SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Why Dori doesn’t trust the city with the levy to Move Seattle
Oct 21, 2015, 7:50 PM | Updated: Oct 22, 2015, 9:38 am
Dori Monson says that Mayor Ed Murray's track record on transportation projects is weak and includes the Seattle Tunnel Project and the Seawall Project which are both behind schedule and over budget. (AP)
(AP)
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s record isn’t as good as he says it is, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson believes.
Dori is calling out the mayor for a comment he made regarding the Move Seattle transportation levy.
“I will guarantee it. I’ve showed in my time in the Legislature that we can deliver transportation projects as we say to the voters,” Murray recently said when asked why people should approve the levy.
Related: WSDOT gets low grades, but voters keep giving the state more money
The levy would raise $930 million over nine years. It would replace the previous nine-year Bridging the Gap levy. The money would be used for a variety of purposes, including bridge maintenance and repair, The Vision Zero plan, pedestrian and bike safety improvements, street maintenance, light rail improvements, and more.
But Dori argues that Murray doesn’t have the track record he claims.
“The last time people gave them hundreds of millions of dollars for a transportation levy, most of the projects that they promised didn’t get done. It just got swallowed up in bureaucratic waste,” he said. “I don’t know if it was most of the projects, but a large number of projects that they promised never got done.”
For Dori, the most proof comes from Murray’s past support of the Seattle Tunnel Project and the seawall project. And he alleges the mayor should bear this in mind when making guarantees based on his record.
“Ed Murray fought tooth and nail when he was a state senator for the Seattle Tunnel Project that is years behind schedule and is going to be billions over budget and may never get built despite the billions they’ve spent,” Dori said. “And he’s guaranteeing based on his track record?”
“Let me give you another one: the Seattle seawall project,” he continued. “You know who’s in charge of that? Ed Murray and Scott Kubly, the same people who would get this [nearly] billion dollars to spend. The Seattle Seawall Project is $130 million over budget and way behind schedule. That was on a $290 million original budget.”
“What do you mean in the Legislature you have a proven record when your biggest project is an utter failure?” Dori asked.
