This is kind of a big deal for those of us in Seattle. This woman has = been through so much the past few years. I wish her the best of luck and = all the happiness in the world. =20 Clay - SEA =20 Sea-Tac director resigns; guided decade of change =20 Gina Marie Lindsey, the polished and powerful bureaucrat who led = Seattle-Tacoma International Airport though a decade of painful growth = and profound changes in the airline industry, will leave the job this = summer to move to Washington D.C.=20 Lindsey has been a key figure in the bruising fight to build a third = runway at Sea-Tac. With construction due to resume next month, her = decision to leave comes at a crucial time for a project that has doubled = in cost to $1.2 billion and remains mired in lawsuits.=20 But for a woman who runs the nation's 17th-busiest airport and rose to = the top ranks of an industry still dominated by an "old boys club," the = chance to relocate and rebuild a personal life shattered by last year's = death of her only son was more important.=20 "To be frank about it, I need to put a future life together that doesn't = have the same centerpiece that it used to," Lindsey said. "A different = job, a different town and a different house - that will facilitate that = kind of evolution."=20 Lindsey, 50, is not sure what she will do in Washington, although it = will probably involve policy work for the aviation industry. The move = was prompted by her husband, Tom Dow, an executive at Princess Cruises = who has accepted a job lobbying for the cruise line's parent company, = Carnival Corp.=20 Lindsey will remain at the $196,000-a-year job until mid-August. The = Port has asked airport Deputy Director Mark Reis to take her place.=20 The handoff should be relatively seamless, Port Commission President = Paige Miller said.=20 Reis has worked closely with Lindsey for years. His strength in = financial matters will come in handy as the Port struggles to pay for = the largest expansion in its history without raising landing fees high = enough to drive away cash-strapped airlines.=20 Lindsey's decision "comes at a good time, because so much of what she = spent her tenure putting in place is complete or within earshot of = completion," Miller said.=20 Lindsey, a native of Alaska, was the director of Anchorage International = Airport when Sea-Tac lured her away in 1993.=20 A communications graduate of Walla Walla College, she opted for a career = with Alaska's transportation department over lower-paying work as a = television reporter.=20 At Sea-Tac, her job largely boiled down to one thing: Build the third = runway. The proposed runway sparked a furious protest, mostly from = communities near the airport.=20 Despite the opposition, Lindsey said she never expected to be working on = the project for so long.=20 Her frustration over delays, rising costs, and legal fights was apparent = in March.=20 "Would I have taken the job if I had known I would spend 10-=BD years = fighting for a runway?" she asked. "The answer is probably not. Let's = get a life."=20 Although legal challenges remain in the state Supreme Court and the 9th = U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the airport may start work this summer = filling in the wetlands at the center of the lawsuits. Opponents are = trying to block the work.=20 "She has not done anything extraordinary in terms of finding other = solutions at Sea-Tac," said Stuart Creighton, chairman of the Airport = Communities Coalition, a nonprofit group fighting the runway. "She has = worked right down the line to follow the Port's plan."=20 The runway is one element of the airport's $4.2 billion expansion, which = started in the 1990s as a growing number of planes and passengers pushed = Sea-Tac to capacity.=20 The work includes the new Arrivals Hall and Concourse A, which is to = open this spring, and an expansion of the main terminal, to be completed = next year.=20 Sea-Tac's first major renovations in 30 years were designed to update = its drab interior and help the airport generate more money from the sale = of food, books, magazines and gifts.=20 But the costs of construction - including the third runway - will push = landing fees at Sea-Tac to some of the highest in the country, squeezing = airlines that have lost billions of dollars and a large chunk of its = business from the recession and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.=20 The attacks also forced the airport to accommodate sweeping and = expensive changes in security and screening equipment.=20 Mounting financial pressure last year led Lindsey and the Port to lay = off 66 airport employees. Last month, she was in Washington, D.C., = asking the Federal Aviation Administration to nearly double the $216 = million the agency has pledged for the third runway.=20 Meanwhile, Sea-Tac changed the way it charges airlines, shifting more = financial risk to the airport in return for the chance to generate more = revenue and make better use of airport property. Airlines grumbled that = the new contract strips them of the power to block expensive = construction projects.=20 In 2003, Lindsey was elected chairwoman of Airports Council = International - North America, a trade group that represent major = airports in the U.S. and Canada. She was the first woman to hold the = position.=20 "I would be real surprised if 10 percent of our airport directors were = women," said David Plavin, the organization's president. "(Her election) = is a testament, in some ways, because all these 'good-old boy' airport = directors thought she would be a good chair."=20 As the group's spokeswoman, Lindsey was among the first to pressure the = new Transportation Security Administration over the long lines at = airport checkpoints, Plavin said.=20 But as she wowed lawmakers and led Sea-Tac through tumultuous years of = change, Lindsey was dealing with tragedy.=20 In March 2003, her son, Jeremy Houk, a Tulane University freshman, = disappeared after a party in New Orleans during Mardi Gras weekend. More = than two months later, his body was found in the Mississippi River, = where he had drowned.=20 Lindsey decided to wait before making any major changes. But Miller, who = lives a block away from Lindsey on Queen Anne, said it was clear during = their long walks together that Lindsey was ready to move on.=20 "Her leaving is a huge loss for us, but given what has happened in her = life in the last year or so, absolutely understandable," Miller said.=20 "She has been remarkable at being an open and very human leader through = all of this time."=20 =20