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City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Mayor Praises Council Committee for 'Bridging the Gap' on Transportation
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
7/31/2006 4:00:00 PM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alex Fryer (206) 684-8358
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Mayor Praises Council Committee for ‘Bridging the Gap’ on
Transportation
Funding package tackles backlog, shares costs between homes and businesses
SEATTLE - Mayor Greg Nickels praised the City Council’s Committee of
the Whole today for approving a strong transportation funding package that
eliminates the city’s arterial street maintenance backlog, improves bicycle
and pedestrian safety, and repairs vulnerable bridges across the Seattle.
The package, approved by the committee today, keeps the mayor’s “Bridging
the Gap” proposal largely intact. The committee supported the mayor’s
recommended commercial parking fee and business transportation tax, which ensures
those who use the streets most also contribute to fixing them. If it wins final
approval next week, the proposal, which also includes a levy lid lift, will
allow the city to accomplish all the major goals Nickels proposed when he announced
the plan in May.
“This is a great step forward in tackling our transportation problems
and finally deals with the growing backlog of repairs plaguing our city’s
streets and bridges,” Nickels said. “I’d like to thank the
committee members for supporting my ‘Bridging the Gap’ proposal
today and recognizing the need to get our streets working again.”
As recommended, the proposed levy lid lift would go to voters for approval
this fall. The levy would cost the owner of a median-valued Seattle home about
$155 the first year. A 10 percent commercial parking fee recommended today
would be phased in over several years. The committee also included an annual
business transportation fee of $25 per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee,
which is about 1 cent per hour per FTE.
Also as recommended, the funding package provides the resources to invest
in street paving, bridge repairs, sidewalk construction, bike lanes and improvements
to major bus corridors around the city.
The mayor thanked councilmembers Jan Drago and Richard Conlin for their work
on the package.
“The committee did a good job of going through the funding proposal
carefully and adding its own perspective to the package,” Nickels said. “The
result is a transportation package that ends decades of under-investment in
transportation and allows us to take the steps needed to really fix our streets.”
The city has faced declining dedicated transportation funds over the past
35 years. Because of court decisions, citizen initiatives, and the state’s
funding formula, dedicated transportation revenue has fallen to $13.1 million
this year, from $37.5 million in 1995.
Visit the mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s
inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity
and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm
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Office of the Mayor
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