Mediaboss Marketing

October 22, 2014 Vol: 21 No: 43

By John V. Fox / Guest Writer

By golly, there already is socialism in Seattle. And I dont mean Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawants kind of socialism. Instead, its socialism for the rich: Meaning we foot the bill while the benefits go to an exclusive few in this case billionaires Paul Allen and Jeff Bezos. Its what city planners and most of our city council call a public-private partnership.

The 2015-2020 Capital Improvement Plan for Seattle City Light (SCL) contains more than $464 million in added energy infrastructure for South Lake Union (SLU) and the Denny Triangle all in order to accommodate development by

Allens Vulcan and Bezos Amazon. Most of the cost of adding this infrastructure is being passed on to the rest of us, primarily in the form of higher electric bills. SCLs budget narrative doesnt provide specific information on rate impacts but in May 2012, former Mayor Mike McGinn told reporters a key reason rates needed to jump

28 percent over the next six years was due to the cost of adding infrastructure in SLU Biotech development is particularly energy consumptive and accounts for a lot of the additional SLU capacity requirements.

Publicly SCL may tell you that since its adding capacity to an entire neighborhood with broader benefits for all that the costs of adding capacity due to growth should be spread to all ratepayers. As early as 2002, however, SCL gave serious consideration to several options, including upfront capacity charges and installation charges that would have required large property owners and developers to foot most of the bill for the capital improvements demanded by its projects. In 2013, SCLs Rate Advisory Committee briefly considered these options as well. Unfortunately, successive city hall politicians since Mayor Greg Nickels have shelved any options to ensure developers pay their fair share.

Vulcan owns about 40 to 45 percent of the developable land in South Lake Union. Meanwhile, Amazon has gone on a spending spree and bought acres of real estate in the Denny Triangle neighborhood. In recent years, the city council has upzoned these areas twice, both times to Vulcan and Amazons benefit. The companies have reaped tens of millions of dollars from the upzones.

And thats not all. Dont forget SLUs big transportation projects: $270 million for the Mercer Corridor Project and $51 million for the SLU line of the Seattle Streetcar (though actual costs rose later to $56 million).

Now SCLs ratepayers are shelling out $464 million more to provide these companies with additional public goodies. SCLs capital improvement projects to provide more reliable electrical service for the South Lake Union and Denny Triangle areas include $197 million in improvements and additions to the Broad Street Substation and $260 million in development, improvement and additions to the Denny Substation.

Link:
Through partnership, Seattle hands Amazon and Vulcan $1 billion to transform look of city