Northwest begins to count cost; landslides a concern

DAVID AMMONS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA -- Just when things seemed bleakest for Washington state lawmakers, the earthquake hit.

Already stymied by a state spending limit, a budget shortfall in the hundreds of millions, and the need to make $10 billion in highway improvements, Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature must now come up with millions more to fix damage from Wednesday's quake.

Some of the worst damage was at the state's capital, while Seattle and other area cities escaped major damage.

Things were getting back to normal elsewhere in the region. All major roads were open and operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were 75 percent of normal -- up from 50 percent the day of the quake.

Injury reports were still coming in from local jurisdictions, and the tally was 410 Friday. Most were minor, said spokesman Rob Harper at the state Emergency Operations Center.

The possibility of post-quake landslides remained a concern in some areas. On a hillside overlooking Puget Sound in Burien, city officials red-tagged more than a dozen homes. Driveways for the homes at the top of the hill had separated from the road, leaving a gap of about a foot.

But Scott Reardean was hoping to return to his rented house, with its view of the Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound and "bald eagles that live right there in that tree."

"It's probably one of the most spectacular places to live in the world," said Reardean, 40, who works for the Seattle Community College system.

"If they can shore it back up, I'm not afraid to live there."

In Olympia, lawmakers were in high spirits. Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who usually wears Armani to preside over the Senate, was in pressed blue jeans, a denim shirt and tie -- no jacket. He called it "dress-down Friday," and most senators were in clean-out-the-garage attire as well.

The state insurance commissioner, flooded with inquiries about coverage for quake damage, was back at work, as was Locke's budget agency, to tackle the job of assembling damage estimates.

"We don't know the cost to the state, except that it will be in the millions of dollars," said budget office spokesman Hal Spencer. "We don't know how much aid we will get from Uncle Sam at this point. The estimates aren't complete, not by a long shot.

"The bottom line is that we will fix what needs to be fixed."

The state's $1.2 billion construction and $3 billion highway budgets -- both two-year spending plans -- can be rearranged to give quake-related repairs top priority, Spencer said.

The governor's previous bid for $89 million to rehabilitate the Capitol -- work that included additional seismic retrofitting -- once was given only faint hope of passing but now looks like a shoo-in.

Some lawmakers talked about tapping the state's $1.1 billion reserve fund for quake repairs, though Locke and legislators had been planning to use some of it for schools, health care and other state services.

On the Net

- Legislature: www.leg.wa.gov

- Governor: www.governor. wa.gov

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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