Mayor Murray wants UW to pay for Seattle’s problems

Never let it be said that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray would miss a chance to belly up to the public trough to grab some tax money. Especially when it will allow him to overlook Seattle’s own city government incompetence.

The latest example of Murray’s typical liberal, government-knows-best behavior is his attempt, reported in the Seattle Times, to transfer millions of dollars from the University of Washington – a public institution in case the Mayor had forgotten – to the city. This money grab is so Murray can use the UW’s money – provided by the state – to fund “affordable housing” that evidently the city doesn’t prioritize enough to  actually pay for it.

The mayor is upset because the University is trying to maximize the value of the downtown property that used to be the home of the University. The UW is planning a major redevelopment of the Rainier Square location, and officials are utilizing the city’s building code to get the most bang for the buck – sort of like meeting their fiduciary duty in managing a public institution.

But to the mayor, such common sense is a non-starter, because that means he can’t grab millions more in public money to spend on his own priorities. The Times reports, “Murray expressed ‘deep concern and opposition’ regarding the university’s plan ‘to minimize its contribution toward affordable housing and other public benefits’ by ‘taking advantage of the site’s unusual platting’ or layout.

As much as $15 million may be at stake. At issue is a complex deal the city and UW reached in 2010, before Murray and Cauce held their current offices.”

So, even though “the project would pay $7.5 million for affordable housing and child care, and another $4.2 million to a county fund to preserve rural land,” Murray wants to go back on a deal struck when he was just a lowly state legislator. After all, somebody else’s money is at stake, and he wants some more.