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Port opposes I-695, OKs airport work
Port opposes I-695, OKs airport work
By JON SAVELLE
Journal Environmental editor
While a convoy of protesting truckers leaned on their air horns outside Port
of Seattle offices yesterday, members of the Port Commission took note -- and
proceeded to an agenda freighted with everything from parking revenue to restrooms
to Initiative 695.
To take the last item first, commissioners unanimously approved a first reading
of a resolution opposing the measure.
The initiative would require voter approval for any tax or fee increase, would
eliminate the motor vehicle excise tax, and would replace that graduated tax
with a flat license-tab fee of $30 per vehicle.
The resolution lists eight reasons why the port is opposing the initiative.
- Commissioners believe it would curtail state transportation initiatives
that keep the port competitive, and it could severely limit the port's ability
to raise funds for infrastructure improvements;
- Reductions in state transportation revenues resulting from the measure would
lead to cuts in transportation projects, road maintenance and congestion relief,
which in turn would hamper port operations;
- The measure would eliminate income from the vehicle tax dedicated to raise
bonds under Referendum 49, a voter-approved measure to fund transportation
improvements;
- Completion of state Route 509, to improve freight movement between the port
and Interstate 5, "would be crippled" by the initiative;
- Passage of I-695 may render the state Department of Transportation unable
to fund about $60 million in rail improvements in a partnership with Sound
Transit and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad;
- The measure's restrictions on the port's taxing authority would impair its
ability to make investments and to obtain favorable credit ratings for port
debt, and would increase the cost of borrowing funds;
- I-695 would limit the port's ability to charge appropriate fees and tariffs
for such things as vessel moorage, crane rentals, parking, shipping of goods
through the harbor, aircraft parking and fueling, and utilities -- which in
turn would compromise the port's ability to finance investment through revenue
bonds; and
- The measure fails to account for inflation and the costs of maintaining
existing facilities and services.
The resolution will come before the commission again for a second reading
and final vote. But it is unlikely the outcome then will be different, given
the strong feelings about it expressed by commission members yesterday.
"It will affect our ability to be competitive as a port, and our ability to
move freight through our region," said Commissioner Paige Miller. "If we seek
to take in more dollars than the year before, then we must go before the voters
... It's an incredible way to attempt to run a public business."
To Commissioner Gary Grant, the measure undoes the principle of representative
government, which he said exists primarily to ensure responsible handling of
taxes.
"It will punish the people of this state if it passes," he said. "It has the
worst potential of any measure I've ever seen."
Tim Eyman, sponsor of the initiative, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Yesterday commissioners approved expenditure of $6.5 million for Phase I of
the four-phase Restroom Enhancement Project at the airport. This money would
pay for initial planning, estimates, outside service agreements, bid advertising
and contract awards, and purchases of equipment and materials for the project.
The scope of work in Phase I includes gutting and rebuilding eight restrooms
and upgrading two others. The total cost for all phases is estimated at $26
million, and is part of the overall upgrade at the airport.
Bids for the restroom work will be advertised in October, with construction
to start in January, 2000. Construction should be completed in November, 2000.
Another big item is part of a comprehensive upgrade to the airport's electrical,
mechanical, water and sewer systems, which was authorized by the commission
in 1998 as part of the capital improvement program.
This segment is a $13.5 million upgrade and expansion of the airport's electrical
systems under Phase I of the Infrastructure System Upgrade and Expansion Program,
which ultimately will cost $73 million. The commission has previously authorized
a $6 million expenditure for electrical work under this program.
Yesterday's commission action paves the way for preliminary engineering and
preparation of drawings, specifications, schedules and cost estimates; directs
the execution of outside professional service agreements, contract awards, contract
administration for design services, and execution of purchase orders.
On the horizon is another major project. It's the new parking revenue system,
to be launched in October. In a briefing for the commission, the port's Rod
Hilden and Anita Risdon outlined what's planned -- and why they are trying to
head off mass confusion before it happens.
In a word, the old way of paying for parking will be junked, and a new, automated
system will be installed. This is intended to speed things up over the long
haul by reducing bottlenecks and congestion. But first it will require a big
change of habits on the part of the parking public.
They will be asked to obtain a ticket as they drive up, keep it handy -- even
after a long trip -- use it as they pay on the fourth floor of the garage, then
finally feed the ticket into a slot at an exit gate.
To make that happen, the port has undertaken a major public-education initiative.
It includes brochures and a video of a coffee-crazed traveler who speeds through
the system like a fiend.
As for the truckers -- owner-operators who move cargo to and from the port
-- they were calling attention to delays and inefficiencies that cost them income.
Their concerns are now the subject of discussions among the port, steamship
lines, terminal operators, railroads, trucking companies, organized labor and
the independents, who hope to streamline freight movements around the harbor.
