TRANSPORTATION PRIORITIES FOR 2004

Seattle residents are eager for improvements to our transportation system. The following are key priority areas for my second term as Chair of the Council Transportation Committee.

1. Financing transportation maintenance and improvements. Since 1997, the City has tripled the amount of general fund dollars invested annually in maintaining Seattle's road and bridges. Unfortunately, State funding for Seattle has been dramatically reduced. The City's current financial situation makes it unlikely that we can continue to increase the transportation share of the general fund. Seattle has a $500 million backlog in deferred maintenance on our $7.6 billion of transportation capital assets. It is imperative that we find new sources of funds before our roads and bridges deteriorate further. Funds are also needed to improve traffic management, respond to neighborhood plan priorities, and support investments in freight mobility, sidewalks, and bike paths.
2. Replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct/Seawall. Seattle cannot afford to wait until the Viaduct becomes unusable to move forward with a replacement facility. The right decision on replacing the Viaduct includes revitalizing Seattle's waterfront, replacing the Seawall, and enhancing Elliott Bay. The new transportation facility should integrate well with good urban design for the waterfront, and should provide for appropriate mobility for freight and passenger traffic into and through downtown without encouraging the additional use of single occupancy vehicles. The final plan must include substantial transit components as well as good bicycle and pedestrian connections around downtown. The draft EIS will be completed this spring, and the Council will recommend a preferred alternative to the state later this year. Developing funding resources and ensuring substantial civic engagement are also crucial tasks.
3. Move forward on major regional and transit projects. In addition to the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the 520 bridge needs to be replaced, and the highway redesigned and modified to provide a better flow. A Draft EIS for the 520 bridge is underway, and will be completed in 2005; in the meantime, the City should work with the state and regional jurisdictions to develop funding for the project, and work with neighborhoods to identify optimum characteristics for the interaction of 520 with Seattle communities. In 2004, Sound Transit will move into full construction on the South Link Light Rail, will select a preferred route for the downtown to Northgate segment, and will begin work on Phase II, which will likely include light rail over I-90. The Transportation Committee will monitor planning, construction progress, and community concerns. The City will also interact with the Seattle Monorail Authority, which will make crucial decisions in 2004; these decisions will be handled in Committee of the Whole.
4. Make progress on a coherent transportation plan that integrates transportation modes and links transportation to land use decisions. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will update Seattle's Transportation Strategic Plan (TSP) and the Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan during this year's ten-year update of the Comp Plan. The goal is to refine a framework for future transportation decisions through the Comp Plan and then to have a clear series of implementation steps in the TSP.
5. Regulatory Reform. There are inefficiencies and duplications in the way we regulate transportation. Last fall the Council approved a major overhaul of Seattle's management of Rights-of-Way, including computerizing and combining a series of data bases and creating a clear regulatory structure and process. This year, implementation will begin, and the Committee will monitor progress. The Committee will also work with SDOT to streamline zoning designations designed to encourage pedestrian environments (including P1, P2, Green Streets, Key Pedestrian Streets, Green Streets, and Major Landscaped Arterials) to reduce duplication and improve effectiveness. We will also work to ensure smooth working relationships between the Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities and the Department of Planning and Development, especially important to align sidewalk development, street maintenance, and drainage improvements.
6. Neighborhood Transportation and Freight Mobility. There is a long backlog of transportation improvements in neighborhoods throughout Seattle. While working to implement these, it is particularly important to respond to the neighborhood plans and changing conditions in neighborhoods undergoing major transformation and development, such as Northgate, South Lake Union, Ballard, Downtown, the University District, and Rainier Valley. At the same time, it is important to continue our work on freight mobility, to implement new approaches to major corridors like Lake City Way and Aurora, and to implement new technologies such as parking pay stations and improved approaches to traffic calming on neighborhood arterials.

   I look forward to working with communities throughout Seattle to expand transportation choices, take care of the existing transportation infrastructure, make certain all transportation providers work together, and develop strategies and improvements for areas of critical concern.

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   NUCOR STEEL ELECTRIC RATES UPDATE

   On Monday, March 15, the City Council will vote on a proposal to provide a special rate schedule for Nucor Steel Corporation that will reduce their rates by several million dollars. On Wednesday, March 10, the Energy Committee approved the legislation 3 (Godden, Della, Compton) to 2 (Conlin, Licata). The Committee legislation changed the contract proposed by Mayor Nickels to increase the payment to the City by some $750,000. However, the contract still provides a several million-dollar subsidy from the rest of Seattle's ratepayers to a single corporation, and violates the principles of fair ratemaking for Seattle City Light.

   This proposal follows up on a contract negotiated with Birmingham Steel, former owner of the steel plant now operated by Nucor, in 2001-2002. Because Birmingham Steel was in deep financial difficulty, the City developed an agreement to defer some payments, to be paid back (with interest) in future years. Birmingham eventually went bankrupt anyway, and Nucor took over the plant and the agreement.

   However, the Birmingham agreement is fundamentally different from the current proposal. It stretched out payments, but was financially neutral for City Light - basically the same arrangements that City Light would make with any customer who had difficulty paying their bill. The Nucor arrangement liquidates the arrangements that Nucor inherited when it took over Birmingham's plant, and cuts Nucor's rates below those paid by other industrial customers.

   Calculating the actual subsidy is difficult because of the complex contract, but a reasonable estimate is $4 million: about $2 million directly forgiven in return for paying off the accumulated contract debt early; $1.5 million in lower rates for 2004; and about a quarter million in lost interest which will not be charged on approximately $3.5 million in payments deferred until 2005.

   City Light will benefit from having the lump sum payment for the accumulated contract debt, and the reduced uncertainty. It is also claimed that the deal helps preserve the jobs at the Nucor Steel mill.

   However, the accumulated contract debt is an obligation that Nucor voluntarily took on, so that it could benefit from the lower rates in 2003 that were part of the Birmingham arrangement. And there is no evidence that modestly higher electric rates would endanger the operation of the steel plant. It is one of the most energy efficient plants in the country, using 60% less energy per unit than the average plant, partly thanks to more than a million dollars in conservation investments paid for by Seattle City Light under conservation incentive programs.

   The fact that Nucor eagerly took on this asset from the bankrupt Birmingham indicates its value - and it has continued running at full pace even at the higher rates being charged in 2004. Even with this contract, the rates would be 30% higher than in 2003, so the anticipation of a possible rate break has not been a factor in Nucor's continued operation of the plant. The volatile world steel markets are far more likely to force decisions on plant operations than the electric rate.

   The City Council and Mayor adopted principles for electric rate making in Resolution 28004 in 1989. Among these principles were that rates should be based on cost of service to the customer, that rates should reflect a fair apportionment of the different costs of providing service among different groups of customers, and that rate levels and rate structures should be changed in an orderly manner over time.

   Giving this special rate to Nucor starts the City down a slippery slope. Which company will be next to ask for a special deal? How is the City to decide who is worthy of a multi-million break, and who is not? Negotiated rates opens the way for difficult and potentially unfair decisions, advantages some businesses over others, and changes the normal rate process in unpredictable and legally risky ways.

   Seattle's rate allocation process needs review. The appropriate time to do that is during a full-scale rate process, scheduled to happen within the next year. Then it can be done in public, with the assistance of the Rates Advisory Committee, and lead to a new rate structure accessible to all businesses.

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   SAME SEX MARRIAGE
   

   On Monday, March 8, Mayor Nickels issued an Executive Order recognizing the validity of same sex marriages granted by other governmental entities, and, with Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, proposed legislation to expand the City's discrimination laws to protect gays and lesbians who are married. The City of Seattle does not issue marriage licenses, but the City provides benefits to domestic partners, requires major City contractors to provide equal benefits to domestic partnerships, and enforces anti-discrimination laws in areas such as housing and employment.

   The Mayor's proposals expand and codify our long-time city commitment to equality and fairness for all. I support them, and applaud Mayor Nickels and Councilmember Rasmussen for their initiatives.

   Society should welcome the love, dedication, and maturity of a relationship between two adults who seek legal and social recognition as a long-term commitment. Our society is steadily emerging from the era of denial, discrimination, and distrust of same sex relationships. The civil recognition of same sex marriage is another positive step forward to treating all members of our society with dignity and respect.

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   QUOTE:
   "We all naturally move on the edges of eternity, and are sometimes granted vistas through the fabric of illusion."
   
   -- Ansel Adams

   DEEP THOUGHT:
   "Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened."
   
   -- Winston Churchill

   Citizen participation and engagement are critical for maintaining democracy -- fostering it is a key task of elected officials. It's my hope that this newsletter will inform you about issues, inspire you to get involved, and that together we can make things work better in this great city. Please send me your feedback, so we can keep things lively, interesting, and useful. And please forward it along to friends who might be interested.

   Richard Conlin
   Your Seattle City Councilmember
   
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