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Monday, May 7, 2007

Re: Community Development Roundtable

posted by on May 7 at 16:53 PM

I know everyone thinks that anything published here on Slog is dripping with sarcasm, but I want to say sincerely that I erred this morning by publishing the work phone numbers of all the Community Development Roundtable members.

I have amended the post so that the numbers (and work addresses too) are gone.

RSS icon Comments

1

Did you fix the Wayback Machine version on the web too?

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 7, 2007 5:41 PM
2

Ha, got your ween peen slapped, eh? Still, when are you going to do the big expose on Keck and AZT-face Savage? You know: the REAL cigar-chomping limo-rats in your neck of the woods?

Posted by Lush Rimbaugh | May 7, 2007 7:44 PM
3

Lush,
Didn't get my ween peen (??) slapped. I pasted the list in this morning and didn't even realize the numbers and addresses were in there until a friend pointed it out on the phone this afternoon. Yikes. So, I went back and fixed it.

As for the Keck/Savage big expose: I like to say, "ya sot ek ili!"

Posted by Josh Feit | May 7, 2007 8:13 PM
4

Josh,

It's good to see at least one of the slog contributors accountable when they are wrong.

Posted by Good for you | May 7, 2007 8:25 PM
5

Lots of these CDR players have huge financial connections to Sound Transit. They LOOVE that tax revenue!!!!!

There are more CDR ties than these mentioned in the original posting:

--------------------------------------cut ---------------
Numerous property developers and commercial landlords are on that list. Their wealth shoots up when those trains pump thousands of extra workers downtown daily.
And look at how well the financiers (and general legal services providers) for ST are represented:

Mr. James Ellis
Founding Partner
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP

Hon. Slade Gorton
Of Counsel
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP
Mr. William Neukom
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP

Mr. David Tang
Partner
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP
Mr. J. Tayloe Washburn
Executive Committee Chair
Foster Pepper PLLC

Ms. Judith Runstad
Of Counsel
Foster Pepper PLLC
Mr. Peter Joers
President, Bank of America Washington
-------- end cut-----------------------------------


Here are other companies that have big, big contracts with Sound Transit.


An Engineering and Consulting Firm working on ST2-
Ms. Kathy Lombardo
Senior Vice President, Manager NW Region
CH2M HILL

ST’s Accountants-
Mr. Russell Crawford
Partner
KPMG LLP

The quasi-government body with responsibilities relating to ST’s financings-
Mr. Bob Drewel
Executive Director
Puget Sound Regional Council

Drewel was on ST’s board several years back.


I think there was a mention of someone from Parsons Brinkerhoff too (a pbworld.com url). They’re a big ST engineering contractor.

And, of course, all the media mavens and media company owners get money from Sound Transit for a variety of ST’s “communications” purposes. Plus, they get big advertising dollars from the developers and landlords who leverage the people ST delivers to their doors.

Posted by Orinthal Jones | May 7, 2007 9:10 PM
6

Additional law firms on that list of CDR members that have gotten fees in the nine figures from Sound Transit are Lane Powell and Davis Wright. I’m not sure how big the checks are that ST cuts to Perkins Coie.

Posted by venus teng | May 7, 2007 9:20 PM
7

What is this crazy obsession with Sound Transit?

These guys have their hands in EVERYTHING. Everything.

Posted by what? | May 7, 2007 9:29 PM
8

You can see the size of the contracts with that government here:

www.soundtransit.org/Documents/pdf/working/contracts/ContractsAwarded.pdf

Some of those law firms mentioned at 6 “only” are getting payments from ST in the seven-figure range.

The money KLGates and Foster Pepper rake in is a lot more though, because they are bond counsel and underwriters’ counsel (those are payments off the ST books – they come straight from the bond sale proceeds).

The contracts with PB may total in the nine figures. The payments to CH2M HILL are big too (eight figures?). Big money.

Posted by fact checker | May 7, 2007 9:40 PM
9

“What is this crazy obsession with Sound Transit?”

Duh. ST spreads the peanut butter THICK around that room at the WAC. You think maybe they should obsess about global warming or something?

Posted by Archimedes | May 8, 2007 6:52 AM
10


Oh yeah, Sound Transit signs huge contracts with CH2M Hill. This is one from just a couple of months ago:

“Motion No. M2007-31 – Authorizing the chief executive officer to execute a contract amendment with CH2M Hill to provide engineering, environmental, and public outreach services for the Phase II East Corridor High Capacity Transit planning project in the amount of $11,947,789, with a 10% contingency of $1,194,779 totaling $13,142,568, for a new total authorized contract amount not to exceed $17,499,141”

http://soundtransit.org/x3948.xml

And Phase II hasn’t even been approved by voters yet.

That is how ST uses public money to market for an upcoming ballot measure. It pays contractors (here CH2M Hill), and they do the marketing for the measure on the November ballot (“public outreach services”).

These guys are DIRTY BIRDS ---


Posted by FlowMax | May 8, 2007 9:51 AM
11

When you are building big things, you hire big contractors. When you deal with big contractors you need big law. Do you want them to plan rail in a garage somewhere?

Flow Max--the Sound Move plan provides some money for ST2 planning. As it should.

Move along folks, nothing to see here...

Posted by tiptoe tommy | May 8, 2007 10:28 AM
12

@ 10: "the Sound Move plan provides some money for ST2 planning."

Could you provide a link to that? I don't recall it saying they can spend tens of millions on Phase 2 before voters approve Phase 2. "Sound MOve" on soundtransit.org doesn't say that.
Thanks.

Posted by post-accrued | May 8, 2007 10:52 AM
13

tiptoe tommy is full of shit. Sound Move does not say ST has authority to spend tens of millions on Phase 2 planning, or land acquisition, or engineering. But ST is doing it anyway.

Show us what you've got, tiptoe tommy.

Where the fuck does Sound Move say ST is authorized to pay $17,499,141 to "CH2M Hill to provide engineering, environmental, and public outreach services for the Phase II East Corridor High Capacity Transit planning?"


Go ahead - post the link. Betcha can't!

Lying scumbag.

Posted by Carl Fostnutz | May 8, 2007 11:08 AM
14

This sleazy crap from Sound Transit is par for the course. And the Times and the PI NEVER write about it. They give ST a pass.

Well, think about it - those lunches at the WAC would get awkward in a hurry if you'd just published something unflattering about your table-mate's sugar daddy.

Posted by Carl Fostnutz | May 8, 2007 11:17 AM
15

Carl - your histrionics are unconvincing. TT Tommy is right, there's nothing here - everybody can move on.

Posted by evergreen_rails | May 8, 2007 11:41 AM
16

I don’t see anything in Sound Move authorizing ST to spend money on Phase 2 planning either. I would appreciate a link to that (if one exists, which I doubt).

The amounts ST budgeted to spend on Phase 2 planning 2005-2007 are as follows:

2005 $7.1 million

2006 $16.3 million

2007 $ $9.7 million

That’s $33.1 million of public money spent on Phase 2 planning. Those figures come from the "Transit Vision" sub-budgets.

In addition, ST spent over one million dollars this year acquiring properties in the Roosevelt/75th area – those would be needed only for Phase 2 as well. That money came from a different sub-budget.

So what is ST’s reasoning behind spending this large amount of money now on Phase 2, which it may never get the authority to undertake? I don’t see where Sound Move allows that.

Posted by Rohrshach | May 8, 2007 1:18 PM
17

Carl--I don't have time right now to find your stupid ass link. But I will eventually. Sadly, I must work days.

But I find it impossible to believe that ST would be able to spend said money without lawsuits from misguided ST haters like you.

Hating ST is so 1999...what the fuck is your better idea? We need to build light rail now. You have to spend some money to plan. You only get solid cost estimates by planning. You save money by buying key real estate in advance of speculative development.

Move along...still nothing here...

Posted by tiptoe tommy | May 8, 2007 1:54 PM
18

Carl:

If you are so sure ST is wasting public money you have an obligation - bring a lawsuit in a court of law and win. But you won't do that, will you? That is because you would lose badly.

Posted by Downtown | May 8, 2007 2:08 PM
19

http://slog.thestranger.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=19908

Couple months ago, Orenthal Jones was shooting his mouth off about how much cheaper it was for MPLS to build its Hiawatha line, and how that simple fact made Sound Transit look bad.

Ever seen a hill in Minnesota? That train runs along the side of a highway most of the way, and crosses multiple streets, backing up traffic from the get-go.

Amazing how the cranks always use deception to formulate their silly conspiracy theories, isn't it?

Looks to me like Orenthal Jones' "perfect" Hiawatha line ended up costing nearly twice as much as it was supposed to. OOPS, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiawatha_Line

Funding and delays

The line's cost is expected to total $715 million, with $424 million coming from the federal government. This is considerably higher than initial budgets predicted—the figure was about $400 million in 1997. Opponents to the rail line state that it has gone far over-budget, but supporters of the line state that extensions of the route and other alterations, plus the impact of inflation, are the real reasons for the increased cost. Initial designs cut out the last stop in downtown, and the southern end of the line didn't quite connect to the Mall of America. The Warehouse District stop was added early, but another cost increase came from approximately $40 million to enhance the line (while construction was in progress) to bring the line directly into the Mall of America's transit hub. It is coming a year or two later than what was initially hoped for (a lot of literature pointed to 2003 as the opening year), but the mall connection was a significant contribution to the extra time requirements.


Posted by BigD | May 8, 2007 6:02 PM
20

"When you are building big things, you hire big contractors. When you deal with big contractors you need big law. Do you want them to plan rail in a garage somewhere? "

Tiptoe: remember when the Capitol Hill perma-whiner activist cranks actually tested that approach out?

The result: monorail.

Why do you think these guys are so bitter?

Posted by BigD | May 8, 2007 6:08 PM
21

@16 scribbled mindlessly:

"So what is ST’s reasoning behind spending this large amount of money now on Phase 2, which it may never get the authority to undertake? I don’t see where Sound Move allows that."


So Rohrshach, you can't find that in Sound Move? My copy has it, right there in black and white. If you took you head out that moist, dank place where it is stuck you might be able to read better!

Posted by Altoid Popper | May 8, 2007 6:37 PM
22

My copy says Sound Transit can do, like, whatever.

Posted by Neanderthal | May 8, 2007 9:48 PM
23

-------
Flow Max--the Sound Move plan provides some money for ST2 planning. As it should.

Move along folks, nothing to see here...

Posted by tiptoe tommy | May 8, 2007 10:28 AM
----------------

Sure, nothing to see here.

But before you move along, go ahead and post a link to where in Sound Move it says ST can spend tens of millions on Phase 2 even though Phase 2 hasn't been approved.

Or are you just making that up?

What is this, open season on taxpayers?

Posted by Yrba | May 9, 2007 7:22 AM
24

OK, not Sound Move, but rather the enabling legislation that granted Sound Transit the ability to operate, gives ST the ability to engage in planning efforts and to submit ballot measures to the voters. Planning is required of ST and they are empowered to hire staff to accomplish it. Look in RCWs: 81.112.060, 81.112.030, and 81.104.100 for the authority.

Now--why don't you stop making things up?

Posted by tiptoe tommy | May 9, 2007 10:41 AM
25

Carl:

If you REALLY think ST is wasting public money there is one recourse available to you: bring a lawsuit, and win. You are unwilling to do that, aren't you? We know why - you know you would lose. Let's put it this way, when lawsuits are tried against Sound Transit, they lose BADLY. Catch my drift????????

Posted by Final Word | May 9, 2007 12:14 PM
26

tiptoe tommy:


Changing your tune, eh? Now you are trying to hide behind RCW 81.112.060, RCW 81.112.030, and RCW 81.104.100. Well, let’s take a look at those ---

The planning process described in RCW 81.104.100 applies only to the initial plan. None of those provisions give authority to an RTA to pay for work leading to a second ballot measure.

The kinds of powers RCW 81.112.060 gives an RTA include the power to hire staff and engineers. So that might be something.

The process described in RCW 81.112.030 applies for the most part just to the original formation of the RTA. Subsections one through eight, and twelve, only apply to forming the RTA originally.

You might have something though with part of section 9, and sections 10 and 11 do mention putting a second phase proposition on the ballot. But those only became effective on June 7, 2006.

ST already had spent tens of millions on Phase 2 planning and northward light rail engineering and preliminary routing work by that time, including all the money on the University Link segment that is contingent on ST2 passing. Jumping the gun, aren't we?

So how much do you think ST has spent so far that will be wasted if ST2 is not approved? Hell, its probably enough to pay for the SeaTac light rail station completely . . ..

Posted by a go-go | May 9, 2007 3:44 PM
27

#26

Planning for the future is not a waste.

University Link is not dependent on ST2 money at all.

As for the rest of your tedious arguments, either sue ST or shut up.

Posted by tiptoe tommy | May 9, 2007 5:09 PM
28

"University Link is not dependent on ST2 money at all."

You'll change your story on this too. You always get it wrong at first.

Want the correct law on this point now, or do you want to wait?

Posted by a go-go | May 9, 2007 7:46 PM
29

tiptoe tommy wrote at 27: "University Link is not dependent on ST2 money at all."


You are mistaken, tiptoe. ST would need the extra taxes - from ST2 - to pay for University Link.

Mike Lindblom wrote this in the Times yesterday: “Transit officials say the overall 16-mile, $2.7 billion route from Westlake Center to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport should open by late 2009, as scheduled.”

Why should we believe you, not the transit officials? What makes you think Sound Transit can stay within budget yet still pay for an “overall” route that includes University Link?

Any facts you could link to in support of your assertion would be appreciated.

Posted by cannondale between my legs | May 10, 2007 9:10 AM
30

I grow weary of your silly games and will post no more on this string.

University Link is being paid for by money still available in the North subarea of Sound Transit and another anticipated federal grant.

Your quote proves nothing. That is in reference to Central Link. University Link is not an ST2 project. North Link past Husky Stadium is.

BTW--I still haven't heard your better idea...

Posted by tiptoe tommy | May 10, 2007 11:18 AM
31

You were wrong when you said Sound Move allowed spending on Phase 2. Now you say Mike Lindblom can't quote transit officials correctly. And you aren't able to muster a scintilla of evidence supporting your outlandish, fantastic assertion that ST has the available dough to pay for University Link if ST2 goes down. You are full of crap.

Look, everybody knows the passage of ST2 is a necessary precondition to paying for University Link.

That's why ST2 says it would "continue" the existing taxes. ST needs the current taxes continuing to pay for University Link. If ST2 is not approved in November, what ST has spent on ST2 preparations will have been wasted money that will cost people here needless taxes. Assholes.

Since you can't show ANYTHING from Sound Transit even SUGGESTING otherwise, we know you are full of it.

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