Today, Jan. 4, As Mike McGinn was inaugurated, Richard Conlin too took the oath of office, as Seattle City Council President. He took time at the reception that followed on the second floor of City Hall to talk to the West Seattle Herald.

"My number one goal is to build a strong team with the mayor so that the mayor and the Council are working together instead of, as we sometimes have in the past been at cross purposes, so keeping those communication lines going, really making things happen in a positive way. That's what the public expect with us. They don't want us to fight with each other.

"My personal goal is to get transit-oriented development really working. We're getting all these transit lines going, and getting Rapid Ride into West Seattle. We really want to get the transit and the housing connected.

"We're not going to be responsible for cost overruns on the tunnel. There won't be any cost overruns. The reason that the Big Dig (tunnel in Boston) had cost overruns in Boston is that they did too much at once. 'Wash-DOT' (Washington Department of Transportation) has changed its cost estimate (for the Seattle tunnel.) There is a 35- percent reserve for unexpected contingencies. Almost $900 million is reserve, and has not been allocated. They changed their estimating procedure."