Morning Fizz
Are There Already Cost Overruns?
1. At a wild meeting of the Cascade Bicycle Club last night at REI, current CBC board chair Chris Weiss confirmed that executive director Chuck Ayers had been removed for refusing a board order to fire CBC's policy director David Hiller.
Erica tweeted a full account from the chaotic meeting—where angry members were on the verge of overthrowing the board. Follow the drama here. (Erica's earlier story on the runup to the pending coup is here .)
2. Are there already cost overruns on the tunnel? In an article by Seattle Times reporter Mike Lindblom about a $230 million state incentive to two tunnel contractors, tunnel project manager Ron Paananen said, without explanation, the state would "recoup $50 million from the city of Seattle for utility relocations in parts of the 1.7-mile tunnel corridor, a figure that wasn't budgeted earlier."
So is that $50 million on top of the $248 million the city has already pledged to pay to move utilities during tunnel construction? We tried to find out.
City staffers, including transportation department spokesman Rick Sheridan, weren't sure. "It's unclear what WSDOT is referring to when they refer to $50 million that wasn't budgeted for," Sheridan said. Other city staff were similarly unsure. However, state viaduct planners say that "unbudgeted" $50 million referred to a portion of the city's contribution that, because it's directly related to tunnel construction, was included in the contract itself; the city will reimburse that funding to the contractor in the future.
The city is still considering whether to sign a contract with the state agreeing to pay utility relocation costs.
3. Governor Chris Gregoire spoke at yesterday's Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce retreat at the Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum. As we already reported, I-1098, the high-earners' income tax measure, was a topic of contention at the meeting, and Gregoire talked about the initiative as well. Asked why she's supporting it, she said: "If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have said I didn't know. But I'm just flat desperate. I don't have any other options to fund K-12. We need to stop dismantling our education system."
The measure directs 70 percent of the $2 billion raised annually from the tax to go to education. (It's a 5 percent tax on family income above $400,000, $200,000 for singles, and 9 percent on family income above $1 million, $500,000 for singles.)
There was a showdown over the tax at yesterday's meeting between state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36, Seattle), who supports it, and Microsoft exec Brad Smith. Microsoft opposes the measure and has contributed $75,000 from its political committee to the opposition campaign.
4. The latest campaign finance reports settle a he said/she said between the Dino Rossi and Sen. Patty Murray camps: Who's getting the Wall Street money? The Seattle Times crunched the numbers and reports this moring:
It's not much of surprise. We crunched the numbers during the previous quarter and Rossi got off to a big lead after he got $134,000 at a Wall Street fundraiser.
Throughout the campaign, Rossi's camp has accused Murray of getting $500 million from banking interests. The number, however, is reference to her entire career in the senate.
Erica tweeted a full account from the chaotic meeting—where angry members were on the verge of overthrowing the board. Follow the drama here. (Erica's earlier story on the runup to the pending coup is here .)
2. Are there already cost overruns on the tunnel? In an article by Seattle Times reporter Mike Lindblom about a $230 million state incentive to two tunnel contractors, tunnel project manager Ron Paananen said, without explanation, the state would "recoup $50 million from the city of Seattle for utility relocations in parts of the 1.7-mile tunnel corridor, a figure that wasn't budgeted earlier."
So is that $50 million on top of the $248 million the city has already pledged to pay to move utilities during tunnel construction? We tried to find out.
City staffers, including transportation department spokesman Rick Sheridan, weren't sure. "It's unclear what WSDOT is referring to when they refer to $50 million that wasn't budgeted for," Sheridan said. Other city staff were similarly unsure. However, state viaduct planners say that "unbudgeted" $50 million referred to a portion of the city's contribution that, because it's directly related to tunnel construction, was included in the contract itself; the city will reimburse that funding to the contractor in the future.
The city is still considering whether to sign a contract with the state agreeing to pay utility relocation costs.
3. Governor Chris Gregoire spoke at yesterday's Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce retreat at the Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum. As we already reported, I-1098, the high-earners' income tax measure, was a topic of contention at the meeting, and Gregoire talked about the initiative as well. Asked why she's supporting it, she said: "If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have said I didn't know. But I'm just flat desperate. I don't have any other options to fund K-12. We need to stop dismantling our education system."
The measure directs 70 percent of the $2 billion raised annually from the tax to go to education. (It's a 5 percent tax on family income above $400,000, $200,000 for singles, and 9 percent on family income above $1 million, $500,000 for singles.)
There was a showdown over the tax at yesterday's meeting between state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36, Seattle), who supports it, and Microsoft exec Brad Smith. Microsoft opposes the measure and has contributed $75,000 from its political committee to the opposition campaign.
4. The latest campaign finance reports settle a he said/she said between the Dino Rossi and Sen. Patty Murray camps: Who's getting the Wall Street money? The Seattle Times crunched the numbers and reports this moring:
Murray's latest fundraising report shows that some of her heaviest support has come from lawyers, government employees and executives at nonprofit groups, health-care companies and biotechnology firms. That's in contrast to Rossi, who counts real-estate developers, venture capitalists, Wall Street executives and auto dealers among his biggest donors.
It's not much of surprise. We crunched the numbers during the previous quarter and Rossi got off to a big lead after he got $134,000 at a Wall Street fundraiser.
Throughout the campaign, Rossi's camp has accused Murray of getting $500 million from banking interests. The number, however, is reference to her entire career in the senate.
