A new group that supports building the deep-bore tunnel on the waterfront, the Tunnel + Transit Coalition, has been bombarding reporters with press releases in recent days that, among other things, have touted the group as a "broad, multicultural coalition." However, the group is actually funded primarily by downtown businesses, including Argosy Cruises, Ivar's Seafood, the developer Martin Smith, and the Downtown Seattle Association, and is headquartered in the office of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The group is paying consultant Don Stark $2,000 a month to lobby the city council in favor of the tunnel. (Read Dan Bertolet's critique of the group's claim to favor transit here).

There's a funny irony in so many waterfront businesses supporting the tunnel. Mayor Mike McGinn is on a crusade to remove  language in state law that puts "Seattle-area property owners" who benefit from the tunnel on the hook for any overruns. By the most common interpretation, those property owners would include downtown businesses—the same businesses that are now spending thousands of dollars to oppose him on the tunnel.

Here's a complete list of Tunnel + Transit supporters.

Allied Arts

Argosy Cruises

The Boeing Company

The Cascadia Center

Downtown Seattle Association

Foster Pepper PLLC

Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce

Ivar’s Seafood

Martin Smith, Inc.

McMillan Piper M.L.

King County Labor Council

Don Newby

Vlad Oustimovitch

Pacific Rim Resources

Pier 57

The Royer Group

Sally Nelson, Burien City Council

Seattle Aquarium Society

Seattle Historic Waterfront Association

Seattle Manufacturing Industrial Council

The Seattle Mariners

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop