(Editor's note: The following article appears originally in Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin's newsletter "Making it Work.")

Seattle is about to embark on a flurry of legislation to invest in economic recovery projects, beginning with new federal money, and including advancing city capital projects that voters approved in the 2008 Parks for All Levy.

The city has already received $15 million for the Spokane Street Viaduct project from the initial federal transportation package and $6 million for energy conservation investments. The city is currently taking bids on the Spokane Street projects and there’s a good chance that work will begin this year.

The city will also receive some $3.3 million in Community Development Block Grants for loans to small businesses and to build and remodel community facilities. The Jewish Family Services Food Bank, Bush Hotel Congregate Meal Facility, Pike Place Childcare and Preschool and Goodwill Teen Parent Home are all slated for support. We will also rehabilitate and repair seven senior housing buildings, a total of 216 units.

We have also applied for $70 million in New Market Tax Credits to finance mixed use projects in areas around light rail stations, $250,000 in National Endowment for the Arts grants, about $1 million for youth employment projects, $800,000 for employment assistance and other support for victims of domestic violence, and up to $12 million for environment restoration projects on Thornton Creek and the Tolt and Cedar Rivers.

The federal government is publishing regulations for specific programs on an almost daily basis, with two to three week deadlines for submitting grant applications. The council will use a streamlined process to consider these applications and accept the money (if awarded), with briefings every Monday, and legislation going directly to the full council without passing through committees.

We are committed to doing everything we can to secure as much federal funding as possible for projects and programs that will make a difference in supporting people and businesses in the work of economic recovery.

Federal construction grants are usually required to be for ‘shovel-ready’ projects, meaning those that are already through the design, engineering, and permitting processes and are ready to begin construction.

The city, however, also has access to financial resources on our own, and we are adopting a broader policy approach that recognizes that even projects that are still in the development phase will employ people in the community (like architects and engineers) who are also part of the economic downturn.

Because of our good credit rating and careful budgeting, we have been successful in issuing bonds to support city capital expenditures. Most recently, in early March, Seattle issued almost $100 million in bonds for various capital projects at an interest rate of only 3.5 percent. Seattle also has a substantial reserve of cash that can be advanced to projects where there is a guaranteed funding stream that can be counted on to replenish the cash reserves.

The Parks for All Levy has provided Seattle with a great opportunity to make some of those advance investments that can put people back to work and council is considering legislation to expedite the construction of some projects. Much of the $145 million approved by the voters is for well-defined projects such as playgrounds and new athletic facilities.

Other parts of the levy, such as the $2 million set aside for community garden development, can be also be deployed to fund projects that have been identified and need only a modest amount of work to be ready to proceed. While the city won’t collect the first portion of the property tax for the Levy until July, it is a stable source of funding that can be counted on the repay any funds advanced for these projects.

The first round of Parks investments will come to the council in mid-April and we expect to have a second round a few weeks later. We estimate that between $40 and $50 million worth of these projects can be underway in 2009 – and that the taxpayers will get great benefits from this advance construction, because construction contracts are now typically coming in up to 20 percent below budget projections.

Stay tuned for other activities that the council will launch as part of our economic recovery work, the highest priority for 2009.