Unaffordable

Moving utilities to build the Alaskan Way Tunnel will cost around $460 million, according to new figures that were quietly released as part of the city's capital-improvement budget September 25. The new number is significantly higher than the $180 million figure released as part of a city presentation in August, though it is within the $400—$500 million range Mayor Nickels predicted as part of his "full tunnel financing plan" back in June. Interestingly, that same August presentation showed that relocating utilities would be substantially cheaper with a surface option than with either a tunnel or a new elevated viaduct. ERICA C. BARNETT

Untenable

A new report from the state's Office of Financial Management estimates that Initiative 933—the right-wing-backed "takings" initiative slated for the November ballot—will cost Washington between $7.29 and $8.99 billion over the next six years if it passes. The hefty price tag is a result of the initiative's requirement that state and local governments compensate land owners if they enforce laws that hurt potential property values (such as environmental or zoning regulations) or, alternatively, waive the laws. On top of that figure, the initiative could cost state agencies an additional $29.8—$98.8 million in litigation fees as enforcement and compensation issues are inevitably taken to court. SARAH MIRK

Unwarranted

Washington State University's board of regents held an emergency telephone meeting on September 25 to address a superior court ruling made in May. The rule changes adopted by the board will allow police to enter the university's residential halls and dorms without a warrant or invitation.

On May 19, Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier dismissed two cases against students who were apprehended in their dorm rooms or hallways, calling the presence of cops in the student living spaces infringements on their "reasonable expectation of privacy." Frazier's ruling decreed that only residents, accompanied guests, or authorized administration were allowed access to student dorms and hallways. (The ruling also deemed police to be residents' guests, but only gave them access to dorms with residents' permission.) The regents' emergency ruling recategorized police, giving them unrestricted access to student living areas without dorm residents' permission. According to James Tinney, a spokesman for the university, students can expect their uninvited guests to resume patrolling their hallways "immediately." A public hearing is scheduled for October 19. LENA BAISDEN