Rumors are rampant at city hall about Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis's plans to leave the Nickels administration early next year. Good riddance, say some folks on the city council who believe Ceis has gotten too powerful and arrogant and is ruining Nickels's relationship with council members.
One relationship that Ceis has actually strengthened, though, is the one between his boss (Mayor Nickels) and downtown developer Gregory Broderick Smith. Ceis has been the lead advocate for Nickels's downtown heights and density proposalâa proposal that, by loosening height, setback, and parking requirements, will benefit developers like Smith. Ceis also recently cut a deal that would benefit Smith by building the new waterfront trolley barn on property Smith controls with Diamond Parking in Pioneer Square. Guess where the rumors have Ceis working next year? Gregory Broderick Smith Real Estate.
"I haven't had a serious conversation with anybody about anything," Ceis told me, scoffing at the rumors, but not exactly denying them either.
If Ceis sounds a bit defensive, it's because a move to Smith's real estate firm could cast the Nickels agenda in a less than noble light.
"I gave the mayor a commitment for his first term," Ceis says. "We've both said we'd sit down and figure out what happens next after the election."
All I can say is, if Ceis's perfunctory conversation with Nickels gives the deputy mayor the go-ahead to eventually work for Smith, the cozy revolving-door scenario would raise general questions about the motivations behind Nickels's downtown heights and density agenda.
Ceis's most recent brainchild, thoughâa $9 million waterfront-trolley proposal unveiled June 20âcould raise direct questions about Ceis's ethics. In a pushy display that caught many off guard, Ceis orchestrated the deal between the county, the city, and Smith that derailed the Port of Seattle's plan to build the new trolley barn near Terminal 86, the grain terminal. The new Ceis/Smith plan puts the barn on Pioneer Square property that Smith and Diamond Parking control. The new proposal includes a waiver to allow taller buildings in the space so that Smith could build condos above the barn, a cafe, and parking below, according to officials at the county. The lot, located at the intersection of South Main Street and Occidental Avenue South, is currently valued at $2.4 million. According to the deal, Smith would sell the finished barn to the county for $9 million and keep the rest of the finished project.
Ceis acknowledges (sort of) that he greased the wheels on the deal in late May, when he and Smith were on a group trip to Berlin studying sustainable development. "When [Smith] and I were in Berlin, all I did is put [him] and the county together." Smith did not respond to a request for an interview.
One elected official, who'd also heard the rumors, joked to me, "Smith would be better off if Ceis stayed inside governmentâgetting stuff done for him." After a year of doing just that, however, Ceis may be ready to call in a few favors. "Tripling his salary," as one gossipy city staffer joked, would probably do the trick. â
