Standing in the vast Consolidated Works performance space, Nickels stumped for his big plans in South Lake Union, which include fixing the "Mercer Mess," beautifying South Lake Union Park, and building a streetcar line through the area--the centerpiece of Nickels' agenda for creating up to 20,000 jobs in South Lake Union, including several thousand biotech jobs. "Job creation is the name of the game," Nickels told party attendees.
To hear Nickels and streetcar enthusiasts tell it, the train has already left the station in the name of jobs. But so far, nothing has been approved by the city council. And no one has seen projected ridership numbers, or a complete financing plan, for the $45 million project--especially for annual operating costs, which are around $2 million a year for a comparable streetcar in Portland. Nonetheless, fact sheets displayed alongside a detailed, colorful model of the train all but promised that construction would begin in 2005, and streetcar boosters gushed about how their trolley is taking off.
Diane Gary, an executive from Rosetta Inpharmatics, one of several firms sponsoring the biotech bash, explained the financing plan. Her "Build the Streetcar" team has been going door-to-door in South Lake Union to get property owners' approval for a Local Improvement District (LID), a self-imposed tax that would fund some $25 million of the project. (The city, state, and federal governments would kick in $20 million more.) Simultaneously, streetcar supporters are pushing the city council to simply approve a LID (to which the city would have to contribute, for city-owned property in the neighborhood), which could only be dismantled through a veto by 60 percent of South Lake Union property owners. Given that Vulcan and its business associates own so much of the neighborhood's property, streetcar critics say a veto seems unlikely. Gary predicts a LID will be approved, one way or another, before the end of the year. However, City Council Member Richard Conlin's office--which is overseeing the streetcar--says any council LID legislation is "far down the line."
That isn't stopping Team Nickels. In his budget address on Monday, Nickels asked the council to accept $6 million in starter streetcar funding.
