There was a small news item out of West Seattle this week that should serve as a big warning about how the city of Seattle has been doing business.
The West Seattle Blog, spurred by a curious reader, noted that the community’s Fire Station 32, which was to be replaced in 2007 after passage of a levy, still sits there, empty, while the firefighters work out of a tent-like temporary station a few blocks away.
That’s right — the project already is eight years behind schedule.
That’s bad enough, but it turns out the project’s cost also has ballooned — to 150 percent over what city officials advertised in 2003 when selling voters on a tax levy to rebuild Seattle’s firehouses. The levy’s motto: “Making Seattle the most prepared city in America.”
Twelve years into a nine-year mission, the fire-station program has grown from its original $197 million budget to $306 million — a cost overrun of 55 percent.
Even more head-shaking: Of 33 fire house rebuilding projects around the city, only one — Fire Station 39 in Lake City — has come in on budget. The other 32 all blew past the original estimates, often by more than 100 percent.