Will Seattle’s incompetence kill waterfront businesses?
Dec 7, 2015, 2:46 PM | Updated: 3:10 pm
Construction along Seattle's waterfront continues as the city makes improvements to the area. (File, Associated Press)
(File, Associated Press)
When the city of Seattle decided to upgrade the Alaskan Way Seawall, a lot of us knew there was no way on this beautiful green planet that it would be done anywhere near on time.
It’s not that I don’t think it should have been done — the work needed to get done for safety concerns — but there’s just no way the city is capable of doing big projects on time or on budget; certainly not the Seattle Department of Transportation, which is run by Scott Kubly, who is a bike activist before he’s a transportation director.
And the funny thing, SDOT for months were saying “Look at us! Look at the wonderful work we do!” and they pointed to the waterfront project as an example.
Only, it’s been a disaster.
As KING 5 points out, the construction has blocked pathways to businesses on the waterfront for months, but was supposed to be done in July. Well, it’s not done.
And, predictably, it’s about $100 million over budget.
As a result, businesses on the waterfront are hurting because a lot of potential consumers either think the businesses are closed, or they’re not willing to deal with all the traffic caused by this kind of construction. So, now some of the businesses are offering some incentive to shop there.
Ivar’s is an example. They’re doing some discounts to diners, free valet parking to folks who are driving there.
“Of course it would have been much better if we had been done July 1st, but we’re not, so we have to make the best of what we have,” said Bob Donegan, President of Ivar’s, told KING 5.
Now, the question is, what kind of responsibility lies with the city when their own incompetence is the reason behind this delay? Incompetence that could close businesses and negatively impact families.
If this were a month or two delay, that would be one thing. Major projects should come with expectations of reasonable delays. But this far exceeds any reasonable delay. This project won’t be done until 2017, assuming this delay won’t get delayed again.
So, should SDOT be held responsible for the damage they’re doing to businesses and their employees? And if so, what would that look like, because SDOT will just be funded with tax dollars; they have no incentive to give a damn because they can just throw other people’s money at the problem.
I look forward to your comments below.
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