“Don’t Litigate, Mitigate!” Says Port

On October 17, the Port of Seattle Commissioners and the City of SeaTac’s City Council held a joint meeting (at the Airport) to celebrate five years of their interlocal agreement (ILA). The general theme was “Don’t Litigate, Mitigate!”. Supposedly, the City of SeaTac achieved big gains by opting out of lawsuits to restrain expansion at the Airport. The Port’s public relations slogan marketed in the airport communities has long been “it’s a done deal.” Now, they appear to launching a new campaign in the airport communities under the this “mitigate, don’t litigate” slogan. (They spend a lot on public relations, so be prepared to hear it over and over.) But just what does this one really mean?

True, the City of SeaTac itself has the promise of a multi-million dollar contribution from the Port for a new City Hall, and the Port has “relieved” the City of the burden of North SeaTac Park, and the burden of overseeing building permits for Airport projects (the Port issues its own permits now).

But just what mitigation have the citizens of SeaTac received? Does the ILA give SeaTac residents a separate, better deal on home insulation? Are overflights any less noisy than they would otherwise be? Is air quality improved? What is there in the agreement to reimburse residents for lost property values? Are their wetlands protected?

SeaTac’s mayor Kathy Gehring-Waters, told the gathering that people in other near-by cities are now beginning to think that they, too, should “mitigate, not litigate”. ...Oh?