Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times reports on where the KC Council vote count is at (6-3), and why we should focus on a bird in the hand rather than two in the bush.
There is no arena competition. Not right now, at least. There can't be. The city and county councils have spent 2 ½ months pouring over an intricate agreement between Hansen, Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine to build a $490 million sports and entertainment arena in Sodo. On Monday, the Metropolitan King County Council is poised to amend the agreement and vote on its part of the deal. Now is the time to finish judging the current plan on its own merit instead of batting eyes at the overly flirtatious person across the room.
Chicago businessman Don Levin, a highly successful minor-league hockey owner, emerged late last week and went public with some vague ideas for an arena in Bellevue that would court the NHL and NBA. But he admits to still being perhaps a month away from announcing a complete proposal. Though I enjoyed talking with Levin during a Friday phone interview and think he has the potential to be a good owner of a Seattle-area NHL team, he seems like an investor scurrying to get into the arena conversation simply to buy himself more time and detract from Hansen's efforts.
That's not an acceptable tactic with a vote so near. In fact, anything that doesn't involve probing the financial stability and risk of Hansen's plan or continuing to assess the pluses and minuses of the Sodo location should be considered noise in the background until there is an official yea or nay.
Otherwise, people are playing games and wasting time.
. . .
Larry Gossett, the King County Council chairman, expects Hansen's memorandum of understanding and interlocal agreement, which details the terms of the proposal, to receive the majority vote needed from the nine-member body.When asked why, Gossett said, "Because four Democrats and two Republicans have already looked me in the eye and said, 'I'm for it.' We wouldn't put all of this forward if we didn't think it could pass."
But no council member has declared that intent publicly, so that's an opinion, albeit an informed one. Still, it appears that most of the county council is operating with the mentality of trying to make a deal with Hansen work.
Until further notice, there's just one arena plan in play in Seattle area, Jerry Brewer.
That gets right to the point, we have one viable option right now, and one vote on Monday.
Don Levin was interviewed on 710 ESPN on Friday, giving his effort a 70% chance of success.
Uh, that's so far in back of Hansen's proposal that it simply does not warrant a link to the interview, or further attention. Good Luck Don, call us if and when you and Bellevue have a viable plan.
~
And, if it's Sunday, it must be time for another seed of doubt from the Seattle Times.
This week, the Storm is included to make a question that has already been answered more exciting.
Can Seattle area support six pro teams?
The short answer is, yes.
The long answer from Chris Hansen is, yes, and that's the risk he takes on, not the public.
Further, the conventional wisdom on these gems from the Seattle Times can be summed up by one of the commenters there:
posted by: fgl
Seattle, WAJuly 29, 2012 at 8:57 AMRating: (9) (0)
Other stupid questions we can ask to sabotage this opportunity:Can Seattle sports fans eat that many hot dogs?
Will Seattle sports fans get confused by so many different venues?
Can our chest of drawers hold more team jerseys?
Is there enough time during the local news to cover all the sports headlines?
Is there enough housing in rich neighborhoods for yet even more pro athletes?
Can the medical community treat a 50% increase in torn ACLs?SO many issues!!
So true, do we have enough zamboni's for the increased ice to be resurfaced?
The shortest of all answers is that we have supported all of them except the NHL all at the same time 20 years ago. In 20 years time the population has grown, and grown more affluent, and appears to keep growing.
People really do want to live here, grow businesses, and have some fun.
It's a fact.