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City of Seattle

Mayor Jenny A. Durkan

March 30, 2018

Seattle City Council

Seattle City Hall

600 Fourth Avenue, 2nd Floor
Seattle, WA 98104

Dear Councilmembers,

I want to take this opportunity to update you on our on?going review of the proposed Center City
Streetcar. The City Budget Of?ce continues moving forward with the independent review of the
project?s estimated operating and capital costs, and we anticipate that we will have an outside
technical expert under contract next week. The results of this work will be available no later than
June 19, 2018. Once we have the expert retained, we will be able to assess how much we can
expedite this review. The Mayor's direction is to complete it as quickly as possible.

At the same time, Mayor Durkan instructed an initial assessment of all costs related to the project
during the scoping of this independent review. This initial effort has revealed further troubling
information about the project?s ?nancial status. In addition to the concerns raised about the
accuracy of estimated operating costs, new information from SDOT has revealed that the project
is facing a potential capital shortfall of more than $23 million. This is driven by a variety of
factors, including increased design expenditures, escalating construction costs, and errors in
estimating the full cost of the streetcar vehicles, which would bring the estimated costs to more
than $200 million.

As a result of this signi?cant development, the Mayor has directed an immediate ?stop work?
order for the project overall. With millions of dollars expected to be spent in the upcoming
weeks, this means that we will not move forward with any new contracts and will exercise our
options to stop work on contracts that have already been executed. The only exception is ongoing
work to replace a seismically vulnerable water main in the Pioneer Square neighborhood located
within the planned streetcar right of way.

Working with the City Attorney?s Of?ce, we are also initiating an independent investigation of
the project?s management to date. We need to understand how the project evolved to the point
including timelines and availability of information about escalating operational and capital costs,
information flow and, the validity of information provided to federal of?cials. This investigation
should be complete within the next 60-90 days.

 

Office of the Mayor 600 Fourth Avenue, PO. Box 94749, Seattle, WA 98124 206?684?4000 I seattlegov/mayor

No steps will be taken to move the project forward until: both outside technical review and the
project management investigation are complete; all issues regarding the accuracy of operating
and capital costsare resolved; we understand what additional ?nancial resources would be
needed be complete and operate the project using accurate projects; and we collectively
determine that the project still makes sense ?nancially and from a mobility perspective. The
Mayor looks forward to working with you on these questions when the review provides all of us
with accurate information.

On Monday, SDOT Director Goran Sparrman and Budget Director Ben Noble will be available
at the Full Council brie?ngs meeting to provide additional information.

Sincerely,



Seni Deputy Mayor Mike Fong