State's federal-pie slice worth billions

By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times Washington bureau

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There's $240,000 for an undersea museum in Keyport, Kitsap County, $121,250 for improvements to a former vaudeville theater in Bellingham, and $2 billion for cleanup at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

Those are some of the dozens of projects for Washington state contained in a $388 billion spending bill Congress approved before adjourning for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The federal grants range from six figures to multimillion-dollar projects. They include:

• $100,000 to help the state Department of Social and Health Services pay for a Girl Scout troop for kids in foster care.

• $1.5 million for killer-whale research by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

• $1 million for a proposed Seattle trolley line from downtown's Westlake Center to South Lake Union. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray secured $1 million for this project in previous appropriations, and it's seen as an important step forward for Mayor Greg Nickels' plan for the area.

• $50 million to modernize Seattle's Nakamura Federal Courthouse, which was built in 1939.

• $500,000 to restore the former Cooper School into a cultural center and artist housing in Seattle's Delridge area. "We're thrilled," said Philippa Nye, project manager of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, which is fixing the building at 4408 Delridge Way S.W. at a cost of $11.6 million.

On the other hand, developers of another surplus Seattle school received bad news.

The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, which is attempting to renovate Colman School in the Central Area, will receive no federal funds in 2005. It had requested $1 million through Sen. Maria Cantwell to help fund a $17 million effort to build an African-American museum and 36 apartments in the former school.
 
"That is not good news," said Sarah Hiller, director of fund development at the Urban League.

Murray, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she was pleased by the spending bill, but she said it also included a provision she opposed. A rider barred states from enforcing laws that require health-care providers, hospitals or insurers to pay for, provide or give referrals for abortion.

The bill will move to President Bush's desk once the House has removed another last-minute provision that would have enabled lawmakers to view tax returns. The provision was widely considered a mistake and it was swiftly withdrawn.

Alex Fryer: 206-464-8124 or afryer@seattletimes.com