City hall a bit pricier in the end

Your article on Bothell’s new city hall overlooked an important fact. (Sept. 18 article, “Bothell close to opening new city hall.”) The city will pay 24 years of lease payments, which will start at $3.1 million a year, and end at $3.3 million a year in 2039.

That means the new city hall, when all is said and done, will cost in excess of $75 million. That is $1,460 per square foot, $1,786 per Bothell resident, and $630,252 for each member of staff that will be working there.

Bet most of the staff could figure out a better way to spend that kind of money. I sure could. Things like training for the first responders, sidewalks and safe pedestrian crossings, more parks, safer roads, more open space, revitalization of Main Street and a transportation system that buffers neighborhoods.

Pat Pierce

Bothell