Mayor Greg Nickels released the following statement on the transportation project funding proposed by state legislative leaders today:

“From his first day in office, President Obama has been clear:
federal stimulus funds must create jobs, and build new projects that
benefit the economy.

Along with mayors across the country, I met with the president about his economic recovery plan, and it was with his guidance that we proposed including the Spokane Street Viaduct and fixing the Mercer Mess. These projects will directly create more than 1,300 jobs. On Jan. 13, I signed an agreement with Gov. Christine Gregoire and King County Executive Ron Sims to allocate federal money to the Spokane and Mercer Street projects.

What’s more, we have lined up $45 million in unprecedented private support for Mercer Street. This is exactly the kind of partnership that will put people to work and grow our economy. It is mystifying that the state Legislature would seek to
eliminate Spokane Street and Mercer Street from its list of stimulus projects.

In fact, the Legislature has excluded Seattle from any significant federal funding. This runs contrary to economic good sense, and the explicit directions from President Obama. Seattle has 17 percent of the jobs of the entire state, and 15 percent of total retail sales.

Eighty-five percent of federal medical research dollars go to Seattle
institutions. With Spokane and Mercer Streets, we have the projects that
will put people to work immediately. We need to move forward with an
economic stimulus package that benefits the entire region, now and in
the future.”