UPDATE: City Attorney PETE HOLMES sues coalition, others, over referendum:

The Stranger's Dominic Holden and other media have the lawsuit published in full:

http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/29/1301427707-comp…

We will continue to update

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Over 56,000 signatures on two initiatives to put the deep bore tunnel to a vote have so far been collected at the City Clerk office.

Press Release from Drew Paxton, Protect Seattle Now:

Today the Protect Seattle Now coalition turns in 28,929 signatures, more than 10 percent of Seattle’s voters, to submit to the people a referendum overturning the City's agreements to go forward with the controversial deep bore tunnel. The coalition expects that Seattle’s elected officials will uphold the democratic process as directed in the City Charter and place this referendum on the ballot.

Yesterday the campaign asked the Mayor, the City Council and the City Attorney to pledge by 5 p.m. today that they will place this referendum on the ballot and not silence the voice of the people of Seattle. To date, Mayor Mike McGinn and Councilmember Mike O’Brien have pledged to allow the people of Seattle to have a vote on this risky and expensive project. Councilmember Burgess responded stating, "The Charter is very clear that if sufficient voter signatures are verified the Council will place the measure on the next election ballot, which would be August.  I'm confident we will follow the law." Councilmember Bagshaw stated to the Seattle Times that she opposes a vote of the public. The campaign has not heard from Councilmembers Clark, Licata, Conlin, Harrell, Godden, Rasmussen or City Attorney Pete Holmes.

A recent Elway Poll found that 55 percent of Seattle voters want the referendum to be placed on the ballot.

Protect Seattle Now was organized after the City Council voted last month to override the mayor's veto of a City ordinance related to the construction of the deep bore tunnel under Alaskan Way. Coalition members point out that the tunnel project, which is not fully funded, runs the risk of significant cost overruns that state law mandates Seattle taxpayers alone would have to pay. An Oxford University study found that 90 percent of megaprojects like the deep bore tunnel experience cost overruns, usually around 30 percent of the project cost. Both the City of Seattle and the State of Washington are dealing with budget deficits that have forced cuts to public services, raising questions about whether taxpayers can afford to pay cost overruns on the project.

PROTECT SEATTLE NOW: CAMPAIGN BY THE NUMBERS

Number of signatures collected: 28, 929
Number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot: 16,503
Number of volunteers: 124
Total number of volunteer hours: 1534
Total number of donations: 290
Average donation amount: $173
Percentage of donations below $250: 90%
Percentage of donors from Seattle: 87 %
Percentage of donors from Washington State: 94%
Number of councilmembers pushing the tunnel with Seattle on the hook
for cost overruns: 8
Number of them up for reelection this year: 5
Number of anti-public-vote editorials by Joni Balter and the Seattle
Times: 3 and counting

MEDIA CONTACT
DREW PAXTON
protectseattlenow@gmail.com
(206)-257-2252

Press Release from Referendum 101 organizer Elizabeth Campbell:

Dear Stop the Tunnel Friends,
 
(Today) is another historic day in the fight against the tunnel; when we turned in our 28,000 signatures for Initiative 101 that was the first day.  Now with the help of our alliance partners, 27,000 plus more signatures are slated to be submitted tomorrow for the referendum related to stopping the tunnel.
 
At 10:00 AM (this) morning the petitions will be submitted to the City Clerk, 3rd Floor, City Hall.  I hope that many of you can make the turn-in, to show your support for another part of the effort to bring the tunnel project before the voters.
 
In regards to our effort to complete I-101, if you remember we started last week to gather enough signatures to cure the 1,179 signature deficiency that we had.  I'm happy to announce that we have completed that task also, as of even date we acquired an additional 3,200 signatures to take us over the top.  Adding to our previous 28,000 + total, that means we will have collected 31,200 signatures towards putting I-101 on the ballot. 
 
For the next week we will be internally validating the signatures we recently collected, comparing them to the Seattle voter roll, and comparing them to our own I-101 signature database that we received from King County Elections - in order to confirm that we have enough valid signatures that we are turning in. 
 
Our final validity rate was 68.9%, based on that we do have enough signatures, but we want to be sure.  Our final batch of signatures is due in the Clerk's office on April 10th.
 
I'd like to extend a special thank you to everyone for making this happen.  Each person that has been involved in the I-101 campaign has played a key part towards ensuring that the tunnel project will be voted on, and now with the referendum looking like it is likely to qualify with enough signatures, not once, but twice.