Rep. Clibborn says (Feb. 24) that Seattle City Council member Jan Drago knew last week that funding wasn't in the stimulus package and so did Mayor Greg Nickels.

So why then didn't Jan Drago and/or the Mayor inform the council of this fact before (Monday's) 6-3 vote to release funding and break ground on the Mercer project? 

The only rationale council members, and especially Drago, used Monday when giving Mercer the go-ahead was that the council needed to act now because stimulus funds were certain to follow.

"(The Seattle) Displacement Coalition calls for a re-vote and immediate retraction of release of funding for the Mercer Project." and hats off to Licata, Rasmussen and Clark for not getting on the bandwagon and voting NO to Mercer until all funding was lined up.

Yesterday when the Full Council vote was taken, council member (Tim) Burgess said that the proviso could be restored (that prevented Mercer from going forward until funding was in hand) if later the federal money wasn't made available. There is the "motion for reconsideration," under the council charter that can be made by anyone voting with the prevailing party.  OK Council member Burgess, the Money IS NOT THERE. Now it's time for you (or any of the others who voted yes) to move for reconsideration and retraction of the council's action.

At noon (Feb. 24), the Chair of the House Transportation Committee Judy Clibborn announced the list of projects that would receive federal stimulus funds.  The Mercer Corridor Project ($50 million) was not on that list and she made it very clear it would not be on that list. 

She also expressed her own surprise at our mayor who earlier in the morning expressed surprise in front of cameras that Mercer wasn't in the package. In response to questions from the press, Rep. Clibborn also stated that she did not understand the Mayor's reaction. She went on to say that last week she could not understand why the mayor was suggesting and acting like it was there (in the package) when she and the committee had been very upfront that it wasn't going to be in the package.

No local funding projects were going to receive stimulus funds, including Mercer. It so surprised her, the mayor's actions last week, she thought the mayor might have been referring to some other source of federal dollars she was not aware of. In Rep. Clibborn's words, "I know he knew it wasn't there".  

Rep. Clibborn also said she wasn't sure if the full city council knew last week that Mercer funding wasn't in the package, but then she went on to state explicitly, "I did talk to Jan Drago and told her last week so she knew" (exact quote from Rep. Clibborn). When asked about the City's claim made repeatedly by the mayor and yesterday by Drago prior to the vote that the project would provide many jobs, Rep. Clibborn quicky replied..... all the projects we have chosen to fund provide jobs. 

The Displacement Coalition urges our supporters to call and/or write Rep. Clibborn and all other members of the House  Transportation Committee and there own legislators thanking them for their decision to withhold funding for a project that clearly would represent a gross misuse of stimulus package funding. 

We forwarded a letter to our legislators signed by more than 300 city residents and 18 community and business organizations opposing use of federal funds for this project. The Mercer project is merely a beautification project designed to take traffic off Valley and away from Vulcan properties. It will actually make traffic worse than doing nothing and all at a cost of over 200 million dollars. This project has been propelled forward by special interests and should have been stopped a long time ago.

We also believe that Council member Drago and the mayor should be held accountable for their actions, called on the carpet, and their actions roundly criticized and face some kind of reprimand if they indeed did know about the lack of federal dollars before the council vote and failed to alert their colleagues.  It's a shameful example of backroom Robert Moses style politics done at the expense of tens of millions in limited dollars our city desperately needs to meet real transportation needs in our city.

For more information contact John V. Fox for the Displacement Coalition 206-632-0668.