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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Down to 9 spots for UW branch 8/30/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, July 22, 2007 College battle is thorny issue By Jerry Cornfield. Herald Columnist I'd be the second to admit that suggesting UW-Bothell power down so a new U can power up closer to Everett might have been a touch off base. Rep. Mark Ericks would be first. He'd say my February comments were from another planet. If he says anything, our conversations these days typically go like this: Me: Hello. Him: Stop trying to close my university. Me: How's life? Him: Stop trying to close my university. Me: I wanted - Him: Stop trying to close my university. Me: OK. Two issues prompted my thoughts then. I received a virtual tsunami of subliminal messages from legislators - including ones in Snohomish County with political get-up - who want to shutter the University of Washington branch. I viewed the battle to build The Off-Ramp as key evidence. Bothell-area lawmakers have fought seven years to construct The Off-Ramp from Highway 522 to the south flank of the campus shared by the UW and Cascadia Community College. This project is pivotal for the success, let alone any future, of the two colleges. Under an agreement between the city and the state, combined enrollment of the institutions cannot exceed the equivalent of 3,000 full-time students without The Off-Ramp. Last fall, the two-school total enrollment reached 2,941. The Off-Ramp project has been in the state transportation budget for awhile. With the passage of time, costs have risen and today what's budgeted isn't enough. Ericks, a former Bothell mayor, along with Rep. Al O'Brien and Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, worked throughout the past session to get the money. They sought support from state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, who writes the Senate transportation budget. Given she badly wanted a new college for Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties, it seemed a safe assumption she'd want to help UW so it didn't oppose her plan. Wrong. She said there was no money. She repelled McAuliffe's attempt to add the dollars into the transportation budget. Some lawmakers wondered if Haugen wanted to injure UW Bothell to enhance her own quest. Of course, she denied that. In the session, Ericks, O'Brien and McAuliffe focused one point - before the state pursues a new university, it must keep its commitments to ones it's started. One of those is The Off-Ramp. Gov. Chris Gregoire agreed. She told Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb in a June 12 letter the project will proceed with bids to be solicited this fall. She doesn't have the money in hand but expects to when it's needed. Her decision followed her meeting with Ericks, O'Brien, House Speaker Frank Chopp and Rep. Judy Clibborn, chair of the House transportation committee. McAuliffe and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown previously lobbied the governor. Gregoire's pledge should extract a thorny issue from the conversation on the next UW branch. And give Ericks and me something new to talk about. Reporter Jerry Cornfield: jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

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