Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has included no money for projected overruns on the stalled Center City Connector in this year’s budget.
But don’t read anything into it, yet.
That’s according to Mayor Durkan and proponents of the project, which would connect the two existing lines on First Hill and South Lake Union. Mayor Durkan put the project on hold in the wake of reports that it was millions over budget.
“The city at this moment - has no other funded planned high capacity transit investments coming online until Sound Transit 3 does in 2035, but we're going to absorb all this growth,” said Don Blakeney of the Downtown Seattle Association.
Blakeney didn’t seem concerned Tuesday that Mayor Durkan’s proposal excludes the streetcar overruns.
“It’s an indication that the Center City Connector is still a valuable project,” he said.
The budget does include increases in transportation spending and more for buses. It also includes $14 million for the existing two streetcar lines.
“We are still moving that forward,” Mayor Durkan said Monday, explaining why there has been a delay in making a final call.
She added that the city is waiting on a decision on its grant application for Federal support.
“So we are moving forward as if it's a go, but we will continue to assess. We want to keep all options to make sure that we know exactly how much it's going to cost to build, how much it's going to cost to run, and decide as a city if that's the best use of our transit dollars or if those dollars should be moved somewhere else.”
The budget documents indicate that the original spending on the Center City Connector is being preserved, for now. Although there could be an option to re-direct that money in a supplemental budget proposal down the road. Seattle Council member Lisa Herbold's office was quick to note that Durkan's proposal also includes $11,485,000 from the transportation fund, allocated toward the project.
The budget proposal, which also includes millions more on spending for homeless and housing services, starts getting a Council review Wednesday.
