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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

City McGinn Appoints New Transportation Director

Posted by on Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 12:01 PM

Mayor Mike McGinn announced today that he would appoint Peter Hahn as the director of the Seattle Departments of Transportation, thereby replacing the beleaguered former department head, Grace Crunican, who was widely chastised by daily papers for her poor handling of the 2008 snow storm. Hahn is currently the public works director of Renton, and was previously Snohomish County’s director of public works, where he managed a staff of about 650 employees and an annual budget of $200 million. By comparison, SDOT has 750 employees and a $310 million annual budget.

But not everyone is glad to see Crunican go. Cary Moon, director of the People's Waterfront Coalition, has advocated that McGinn retain Crunican, who helped advocate the surface/transit replacement for the viaduct. Moon isn't familiar with Hahn's work, but, she says, "We need a person with an excellent ability to pull funding together from city, county, state, and federal sources and knows how to continue leading the department in the less car-focused direction that Grace had." Moon adds that Hahn will also need to be able to tackle big transportation problems like building an alternative to the Alaskan Way Viaduct, "because I'm pretty sure the tunnel will die."

Hahn will take office on January 19. Crunican, who resigned last week, will stay on for three weeks during the transition. Assuming the city council upholds Hahn's appointment, he will receive the official title of SDOT director with a $155,000 salary—which is $32,000 less than Crunican's current pay.

 

Comments (11) RSS

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1
Ha ha! Will In Seattle has been right for awhile, that tunnel's dead!

Meanwhile, have you seen the designs for the 6 lane 520 rebuild (with a reversible lane between Mountlake and I-5? Neato.
Posted by Die tunnel, Die! on January 6, 2010 at 12:19 PM
Will in Seattle 2
Told ya.

Look, there just isn't funding for both 520 and the Billionaires Tunnel, and the only way they can get it is to do a vote of the people - and nobody is willing to vote for that tax, cause nobody actually wants the tunnel, other than the greedheads.

Now, flame on, but realize I chewed asbestos as a kid when we built houses.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on January 6, 2010 at 1:08 PM
3
Of course, the most likely outcome if the tunnel doesn't come to pass is a retrofit of the existing AWV, but I (along with everyone else making 110,000 trips per day on it) can certainly live with that.

Posted by Mr. X on January 6, 2010 at 1:35 PM
Will in Seattle 4
@3 - I never said Surface plus Transit was my preferred alternative, even if it was my second choice.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on January 6, 2010 at 2:25 PM
5
I'm curious, Dom. What does McGinn's cock taste like?
Posted by Bush is still president, only in black face on January 6, 2010 at 2:46 PM
Free Lunch 6
Peter Hahn better hope it doesn't fucking snow.
Posted by Free Lunch on January 6, 2010 at 7:35 PM
7
@3 Portland tore down its waterfront freeway IN THE 1970s. Hell nor high water came of this. In fact, the area is a quite beloved park today. Replacing the viaduct with another freeway is a bad idea; replacing it with a tunnel is a worse one.
Posted by michellee on January 6, 2010 at 8:44 PM
Roma 8
Hahn will take office on January 19. Crunican, who resigned last week, will stay on for three weeks during the transition. Assuming the city council upholds Hahn's appointment, he will receive the official title of SDOT director with a $155,000 salary—which is $32,000 less than Crunican's current pay.

$155,000/year is still way too much but Cruncian made $187,000/year?
Posted by Roma on January 6, 2010 at 9:18 PM
9
@8 If the job paid, say $80-95K/year, what kind of candidates would apply? Where do you work, and what do the top executives there earn?

People need to get a grip on reality. Public employees are normal people, too. Public agencies have their strengths and weaknesses, just like any organization.

The current political culture in Seattle (as elsewhere) is what's dysfunctional.
Posted by GreenwoodSam on January 7, 2010 at 9:57 AM
Roma 10
GSam: If the job paid, say $80-95K/year, what kind of candidates would apply?

As I said, $155,000/year is still way to much for this job but it's about 82% of what Cruncian made. So can we conclude from that that Hahn is only 82% as skilled and competent as Cruncian was?
Posted by Roma on January 7, 2010 at 6:04 PM
11
Actually, it's not a stretch at all to say that Hahn has 82% of Crunican's experience and qualifications. She was/is a national search-level Director.

But c'mon, you know McGinn has to tighten the belt a little bit by lowering salaries. He's eliminating 200 positions. And he didn't do a national search. The Robert Mak days are over. It's just common sense.
Posted by GreenwoodSam on January 8, 2010 at 10:27 AM

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