City Council Votes to Put Tunnel Referendum on August Ballot

In accordance with Friday's decision by King County Superior Judge Laura Middaugh, section six of City Council Ordinance 123542 will be put out to the voters in Referendum 1 in the August 16 election, the City Council voted yesterday. Essentially, voters rejecting section six would mean that the City Council could not make the decision to give approval to the deep-bore tunnel project by itself, without voter approval. A rejection of the referendum would not block the tunnel--and neither would a city rejection of the tunnel in the future--but it would ensure that voters will be involved in what the city chooses as its preferred alternative.

City Council President Richard Conlin views Middaugh's decision as having "validated" the Council's decision, as it only puts to vote two sentences of the original City Council decision; Middaugh views those two sentences as "the heart" of the measure.

In addition to the referendum, filed by anti-tunnel group Protect Seattle Now, an initiative filed by Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel is still pending a court decision. The surface/transit option that we'd heard murmurs about is apparently totally dead; the Council says that they "will not put any advisory ballot issues, regarding viaduct replacement options, on the August 16 ballot."