Government shouold never be trusted with large projects. If such a thing is really worth the investment, then the private sector will build it.
The city should have considered that Seattle had reached its limit of growth under current technology unless private interests were willing to take the financial risk. imo, many of the world's cities have reached this point and solely due to the gradual process of stealing power from the people they have saddled people with massive debt and with creeping changes that no individual living there ever wanted.