CORRECTION: According to Wayne Barnett, Executive Director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan, if elected, must also recuse herself from “any matter that her siblings have a financial interest in.” Barnett explains, “Anything where [Durkan’s] siblings make money or lose money.” Outside City Hall sincerely regrets this error.

According to the Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson website, Durkan’s sister, attorney T. Ryan Durkan, has represented the Washington State Convention Center, the University of Washington, Amazon, Pacific Place, Daniels Development and many other clients whose interests are affected by Seattle City Hall. It is not clear what clients T. Ryan Durkan currently represents.

When Outside City Hall reached T. Ryan Durkan by phone, she refused to answer any questions and requested that questions be put in writing.

Since Jenny Durkan has seven siblings, Outside City Hall will post a new story regarding potential areas where Durkan might need to recuse herself.

Under the Seattle Ethics Code, mayoral candidate Moon could not provide oversight on the over two-million square-foot, eight-acre expansion in the middle of downtown

By George Howland Jr

If elected, Seattle mayoral candidate Cary Moon will recuse herself and her staff from all matters related to the $1.6 billion expansion of the Washington State Convention Center. The four-block expansion is, by one account, the “single largest real-estate development in Seattle history.” Moon admits that she has not been actively declaring her conflict on the campaign trail—even when the Convention Center comes up. She is not, however, defensive about the issue. “I welcome the scrutiny,” says Moon. “People deserve to know.” The question of whether Moon’s recusal would, however, weaken the city’s ability to fairly evaluate the project remains unanswered.

Moon’s decision that she would recuse herself and her staff was simple: The candidate’s husband, LMN’s Mark Reddington, is the lead architect on the project.

Before declaring her candidacy for mayor, Moon met with Wayne Barnett, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC), to clarify the matter. Under the Seattle Ethics’ Code, Moon “can’t participate in a matter in which her spouse has a financial interest,” explains Barnett. Since Barnett joined SEEC in 2004, no mayor has had to recuse himself from any city-related matter.

Moon’s electoral opponent, former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jenny Durkan, had no comment on the recusal; after publication of this article, the Moon campaign noted that Durkan’s sister, T. Ryan Durkan, serves as land-use counsel for the project. [PLEASE NOTE CORRECTION ABOVE.] However, nothing in Seattle’s ethics code addresses siblings, and Durkan would not have to recuse herself from involvement in the project due to her sister’s role.

While Moon’s recusal decision was simple, understanding its impact is quite complex.

An over two-million square-foot, eight-acre project in the middle of downtown

In 1982, the state Legislature established the Convention Center as a public, non-profit corporation. The legislature also has given the Convention Center a revenue stream in the form of a hotel-and-motel room tax in King County. The expansion will require additional financing, Pine Street Group’s Matt Griffin, the expansion’s developer, told KUOW.

The project is now entering a key phase. The 8-acre expansion will be in downtown’s Denny Triangle, near the Paramount Theatre and the Camlin hotel. It will be bordered by Pine and Howell Streets on one side and Ninth and Boren Avenues on the other. The expansion will be over two million square feet. The above ground portion includes “two stacked, meeting-room levels and an industry leading 60,000 square-foot ballroom,” according to the LMN website. The below-ground section will have a “150,000 square-foot exhibition hall,” says developer Griffin. On top of the below-ground section, Griffin will build a 29-story, 409-unit residential tower and a 15-story, 500,000 square-foot office building. These two buildings will be sold to private owners to help finance the project.

To complete this ambitious project, the Convention Center has applied to the city of Seattle to vacate three alleys and two streets. The street-vacation process gives city hall leverage over the project.

By statute, projects that include street vacations must be evaluated by the Seattle Design Commission (SDC), an independent commission appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council. “It’s like the city’s design-consultant firm,” says Michael Jenkins, SDC’s executive director.

In addition, such projects must include public benefits. Currently the developer and the Community Package Coalition (Coalition), a nine-member group of non-profit, pedestrian, bicycle, parks and low-income housing advocates, are in the final stages of negotiation over how much mitigation the Convention Center will provide. The Coalition is asking the Convention Center to pay between $66.2 million and $86.5 million for open space, workforce housing and pedestrian and bicycle improvements.

The SDC evaluates both the public-benefits package and the buildings’ design and recommends or does not recommend the project.

SDC’s recommendation is sent to the city council that votes on whether or not to vacate the streets. Most of those involved in the project expect that the city council will make its decision in the first quarter of 2018.

What is the mayor’s role?

The role of the mayor in this project is viewed differently by the different players.

First, the mayor oversees all the city departments, except for the city council’s Legislative Department and the city attorney’s Law Department. The mayor appoints the department heads, some of whom are subject to city-council confirmation. A new mayor will, typically, hire many new department heads. While the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) coordinates the street-vacation process, there are multiple city departments that weigh in on street vacations including Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities.

Moon could indirectly influence the Convention Center expansion through her appointment of new department heads.

Developer Griffin says the mayor’s involvement has been “sort of medium.” Griffin explains, “We work with all of those [executive] departments. I don’t know that the mayor’s office directs them.” He notes, “The law gives the power to grant vacations to the city council.”

SDC’s Jenkins has a different view. He says that under former-Mayor Ed Murray, “the mayor’s office has been heavily involved.” The mayor’s office’s focus during SDC’s evaluation has been on urban design and quality, explains Jenkins. “Because of the size and scale of the project, the mayor’s office has had a much bigger role than usual,” Jenkins says.

This executive oversight will be lost if Moon is elected.

Moreover, if the developer and the Coalition have trouble reaching an agreement, the mayor’s office, under Durkan, could help resolve the issues. Under Moon, some other party would have to step in.

Moon expresses complete confidence that the project can be kept on track without her. “There are plenty of other great people in the city who are keeping an eye on it,” she says.

Moon is also impressed with the Coalition’s effort to get public benefits in exchange for the street vacations. “We are in an affordable housing crisis,” she says. “I applaud their efforts. The mix of improvements is the right one.”

Moon says the Convention Center expansion has not been a big topic on the campaign trail. “The questions have been on the surface,” she says. That is why she hasn’t been forthcoming about her planned recusal. Says Moon, “I didn’t know it was my job to bring it up.”

Questions, tips, comments: georgehowlandjr@gmail.com

Award winning journalist George Howland Jr has been hired by Seattle Displacement Coalition to write for Outside City Hall about city politics, housing, homelessness and land use. He works under his own editorial direction. The Displacement Coalition plays no role in choosing his specific subjects or editing his copy. He has never even been to a Huskies’ football game with the Coalition’s John Fox.

