With a background in transit-oriented development and seven years at Washington, D.C.’s District Department of Transportation, Zimbabwe is familiar with many of the same issues facing Seattle and comes with endorsements from bureaucrats and advocates alike.
By
Heidi Groover – Seattle Times staff reporter
Sam Zimbabwe won final confirmation Monday to head the Seattle Department of Transportation, an agency that has spent the last year mired in high-profile controversies and without a permanent director.
Acknowledging the job has “many responsibilities” ranging from major projects to delivering basic services, Zimbabwe told the City Council he was “excited for the challenges that await.” <ins class=”adsbygoogle” style=”display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px” data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8420193167410082″ data-ad-slot=”1165000736″> <script><br /> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<br /> “I’ve been here about four weeks and there’s never been a dull moment,” Zimbabwe said.
With a background in transit-oriented development and seven years at Washington, D.C.’s District Department of Transportation, Zimbabwe is familiar with many of the issues facing Seattle and comes with endorsements from bureaucrats and advocates alike.
But the job at SDOT will bring new challenges.
Zimbabwe, 41, will oversee ongoing course corrections on two high-profile city projects: the delayed and over-budget downtown streetcar and the $930 million Move Seattle levy, under which the city over-promised bus routes, bike lanes and other projects.
He will also likely encounter low morale in a department where employees in a focus group reported favoritism, sexism and “negative consequences for speaking out.”
And while the city made it through the three-week Highway 99 closure relatively smoothly, that was just the beginning of a yearslong “period of maximum constraint” when a confluence of downtown construction projects will strain transit and drivers alike.
“You’re going to be grappling with past planning practices and decisions and helping us deliver on our present-day commitments,” Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda told Zimbabwe, adding later, “This is no small job.”
The City Council voted 8-0 to approve Zimbabwe on Monday. (Councilmember Mike O’Brien was absent.) Zimbabwe will make $200,000 a year.
In an interview, Zimbabwe declined to take a position on several policy questions the city may confront in coming years, including funding sources for new streetcar costs, congestion pricing, tolling ride-hailing vehicles and allowing free-floating rentable scooters.
Zimbabwe praised SDOT’s work so far in trying to correct problems with the streetcar and Move Seattle levy. – Seattle Times
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