Who’s Our Daddy?

With Seattle leaders at each other’s throats over plans for the downtown tunnel project, it might seem a perfect time for the city’s 11-term representative in Congress, Jim McDermott, to step in and play daddy, telling all the squabbling factions to hush up and listen to him if they want to know the best way forward.

But in an interview at The Stranger offices on July 7, McDermott repeatedly refused to get drawn very far into the tunnel debate. While he said it “makes sense” for Mayor Mike McGinn to try to prevent Seattle property owners from being on the hook for cost overruns, he repeatedly refused to outline what, exactly, he thinks is the best alternative for replacing the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct.

“I didn’t run to fix the viaduct—or not fix the viaduct,” McDermott said. “If you want someone to do that, you need somebody else.”

One of his primary challengers, community activist Donovan Rivers, said this was far too aloof a tone to take at a time when the city needs a firm hand. “If the incumbent knows that there’s going to be a problem,” Rivers said, “stop sitting like God and waiting for it to come to you, and do like God and get out and be involved to make sure that it turns out in the right way.”

Not the way he works, says McDermott. “I’m not going to spend all my time figuring out whether we want to have a tunnel or not,” he said. “You can’t be at every level on every issue.”

Rivers isn’t the only one who’s disappointed with that stance. Activist Cary Moon, director of the People’s Waterfront Coalition, also says leadership from McDermott is urgently needed.

“I think it would be really helpful if he would help force some rational, sensible good governance on us,” Moon said. “There’s just so much misinformation and mistrust that we need to get over quick if we’re going to get this done right.”

McDermott counters that he doesn’t want to dictate from D.C. and promises that if one of the major fears about the tunnel project—giant cost overruns—comes to pass, the feds will help. “I know they’re gonna come to us for the money when they’re short,” McDermott said. “They’re going to come to either us or the state legislature for the money, and at that point we’ll get them the money.”

Moon found that statement disappointing, too, because it seemed to green-light bad planning.