers, which is why we must put the brakes on this project.”
There’s an interesting nuance here: Durkan isn’t saying that she is holding the project because it costs too much. Rather, she says that she’s holding the project because the city no longer knows how much it will cost.
Herbold issued a statement this afternoon praising the Mayor’s decision. From her statement:
“This step is necessary to ensure that the independent review ordered by the Mayor is meaningful. Had work proceeded as scheduled-especially in awarding a construction contract- it would be more difficult to integrate the results of the independent review, or delay or stop the project. I had begun working on legislation to cease spending until after the review was complete; with the Mayor’s executive order, it appears that won’t be necessary.”
Even O’Brien, chair of the Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee, lined up behind the decision to halt the project:
“I have serious concerns about the recent revelations regarding anticipated operating and capital costs for the Center City Connector, and I agree with Mayor Durkan that work on this project should be halted immediately,” said Councilmember and Transportation Committee Chair Mike O’Brien (District 6). “I appreciate the Mayor’s commitment to a transparent process that thoroughly vets this project and I commit to only allowing this project to proceed if there is compelling evidence that it makes financial sense to move forward.”
Bagshaw, whose district includes downtown and who has generally been supportive of the Center City streetcar project in the past, also threw her support behind the mayor:
“The public and City deserve clarity and transparency regarding the City’s spending on all public projects,” said Councilmember Sally Bagshaw (District 7). “As Chair of the Finance Committee I support the Mayor in her efforts to understand the full financial implications of the Center City Connector Streetcar. My objectives are to spend our tax payer money wisely and construct projects that work for all, moving people and creating connections.”
No word from Johnson this evening. I have an inquiry in to him, and will update this post if I hear back from him.
Aside: the one project associated with the Center City Streetcar project that Durkan didn’t halt was the replacement of “seismically vulnerable water mains.” Sounds like a smart decision.
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I wonder if anyone has stepped back and looked at all transportation thru downtown. I live north of town and tried to go to Burien yesterday and had to give up. Has anyone added up what could happen the viaduct comes down and we add cars and trucks to the already bike-laned streets?
I know connecting streetcar ends kinda makes sense. But we also have Seattle geography to contend with.
Yes, it’s being looked at very closely. People are rightly worried about the “period of maximal constraint” between when the Bertha tunnel opens and the waterfront is complete. The timing of the center city streetcar was carefully planned to minimize the overlap with the “period of maximal constraint.” And this work-stoppage could definitely cause problems for that. The Convention Center expansion project will also cause problems, as will closing the downtown tunnel to buses when the Northgate expansion opens.
The city has a Bicycle Master Plan, a Pedestrian Master Plan, and a Freight Master Plan, as well as a Comprehensive Plan, that all look at transportation through downtown.
Short answer: it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. But at this point there’s no choice, because downtown is currently at capacity for vehicle traffic. The only things that will make the situation better at this point are investments in more efficient ways to move people and freight: infrastructure for mass transit, bicycles, and pedestrians.
That’s great for to (I am a bus user) downtown, but as someone who wants to go thru (say to Burien) using transit is not an option. Looks like staying put north of downtown is my answer. Although I still wish we just filled in the lake which would solve transportation problems! Snark.
The Saudi crown prince flew into Paine Field yesterday and then visited Bill Gates’ home in Medina. The security measures disrupted traffic, so I think it was an extra bad day for your trip. Sorry it didn’t work out.
Traffic in Seattle is definitely an issue though. Lots of new buildings still popping up with big parking garages. People take less space traveling on transit and bikes, so I think we are going in the right direction adding transit lanes and bike lanes, but we need more.
Maybe the Convention Center rebuild (kicking buses out of the tunnel) can be delayed until light rail to Northgate is online. Sounds like Mike O’Brien is on the right track here.