I’ve been trying to compose a post on the latest development in the Seattle arena saga for a couple of weeks now, and have been hamstrung at every turn by the fact that despite a lot of newsprint and pixels being burned on the subject, nothing is actually happening. Here’s what I have sitting in my Instapaper queue:
- The Seattle Design Commission approved the design of vacating a one-block stretch of Occidental Avenue for Chris Hansen’s proposed SoDo arena, which it already did once before, again sending the project to the city council, which rejected it last time because it was opposed to closing the street.
- The Port of Seattle says the consultant it’s paying $185,000 for consulting services doesn’t have to register as a lobbyist because it’s not just lobbying on behalf of a KeyArena renovation project (which the Port of Seattle supports because it opposes the SoDo one because it might mess up its truck routes).
- The Seattle Center, where KeyArena sits, is filing to landmark a bunch of buildings, which could complicate any arena plans there, maybe.
- The council is studying the best option for an arena, and a local radio host doesn’t think they’re serious about the SoDo one, which is the one he likes.
- There could be a decision by June. Or not.
Add it all up and … man, that’s a whole pile of nothing. Neither the KeyArena plan nor the SoDo plan sounds either terrible or like a slam dunk for Seattle taxpayers and residents, and given the competing lobbying factors, it’s unclear what it’s going to take to get some resolution. Which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing — neither project comes with the promise of an NBA or NHL franchise, and a new or refurbished arena alone isn’t going to change local lives much. But it does mean I’m going to have to keep reading about this (and hearing from both sides who are really really emotionally invested in this, I get it), so I for one wouldn’t mind at all if the Seattle council just threw a dart or something and got this whole mess over with.
There is also a recent ALLEGATION and lawsuit involving the Mayor and which may affect the overall process. The arena is secondary to the what he is being accused of but it adds another unknown to the situation. I hope they aren’t true but that is now part of the story.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/lawsuit-alleges-seattle-mayor-ed-murray-sexually-abused-troubled-teen-in-1980s/
Well, the allegations against Kevin Johnson looked pretty fatal to me, too. How’d that turn out?
Even if true, criminal allegations of this sort shouldn’t halt a project. Projects should be halted based on the merits of those projects.
Oh I totally agree and that wasn’t the what I was trying to say. Listening to the radio, they brought up the potential outcomes of the lawsuit which included him resigning or a long litigation. I have no idea, I just think it is worth mentioning because it involves an important party.
I don’t understand why you say there is no development when both OVG and AEG are expected to submit bids on redoing Key Arena tomorrow….seems like an odd time to write a post saying there is no news…
It”s worth point out that the Port of Seattle President, Tom Albro, had to recuse himself from promoting the Key Arena remodel because he owns the monorail which was promoted by OVG as a mode of transportation.
http://www.king5.com/mb/news/local/arena/due-to-conflict-of-interest-seattle-port-commission-president-bows-out-of-arena-debate/425340017?c=m
The Port is also conducting surveys and asking citizens if it would change their opinion of the Key Arena plan if they were to contribute to a parking garage. They would collect revenue from the parking garage as they also terminal north for cruise ships. Not only would they further block SoDo but they would collect revenue.
Or, they could simply slip a “should we pursue an arena in SoDo with Chris Hansen or the Seattle Center plans” advisory vote on the next available ballot.
We already have Tim Eyman initiative 960-mandated advisory votes for everything that increases taxes, so one more about continuing the arena saga would be fine.
Unless they structure it like the viaduct replacement tunnel advisory vote and you end up with two votes against both ideas.
Just don’t take *anything* from Geoff Baker and the Times as impartial.
http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nba/oak-view-group-plans-to-spend-564-million-on-keyarena-renovation-keep-iconic-roof/
Totally agreed on Baker. He’s churned out some decent stuff in the past but is totally carrying the water for the Seattle Center Coliseum renovation (I don’t even want to speculate what Ed Murray offered in return because…ewwwwww!
Still, the new proposals supposedly include no public financing of the Coliseum redo, which I’m very simpatico with. On the other hand, there’s nothing that’s really going to address the traffic mess around Seatle Center, which is onerous even on light days. And where will people park? The whole area is being overrun by new condo development so Jeff Bezos’ Amazombies can have a place to live.
Not that any of this matters because as long as the City owns the Coliseum and the land it sits on, I’m confident the SoDo arena will be shot down like Donald and Daffy on opening day of duckhunting season.
Welcome to the “Seattle Process.” Locals can tell you all about it, or you can get up to speed on how this place operates here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_process
This place is a joke. Councilmembers refusing to vacate a lightly used street when they had just allowed Amazon to purchase one in Southlake a couple of weeks prior. http://www.kiro7.com/news/what-seattle-gets-out-amazons-new-construction/19110361. For those that aren’t aware, Southlake has exploded over the past decade, traffic is a nightmare and Amazon has destroyed a could chunk of Seattle. Rents have doubled and tripled for many, forcing them out of their neighborhoods and the city altogether. By all means, let’s give them exactly what they want and tell Chris Hansen’s group to go to hell. I’m looking at you, Sally Bagshaw.
After taking that awful vote, rather than answer any questions about it, those who voted against it simply presented some emails with bad language aimed at them. Thus the moral outrage was aimed at a few trolls on the internet, and no longer at them for their shit decision. Can you believe there were mean people on the internet??? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/us/majority-female-council-in-seattle-faces-backlash-after-sports-arena-vote.html?_r=0
The Mariners are a joke, and haven’t made the playoffs in 16 years and complained the NBA arena traffic would impact people coming to their games. They rank 18th out of 30 teams in attendance. I think we can manage that, not to mention they’re never playing postseason baseball anyway so they’re done by the end of September, well before the NBA season begins in October. Them fighting the new arena proposal is made even more ridiculous since, you know, the public paid for their shiny new stadium back in the late 90’s. To the tune of $517 million dollars. For them to say “nope! this guy can’t spend his own money to build an arena next to our stadium that was gifted to us” is utterly fucking ridiculous.
That’s all I have the patience to type out about this shitshow, but rest assured in 3 to 4 years we’ll still be here, going through the process of getting nothing done quickly.