In an appeal to the Seattle City Council's sense of civic ethics, a campaign fighting the proposed $4.2 billion deep-bore tunnel sent a stern letter imploring every elected official at City Hall to stop trying to stymie a vote of the people this August and put a referendum on the ballot. Eight members of the council and City Attorney Pete Holmes have been devising ways to sidestep a referendum.

Protect Seattle Now contends that an outpouring of tunnel opposition and the Seattle City Charter demonstrate that a vote is necessary in a missive signed by its six coalition partners. The greatest evidence that the public is on their side: Protect Seattle Now has gathered 27,721 signatures in less than 30 days on the tunnel referendum, says campaign manager Ainsley Close, which would let voters approve or reject contracts to let the state begin construction and commit $930 million from the city. They will be delivered to the Seattle City Clerk at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. That's far more than the 16,503 signatures required to qualify (Close says this is a sufficient cushion for signatures found invalid). And today Elway Research released a poll that found the majority of Seattle voters believe the tunnel should appear on the ballot.

"As our elected public servants, you have a responsibility to allow our democracy to function as mandated by the Charter," write the Sierra Club, Friends of Seattle, Real Change, Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel, Move Seattle Smarter, and the People's Waterfront Coalition. "We urge you to be true to your oath, and not to elevate your own judgment above that of the people you were elected to serve."

But the council seems opposed to this idea. A memo circulated by Council President Richard Conlin earlier this month stated that if the referendum qualifies for the ballot, "Council could file the petitions and take no action on them. Proponents or others would have to bring law suit to force it onto the ballot." (I'll write more about this memo in a moment.)

The full letter from Protect Seattle Now appears after the jump.

Mayor McGinn, Councilmember Conlin, Councilmember Clark, Councilmember
Harrell, Councilmember Godden, Councilmember O'Brien, Councilmember
Bagshaw, Councilmember Licata, Councilmember Burgess, Councilmember
Rasmussen, and City Attorney Pete Holmes,

Tomorrow the people of Seattle will file a petition with the City Clerk to hold a public vote on the deep bore tunnel project. 27,721 people signed this petition, more than 10 percent of Seattle’s voters. By submitting these signatures, the people of Seattle have earned the right to vote on this risky project. We expect that you will uphold the democratic process and perform your duty as directed in the City Charter by acting quickly to submit the referendum to a vote of the people.

The deep bore tunnel is one of the largest and most expensive infrastructure projects being undertaken anywhere in the United States, and it is likely to have significant cost overruns. Nine out of ten megaprojects go over budget by an average of 30 percent. The State of Washington has insisted that the people of Seattle alone must shoulder the enormous risk of this project and pay those cost overruns, risk that the State itself is unwilling and unable to bear. Seattle cannot afford to pay these costs, especially at a time when our State is forced to scale back essential public services. The people of Seattle have earned the chance to decide for ourselves whether we are willing to accept this risk and pay these costs.

In our City Charter, which you have each taken an oath to uphold, the people expressly reserved for ourselves the right to question the judgment of the Council through a referendum. It is a right that is
frequently exercised and, until now, universally respected. We expect you to honor the democratic principles upon which Seattle was founded: that the people are sovereign, and that our right to vote is
sacrosanct. We urge you to be true to your oath, and not to elevate your own judgment above that of the people you were elected to serve.

As our elected public servants, you have a responsibility to allow our democracy to function as mandated by the Charter. We ask that each of you pledge by 5 p.m. tomorrow that you will place this referendum on
the ballot and not silence the voice of the people of Seattle.

Sincerely,

Drew Paxton
Move Seattle Smarter

Elizabeth Campbell
Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel

Tim Harris
Real Change

Cary Moon
People’s Waterfront Coalition

Morgan Ahouse
Sierra Club
Cascade Chapter — Seattle Group

Gary Manca
Friends of Seattle