You might remember that video from 2009 – WSDOT’s version of how a big quake could bring down the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the downtown Seattle seawall. The Viaduct’s fate has since been settled, but the seawall’s has not …till now. Months after that video went public, not long after taking office in early 2010, Mayor McGinn proposed a $241 million property-tax levy to pay most of the cost of replacing the Elliott Bay seawall (we covered the announcement downtown). That proposal died. Now a new one is expected to go to Seattle voters in November – a $290 million bond measure that got preliminary City Council approval today (here’s the news release), with final approval expected next week. That’s not the full cost – the news release says the city’s already set aside $30 million, and the county would chip in $30 million more. One more number: If your house is worth $360,000, the city says the new seawall will cost you $59 a year. If the current schedule proceeds, it would be done by 2016 – when the tunnel’s supposed to be done, too.
West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
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