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News & ArtsWednesday, July 25, 2012
Politics / City / Sports / Economy A Few Caveats to The Stranger's Arena Endorsement
Posted by Goldy on Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 3:01 PM
Central to The Stranger's decision to take an official position endorsing the proposed new Sonics arena are a handful of core concepts. We like the idea of bringing the NBA and NHL to downtown Seattle, we're pragmatic enough to reluctantly accept a public/private financing deal, and we're convinced that this deal is structured in such a way that it exposes taxpayers to minimal risk and cost. But while space constraints prevented us from elaborating, that doesn't mean we don't have any concerns.
Opposition from unions, businesses, and other stakeholders at Seattle's seaport gave us serious pause. No doubt event traffic could have a negative impact on nearby container cargo operations, and further gentrification of the Sodo neighborhood could help drive out many supporting businesses. Marine cargo operations at the Port of Seattle produce 12,428 direct jobs, 21,000 indirect and induced jobs, and over $3 billion in revenue annually. A thriving seaport is crucial to our state's economy, perhaps the most trade-dependent in the nation.
We also endorse the demand of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees that any public/private facility—including both KeyArena and the new Sonics arena—remain union shops, guaranteeing living wages and adequate benefits and protections to all workers.
That's why in addition to urging the county and city councils to move forward with the arena deal, we also urge them to take the following additional steps:
- Modify the Memorandum of Understanding to assure that both KeyArena and the Sodo arena are union shops;
- Forcefully restate existing city policy that maintains Sodo as an industrial zone, resisting further residential and commercial development outside of the current stadium district boundaries;
- Commit to funding necessary east/west traffic improvements, including the long-promised Lander Street Overpass.
Of these three, the third is probably the most politically difficult, not just because it requires finding the money, but because it creates the appearance of taxpayer dollars being spent to mitigate arena traffic, thus suggesting a hidden subsidy. That's too bad. It's also bullshit. Seaport stakeholders were promised the Lander Street Overpass when Safeco and CenturyLink fields were built, and east/west traffic will continue to clog Sodo streets with or without a new arena. It's time to deliver on this promise, whatever the optics.
This isn't a choice between building an arena in one Seattle location or another. This is a choice between a Sodo arena or not building one in Seattle at all. Even if KeyArena met NBA standards (and the NBA insists that it does not) its 1995 renovation is already more than halfway through the average 30-year useful life of a sports facility. The region will get a new facility sometime over the next decade or so, and if we don't build it here, Eastside developers are itching to build one in Bellevue.
Build it here. We can make it work.
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No. No, we can't. May I remind you about Key Arena and the Kingdome?
Let Bellevue fuck themselves over with it.
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Because we had no choice once they were a done deal. We got left holding the bag for the Kingdome and Key Arena, and we "made it work". We are poorer for it, of course. We got our pockets picked.
But we dusted ourselves off and carried on! Hooray!
So yeah, lets get fucked again by this Hansen guy and then have a big group hug when we somehow muddle through. High fives!
This endorment makes no sense.
Goldy you're a duplicitous hack at best. But I thought at least you, knowing enough about the history of this town, would see beyond the horses shit about this arena. I thought you had some principles. But clearly not.
Gifting billionaires with tax payer dollars at time when the state and city are cutting vital services for poor people, left and right, is supremely irresponsible and immoral.
You've been playing falsely coy on this issue, testing the wind, for weeks. Until you finally got cover from the requisite number of the deluded idiots at the Stranger.
Now, why, you're all for this massive subsidy for billionaires! Yippee! Oh (serious face, ahem) with "caveats."
Gotta cover your ass! Right?
A yup. As long as the "workers" are fed a couple of measly crumbs that can be reversed the second the arena is finished... you can sleep at night.
Workers who won't be able to afford the insane NBA ticket prices at the arena that will be displacing their higher paying jobs for shit jobs.
in case you didn't know: Tax payers ARE workers. So they get fucked twice.
The gaping wounds in your arguments for this stupid arena are hemorrhaging.
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So building an overpass now wouldn't be "taxpayer dollars being spent to mitigate arena traffic" - it would be taxpayer dollars being spent to mitigate Safeco and CenturyLink stadium traffic long after the fact.
Either way - it's taxpayer dollars going into public infrastructure to prop up privately-held sports franchises.
The owners of the Mariners and Seahawks should've been on the hook for area infrastructure improvements that were necessary because of the impact of their businesses on the area; the fact that they weren't shouldn't let Hansen et al off the hook.
"We" shouldn't have to make it work - "they" should.
"To the doubters, all I can say is read the MOU and read the county analysis."
That's right, Goldy. Skip over addressing the specific points that have been brought up.
Keep insisting that free money will appear without any risk.
Anyone who doubts the existence of such free money just hasn't done the correct reading.
"This is not KeyArena, and it is not the Kingdome."
Okay.
"Seaport stakeholders were promised the Lander Street Overpass when Safeco and CenturyLink fields were built, ..."
And there are the other two stadiums.
So, problems with 100% of the previous deals for the stadiums.
But this time will be different!
Free money for everyone with no risk!
The thing is, if they weren't asking for a public handout, *we should* be on the hook for it. That's a huge part of what government does, providing infrastructure so private business can grow and thrive. But, since they're demanding a $200 million bond, fuck 'em. The money for traffic mitigation needs to come from the arena somehow, at a minimum from the taxes and fees the city would be getting if they weren't slated solely for bond repayment.
So essentially the Port is trying to shirk their responsibility off on somebody else. If it's such a priority, why the hell hasn't the Port paid to build it themselves over the last 20 years?
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I assume you've seen the video of Stern praising Key Arena, after its near-total rebuild in '95. So what gives? Do you really feel we need to genuflect to this two-faced worm with an outsized ego & a power complex that's clearly out of control? Who screwed our city big time - and bit himself in the ass when he abandoned one of the nation's largest markets just to teach us a lesson.
If Key Arena was a beautiful, intimate facility in 1995, with great sight lines, why was it all of a sudden a pariah, a non-starter when the OKC dung flingers came calling? Is it because David Stern can make any irrational proclamation he feels like, just because of the power bestowed upon him (that has clearly gone to his head)? Why should we be considering doing business with the NBA under these conditions?
Is it written in city/state/county/federal law that government is legally required to provide this kind of infrastructure specifically to benefit private industry?
Not that I'm aware of, but it's a pretty widely embraced concept, politically speaking. What government isn't supposed to do is pick winners and losers in the private sector by giving subsidies to some private businesses and not others. The government does it all the time, of course, but there's been more and more pushback against it from both sides of the political spectrum. The best most sports franchises can expect going forward is getting infrastructure paid for, if they're building in an actual city that isn't desperate for the jobs and tax revenue the sports franchise is supposed to bring in (but actually doesn't).
The Port currently runs in the red and relies on taxpayer money to stay solvent. If the Port is on the hook for traffic mitigation, you and I will be paying for it. Do you want to pay more taxes?
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