To the editor:

The article by Mr. Shay in the Herald 7-23-10 regarding the "big dig" and the risks brought out by Dr. Thom Neff are troubling enough. When you add the fact that one bidder has dropped out and top it off with Seattle citizens being on the rope for cost overruns it is time to take another look.

Gov. Gregoire, along with other state leaders and the Seattle City Council majority saying the amendment for we citizens of Seattle to pay said overruns isn't legally enforceable while it is still in writing doesn't make it so.

If it is not legally enforceable , a big IF,( while it is in writing at present) a very simple solution to that concern is SIMPLY TAKE IT OUT. I fear unless this is done we citizens of the State will find ourselves paying the bills both as defendants as well as plaintiffs in the massive lawsuits that are sure to come.

In my humble opinion anyone who thinks a project like this will not have cost overruns has been sleeping the last 100 years.

Harriet Benjamin
West Seattle