To: SDOT, SDOT and Jenny Durkan, Mayor of Seattle
Save the Magnolia Bridge
Magnolia is a huge part of the thriving metropolis that is Seattle. We provide close "suburban" like access to the city for our homeowners and apartment dwellers alike. Removing the bridge will create insurmountable barriers to enter the city and quickly leave it as a less than desirable place to live.
Why is this important?
Recently SDOT has suggested replacing the Garfield Street Bridge with something much inferior to what is there today. This gateway is key in and out of our part of the city as many learned during the 2001 rebuild from the Nisqually Earthquake.
In November 2015, Seattle voters approved a 9-year, $930 million transportation Levy to Move Seattle, providing funding to improve safety for all travelers, maintain our streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city. The levy provides roughly 30% of the City's transportation budget and replaces the 9-year, $365 Bridging the Gap levy approved by voters in 2006. The residents of Magnolia believed that we were part of this levy and supported it by a large margin. Since this levy we’ve learned that bike lanes in the city are costing more than $13MM per mile. Due to this overspend, we’ve heard the following "We do not have enough funding right now to do everything that was promised, we just don't," said the city's interim Department of Transportation (SDOT) chief, Goran Sparrman, at an oversight meeting last week. Sparrman added that "some of those dollar amounts estimated for what projects would cost were clearly insufficient, even at the time." This isn’t an acceptable answer
The residents of Magnolia ask you to work with us to determine the best solution for the bridge. This city is home to more than 25 Fortune 500 companies, and a wide array of smart people. Engage us to help determine how we can do more for less, and ensure that Seattle is a place our grandchildren are proud to call home.
In November 2015, Seattle voters approved a 9-year, $930 million transportation Levy to Move Seattle, providing funding to improve safety for all travelers, maintain our streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city. The levy provides roughly 30% of the City's transportation budget and replaces the 9-year, $365 Bridging the Gap levy approved by voters in 2006. The residents of Magnolia believed that we were part of this levy and supported it by a large margin. Since this levy we’ve learned that bike lanes in the city are costing more than $13MM per mile. Due to this overspend, we’ve heard the following "We do not have enough funding right now to do everything that was promised, we just don't," said the city's interim Department of Transportation (SDOT) chief, Goran Sparrman, at an oversight meeting last week. Sparrman added that "some of those dollar amounts estimated for what projects would cost were clearly insufficient, even at the time." This isn’t an acceptable answer
The residents of Magnolia ask you to work with us to determine the best solution for the bridge. This city is home to more than 25 Fortune 500 companies, and a wide array of smart people. Engage us to help determine how we can do more for less, and ensure that Seattle is a place our grandchildren are proud to call home.