Recently I enjoyed a long, slow motorcycle ride on a sunny Sunday afternoon through our 36th Legislative District in Seattle’s northwest neighborhoods. It was ironically relaxing to traverse in my own thoughts through our district’s exploding maze of growth from Amazon skyscrapers in Belltown to the beauty of Discovery Park in Magnolia to the quiet Blue Ridge neighborhood to the building boom in Greenwood.

On that ride, I was reminded once again of one major infrastructure project where progress is paralyzed, where reason has been crushed by politics, where taxpayers continue to lose a fortune and lawyers seem the only victors: The Burke-Gilman missing link.

Since major steps in 1996 and 2003, bicycle advocates, maritime industry leaders and others have been unable to reach consensus about a win-win route to complete the wildly-popular Burke-Gilman trail for bicyclists, joggers and pedestrians. And the City of Seattle has elected to hide behind classically cliche ‘Seattle process’ to avoid taking a stand on the weather to move forward. Beyond the negative stereotype, however, is a very real invoice for taxpayers to the tune of millions. And we seem no closer to resolution than years and millions of dollars ago.

The question on the table is whether the route should cut directly through a key section of the working waterfront maritime sector of Ballard or meander a few blocks away from the water along less industrial streets. Is it too dangerous? Is it too inconvenient? Both legitimate questions that have lingered for years and cost millions with no end in sight.

A Seattle Times editorial in June of 2017 outlined the issue thoroughly, and called for a negotiated settlement between the parties and the city.  I cannot stress how much I agree with this approach and would amplify the frustration that years and millions continue to be wasted with virtually no anticipated success for anyone.  This is not a euphemism for choosing one side over the other, it is a reality check that our lack of willingness to elevate this issue into more formal political negotiations and reach an agreement is costing the city the public’s confidence and credibility as well as money.

I find the issue almost a symbolic representation of the frustration that surfaces when process and political inaction overcomes reason. The first city plan was released in 1996, and materially revised in 2003.  Lawsuits have ensured on and off ever since.  We’ve spent a fortune and seem no closer to resolution despite announcements to the contrary. To this day our city attorney’s office is spending hundreds of thousands a year in outside counsel fees for a case that seems destined to require a negotiated settlement regardless. The city’s EIS alone cost $2.5 million and five years. The Move Seattle levy is funding part of the project with other sources contributing as well.

The broader disagreement and lack of resolution over the route to complete the ‘missing link’ in Ballard has gone on longer than the war in Afghanistan, the longest war in United States history.

I deeply respect the complexity of the design issues and challenges, and I can appreciate the legitimate arguments on both sides that due deserve public understanding.  Bicyclists want a contiguous recreational experience. Maritime businesses and officials want Seattle to walk the talk about industrial job infrastructure.  It is, however, the lack of a constructive political forcing function that is frustrating. We need to choose to move forward and make it a priority.

Public officials should elevate the dialogue in the community to move forward with a negotiated settlement. The lawyers, planners, activists and businesses will not move without grown up oversight and responsible efforts to reach a settlement. I don’t know whether it is too much pride or money that is at stake, but both seem to be out of control.

It is time for our current and next mayor to make this dispute a public policy priority by bringing the parties together outside of the courtroom. The only way through it is through it together.

Your partner in service,

Reuven.