17 questions from Councilmember Rasmussen for new SDOT boss Scott Kubly; anything missing?

| Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

A short time ago, Scott Kubly, Mayor Murray’s choice for SDOT director, tweeted that he’s arrived:

Finally arrived in Seattle after cross country road trip. Excited to get started Monday AM.

— Scott Kubly (@skubly) July 25, 2014

Next month, he faces confirmation hearings before the City Council. The chair of its Transportation Committee, West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, shared with us the questions he wants Kubly to answer. See them here. You’ll note that they include a request for Kubly to review the June 10th five-hour, four-mile Highway 99 crash-investigation-related closure (here’s our most-recent followup) and whether policies should be changed as a result. But that’s just one of 17 questions Rasmussen has asked Kubly to answer by August 5th, in advance of his August 12th hearing. Anything you think he’s missing?

Community Member July 25, 2014 (3:57 pm)

The questions about communications are missing something.

Rasmussen asks about SDOT “communicating the dapartment’s goals to the public” (i.e., telling us), and he asks about ensuring that “SDOT listens and responds to the public”, which sounds like holding public meetings that the public would have to go to.

What’s missing is respectful communication to the public as an everyday, ordinary part of how the department is run. Can the department operate without insulting the public? The department has been operating in an atmosphere in which when de-icer misapplication is causing multiple accidents, SDOT spokespersons blame careless driving. When inadequate infrastructure causes hour-long commutes, SDOT tweets that drivers stuck in traffic are (obscene word).

mpento July 25, 2014 (4:39 pm)

Given a number of transport project mistakes (tunnel failure,Fauntleroy Expressway seismic retrofit, cracked Highway 520 pontoons, bus lanes on the west Seattle bridge) is there any hope that there will be actual accountability in your department. If yes is it possible that actual specific people be held responsible when a project is not delivered on as expected and that they be pilloried in an appropriate public place and then enrolled in the pothole repair chain gang until financial restitution is made for their incompitence?

RayK July 25, 2014 (4:56 pm)

@mpento, why are you pilloring SDOT? You list projects controlled by WSDOT, not SDOT. Do you not know the difference? The tunnel isn’t a Seattle resource. It belongs to WSDOT. Period. Bertha belongs to its manufacturer. Not the tunnel contractor nor WSDOT.
Please be responsible to do some research before you begin whining in public.

West Seattle since 1979 July 25, 2014 (5:13 pm)

@mpento, are you saying that it’s a failure to have bus lanes on the WS Bridge, or just that they’re done wrong?

Fred Johson July 25, 2014 (6:43 pm)

Scott Kubly

Please describe how you will utilize all SDOT funding to implement an effective plan to address the huge backlog of maintenance issue in the existing infrastructure?

Hint: No new capital projects until the backlog is addressed.

iggy July 25, 2014 (8:17 pm)

It would be nice for SDOT to coordinate projects better at a specific location. For example, the work at the Morgan Junction (Morgan/California/Fauntleroy intersection) has been going on seemingly for years. One week they fix a pothole here, a month later they repave there, a few months later they paint some lane markers, a few months later they unblock a street drain, a few months later something else is done. The intersection looks better than it has in years, but if SDOT really took a global look at the area, they would see there are still some potholes, still some lanes not painted, still some messy cement work—–the little things that never seem to get fixed and then eventually add up to bigger problems later.

denis July 26, 2014 (9:29 am)

Spend sometime sitting in nightmare traffic. Feel our pain. Where will Scott live? Start by hanging out in the Mercer mess which is the slow and painful project. How about meeting with Southlake union folks and see how he feels about how the decisions benefit them. While the rest of us suffer in traffic he**. Sorry Scott could not pay me enough to do your job.

wsn00b July 27, 2014 (1:49 pm)

Questions for Scott: (Welcome!)

Can anything be done to remediate and not repeat shoddy work like the Spokane Street viaduct expansion? The 1 year old project’s surface looks like a road in Gaza and is completely amateur work.

Also, would you be open for an informative drive up and down 35th Ave SW? It symbolizes many things you have to fix.

wetone July 28, 2014 (11:12 am)

2nd the comment on the Spokane Street viaduct flat out terrible work that will have to be redone soon or we could rename it Patch Work express. Would like to drive Kubly around W/S for 20min. and point out how bad the roads are in many areas along with asking how projects like Charlestown st hill project was so poorly executed along with being prioritized over many more areas that are much worse off both in surface condition and safety. A couple of examples: Alaska St west side of junction 44th down to 48th has very bad broken up road surface along with many cross streets intersecting, try stopping quickly when wet if cars pull out from side streets or a pedestrian walks out in front of you as is happening more and more in this area. Lander and 56th SW another very bad broken up road. There are so many areas that need work not only in W/S, but through out the city from age, but for some reason this city fails to maintain and instead spends crazy money else where that does little to help 95% of it’s population. What is Kubly going to do to improve our city’s deteriorating roads ? accountability issues, list of priority’s in order.

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