UPDATE, a round-up of where people stand on the deep bore tunnel, referendum, and Initiative-101

City Attorney Pete Holmes is suing the Protect Seattle Now Coalition for collecting what he believes is enough signatures to put the deep bore tunnel project to a vote. He filed the suit the morning of March 29, just one hour after the organization filed 29,000 signatures with the City Clerk's office. The election board requires 16,500 validated signatures for the referendum to get on the ballot.

Named first in the suit is Drew Paxton, a "Coalition Chair" and "Principal Signature Gatherer," according to the suit. Paxton spoke to the West Seattle Herald that afternoon to give his reaction.

"It's a very new development," he said. "I'm a little shocked by it. I've never been sued before, and never been sued by the City.

"I'm not in any position of power," he added. "I don't even have a job for Christ's sake. They're not taking anybody down by suing me.

"Regardless of which position they take (on the tunnel) I think it's a perilous for any elected official to argue a position that denies the public a right to vote. The timing is ominous. Here's a guy who campaigned on being the 'people's' city's attorney, and now he's suing the people for wanting the right to vote."

Elizabeth Campbell, a board member of Protect Seattle Now, is also in charge of signature-gathering for Initiative-101 for Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel, orf SCAT. She recently turned in over 28,000 signatures, currently being validated. Because it is an initiative and not a referendum, law dictates she needs about 20,500 validated signatures. She told the West Seattle Herald she assumed SCAT's signatures were in play with Holmes' lawsuit, but was not certain.

"If the referendum goes down in flames, what does that portend for me?" Campbell asked in an interview with the West Seattle Herald, referring to Initiative-101. "This lawsuit will cost the city money. The city is walking a legal tightrope. They act like they're not building the tunnel, but they are building it. They claim they never made (an official) decision, but if the decision to build it is an 'administrative act' as Pete Holmes claims, then they did make the decision."

Mayor McGinn reacted to the suit with this, "State law says Seattle will pay for all cost overruns on the deep-bored tunnel. Before putting the public on the hook for cost overruns, we should first ask their permission. That’s why I support a public vote.”

City Councilmember Mike O'Brien also weighed in, "While elected officials gather today to insist on their right to make decisions for the public, I am standing with the 29,000 residents who signed a petition asking for a chance to speak for themselves with a vote on this project."

Just three days following the signature submissions from the Protect Seattle Now Coalition and the law suit, Governor. Gregoire, King County Executive. and West Seattle resident Dow Constantine, and other officials released a statement that they formed their own "official coalition" to support moving forward with the tunnel project. Gregoire declared the tunnel "is a done deal" at an Oct. 29 press conference attended by the West Seattle Herald.

"The talk about changing course and revisiting the same issues we’ve been debating for years is nothing new,” Gregoire said. “But to change course now – after more than 10 years of public debate – will set the city of Seattle back and force taxpayers to shoulder a huge burden."

Anti-tunnel advocates reacting to this statement were quick to point out that the city's taxpayers would be shouldering a burden by building the tunnel, even before factoring in potential cost overruns, as the mayor warns.

“I need to be able to assure that our Metro buses and new RapidRide bus rapid transit – already serving communities south of us, and moving quickly into Ballard and West Seattle – will not be stuck in gridlock through downtown,” Constantine said. “The tunnel is an approved solution that has state funding, and building it is the best way to deliver transit dollars today and in the future.”

Officially, however, the deep bore tunnel is not "an approved solution" until the final Environmental Impact Statement passes federal criteria, to be determined in late summer.

Unofficially, there are over 50,000 signatures from Seattle citizens who disapprove the tunnel solution, and may be hushed by the City of Seattle and the Governor.