Fix the bridges or fix the sidewalks? Council, advocates split on how to spent new car-tab revenues

Last fall, in the short window of time between when the state Supreme Court overturned Initiative 976 and when the City Council finished the 2021 city budget, the Council increased the city’s vehicle license fee (VLF) by $20, as it is allowed to do under state law. Councilmember Pedersen, the chair of the transportation committee, along with Councilmember Herbold originally proposed that the revenues — $7.2 million per year starting in 2022, half of that this year because it takes effect July 1 — should be dedicated to bridge maintenance. But a majority of his colleagues decided that they would …

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Mayor Durkan decides on repairing West Seattle Bridge instead of immediate replacement

This morning Mayor Durkan announced that the city will move forward with repairing the cracked main span of the West Seattle Bridge, with the expectation that it will reopen by mid-2022, restore the bridge to its original expected lifetime, and push out building a replacement for up to 40 years. However, she also said that SDOT will start studying an eventual replacement strategy now, and it will approach Sound Transit about jointly building a third span to West Seattle that could incorporate light rail, bicycles and pedestrians.

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Mosqueda unveils 2021 budget balancing package

This afternoon, Council budget chair Teresa Mosqueda rolled out her “balancing package,” a collection of changes to the Mayor’s 2021 proposed budget that address Council members’ consensus priorities, while keeping the overall budget balanced as required by law. The package follows through with the cuts to SPD they proposed two weeks ago, and it cuts Mayor’s Durkan’s $100 million Equitable Communities Initiative down to $30 million. Shortly after it was released, Durkan issued a press release… largely praising it. Wait, what was that again?  

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West Seattle Bridge cost-benefit analysis released, and the options are clear (even if the report isn’t)

Today SDOT finally released the long-awaited “cost-benefit analysis” on the various options for repair or replacement of the West Seattle Bridge. It’s 89 pages, it’s dense, and it wins the award for “worst executive summary.” SDOT had to publish a “reader’s guide” today to help people make sense of it. But in the end it tells us what we need to know in order to decide whether we should repair or replace the bridge. Here’s what it says.

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State Supreme court throws out Initiative 976

This morning the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that Initiative 976, Tim Eyman’s most recent “$30 car tabs” effort, is unconstitutional. The Court found that the initiative contained multiple subjects and that its title was “deceptive and misleading.” It overturned a lower court ruling that largely upheld the initiative.

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