Blömqvist Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 seattle bumbershoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 What's with the Umbrella Corporation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucklax Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 The council passed the vote, but want some changes done before the county votes on it (if I understand correctly) http://www.king5.com/news/arena/County-could-vote-as-soon-as-Monday-on-arena-project-164256976.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 the county passed it today, it's going to the city now, which wants some amendments, it'll be ammended to satisfy the city, be voted on, and go back to the county for them to vote/ammend. It'll probably go back and forth a couple times before it's finalized but this is a BIG first step and the process is rolling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.Tallhouse Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 seattle bumbershoots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imuzi Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Nah, This jersey is reserved for when Racoon City gets a team, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biznasty Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 They better be the sonics (For NBA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucklax Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 They better be the sonics (For NBA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UMB Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Seattle Rainiers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Paying for transportation improvements key to Seattle arena debate by CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News Posted on August 2, 2012 at 5:16 PM SEATTLE -– If you stand at the corner of First Avenue South and Atlantic, you’re looking at the crossroads of industry and sports. It’s a vital intersection for Port of Seattle freight traffic ... and any sports fan trying to get to or from Interstates 5 and 90. That intersection is the start of State Route 519 -- the short stretch of highway that connects the two interstates to the stadium district. And how the SR 519 project was paid for could guide the conversation about a future SODO sports arena. “It really had to do with supporting the truck traffic here on the street,” said Dave Gering, executive director of the Manufacturing Industrial Council. Gering supported the construction of the SR 519 on and off ramp to help maritime and port mobility. “It is always an issue.” SR 519 was finished in 2010 after years of discussion. State and federal funds covered $78.35 million of the construction cost. The Port of Seattle contributed $5.5 million, and the Seattle Mariners put up $500,000. WSDOT spokesperson Jamie Holter said the Seahawks were not involved in funding the project. State lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Director Ross Hunter and House Transportation Committee Chair Judy Clibborn, said they did not believe the Seahawks, the Washington State Public Stadium Authority, or First and Goal contributed. PFD Spokesperson Steve Woo said Thursday the stadium district had set aside $450,000 for a pedestrian ramp and other traffic mitigation efforts, although a spokesperson for the Seattle Budget office could not immediately confirm if Seahawks money was used. Seattle City Council President Sally Clark said Tuesday she’d like the group advocating a new sports arena in the stadium district to contribute something towards traffic improvements. She suggested that a portion of arena revenue could be used to “pay for the debt and infrastructure in the area.” She also said lead arena investor Chris Hansen would not be expected to fix all of SoDo’s problems. Hansen’s amended deal, approved by the King County Council on Monday, calls for his investment group to spend $290 million in private money. He's asking for up to $200 million in City/County bonding, to be repaid by taxes on arena business. That $200 million is capped, but only if Hansen secures NBA and NHL franchises for the building. Hansen is asking for $120 million if he can only secure an NBA franchise. Hansen has thus far declined comment on the City Council’s suggestion, other than to say he’s willing to listen. So is a $500,000 contribution from Hansen's group the starting point for discussions? “I think we don’t know,” said Gering, who has been critical of Hansen’s proposal. However, he said all sides may be working towards a “positive outcome”. “It’s encouraging much more so than six months ago,” said Gering. “There is a lot of good you can do with little projects.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Port of Seattle releases report on traffic impact of arena by CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News and KING 5 News Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:07 PM Updated today at 2:22 PM SEATTLE - The Port of Seattle on Tuesday released its own study of the traffic impact of a proposed sports arena in the SODO neighborhood. Investor Chris Hansen wants to build a $490 million NBA/NHL arena just south of Safeco Field and east of the Port of Seattle. While details of the report are forthcoming, it stated the "new arena in the SODO neighborhood will adversely affect operations of the Port of Seattle’s marine cargo terminals, some of which are located directly west of the site identified for the new arena." The report listed nine key points of concern on how traffic from the arena would impact port operations: 1. Additional events at a new arena will make it harder to reach the port and increase costs. 2. New incompatible land uses will affect the port’s ability to operate. 3. The large number of new events would reduce the port’s effective operating hours. 4. Port traffic in the evenings will conflict with new arena event traffic. 5. Proposed street closures will increase congestion along the port’s main freeway access route. 6. Additional pedestrian and vehicle activity at nearby railroad crossings increases the risk for train-related collisions and rail and road system delays. 7. Concurrent events at two or more venues greatly increases congestion to, from, and within SODO. 8. Alternative sites have not been considered. 9. The proposed arena has not detailed its mitigation needs or identified funding for mitigation. Port of Seattle commissioners planned to take public testimony and review the report at a commission meeting slated for 1 p.m. Tuesday. Seattle Councilman Richard Conlin made a new strong stand against the arena. "I am not convinced that the proposed arena will make a significant contribution to economic development," Conlin said in a blog post published Tuesday. "It will bring some new money into Seattle and will divert some other money that people might have spent on other activities. The economists who have studied this proposal agree (as do studies of every other such project) that the net effect is very small." "If arena proponents want public funding, they could go to the legislature and propose specific taxes," Conlin added. Port of Seattle Commissioner John Creighton, after reviewing the study, acknowledged Monday the report was "unsatisfying," since it identified traffic issues, rather than solutions. He said the long awaited study, commissioned by the Port of Seattle, identified bottlenecks and areas which need to be addressed in the neighborhood. "I think key points are (that) the report aggregates data from prior studies to identify freight hot spots and issues that need to be addressed," said Creighton. "We are looking to the freight master plan update and/or the arena EIS to provide better clarity on specific projects that are needed." Creighton, who has served on the Port Commission since 2006, also said he hopes to work with the city of Seattle to craft a strategy going forward and fully develop a freight master plan by 2013. Read the reports commissioned by the Port of Seattle : BST Economic Issues Report Heffron Impact of SoDo Arena on Port Operations 8/7/2012 Steinbrueck Land Use Report 8/7/2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Originally published Monday, September 10, 2012 at 10:01 PM City Council reaches revised arena deal By Lynn Thompson Seattle Times staff reporter The Seattle City Council has a tentative agreement with investor Chris Hansen to build a $490 million state-of-the-art basketball and hockey arena in Sodo — and make road improvements with a cut of the tax revenue. The deal, sources say, addresses objections by the Port of Seattle and manufacturing interests, who complained that traffic generated by an arena would choke already clogged Sodo streets, jeopardizing maritime industries and jobs. "This may be the deal that gets us to where we need to be," said Dave Gering, head of the Manufacturing Industrial Council, which represents 60 businesses in Sodo, including the Port of Seattle and BNSF Railway. The agreement, expected to be announced Tuesday, significantly strengthens financial protections for taxpayers in the event of default or bankruptcy by the arena operators, and it requires a state environmental review and an assessment of alternate sites before final legal documents are signed. It also funds improvements to KeyArena and a study on the future of the aging Seattle Center facility, which could face obsolescence if a new arena opens. And it can require that Hansen buy the arena and land for $200 million after it's paid off in 30 years, protecting the city from owning a potentially obsolete structure. The City Council Government Performance and Finance Committee will hold a hearing and vote on the revised agreement Thursday. The deal would then go to the full council, and city sources said there are six votes in favor of the deal, enough to pass it later this month. The agreement would revise a Memorandum of Understanding announced in February among Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Hansen, a Seattle native who approached the city more than a year ago with a plan to build an arena and return the Sonics to the city where they played for 41 years. That deal called for up to $200 million in public financing to be repaid with taxes generated by arena activity and rent from the future teams. Under the revised agreement, $40 million of the tax revenue would instead go into a fund to make road improvements to protect Port of Seattle container operations, railway lines and truck activity, much of which now occurs within blocks of the proposed arena site. Port Commissioner Tom Albro said a transportation fund could address some of the Port's concerns, but he cautioned that until a detailed environmental review is completed, the full impacts of an arena won't be known. "Is it enough? Will it actually maintain a working waterfront? That's the question," Albro said. Another $7 million in tax revenue would go into a fund to improve KeyArena and plan for its future, city sources said. Much of the original framework of the deal remains. Hansen will contribute $290 million in private money to build the arena. He also must secure a National Basketball Association franchise before the city or county issue construction bonds. The city contribution might rise from $120 million to $145 million to finance the transportation fund and KeyArena improvements, but it all still would be repaid by Hansen under the agreement. The county would contribute $80 million if a National Hockey League team is secured. City sources said the council believes Hansen's business plan will succeed even with the added debt load. Hansen's low-key style and his modest Seattle roots — he was raised in Rainier Valley and graduated from Roosevelt High School — as well as his willingness to invest substantially in the new arena, generated goodwill from thousands of sports fans who rallied to the cause and stridently denounced opponents. A wealthy hedge-fund manager and an early investor in Facebook, Hansen, 44, said he'd watched the SuperSonics as a boy and dreamed of returning the franchise to the city. Over the past year, Hansen has spent more than $51 million buying properties just south of Safeco Field. The Metropolitan King County Council on July 30 approved the original deal with only a few changes. But hours before the vote, eight of nine Seattle City Council members said they wouldn't support the deal unless it included substantially more public benefit. McGinn's office responded that it was a mistake to risk losing Hansen's offer: "We think it's a good deal as it stands." Since then, a City Council team led by Council President Sally Clark, Tim Burgess and Mike O'Brien has directed negotiations with Hansen's team. The city's negotiations have been carried out by an assistant city attorney, a representative of the council and two Denver attorneys with expertise in government finance and sports facilities who were brought to the negotiations by City Attorney Pete Holmes. To date, the mayor's office, council and city attorney's office have spent more than $614,000 on sports consultants, attorneys and financial analysts to help the city negotiate a deal. Under the agreement with Hansen, he will repay those city costs if the project is approved. Political skirmish The City Council's renegotiation of the deal represents a rebuke of McGinn, who began secret negotiations with Hansen in June 2011 and notified council members only a day before a public announcement was made in front of raucous sports fans in February. McGinn also didn't consult with key stakeholders, including the Port, the Seattle Mariners or the Manufacturing Industrial Council, which emerged as the biggest arena opponents because of traffic issues, the threat to the Port's $3 billion in annual marine cargo operations and the potential gentrification of city industrial lands. "Those people (in the mayor's office) didn't talk to anybody. They never understood what was at stake down here," Gering said. McGinn and arena backers argued that the difficult traffic conditions around the stadium district existed before Hansen's proposal and that he shouldn't be responsible for fixing them. They also promoted the deal as the most favorable public-private partnership ever offered the city for a new sports facility, with Hansen bringing as much as $800 million in private investments in the arena and the teams. An Elway Poll in May found that a majority of city and county respondents supported a new arena but also said it should be privately financed and that there should be no risk that any public money would ever be needed to pay for it. Objections also were raised by backers of Initiative 91, overwhelmingly approved by Seattle voters in 2006, which said the city must make a profit on any investment in a sports facility. City sources say that the revised deal, which directs $47 million to transportation and KeyArena improvements, meets the initiative's requirements. In June, Hansen revealed three investment partners with deep Northwest ties: Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer and Peter and Erik Nordstrom. That reassured the public about the financial strength of the investment group, but many remained skeptical as the cash-strapped city readied to seek property-tax increases for libraries and its crumbling seawall. The deal approved by the County Council called for an economic-impact analysis on the arena to be completed within 90 days, but otherwise was substantially the same as that negotiated between Hansen and the two executives. And the county faces less risk. If no National Hockey League team is secured, the county will contribute only $5 million. The County Council will have to vote on the revised agreement if it is passed by the city. Transport boost The agreement now directs $40 million in tax revenues into a fund to study and prioritize transportation improvements in Sodo. The city and county hope to get additional funding from the Port, with a goal of leveraging federal money for additional transportation improvements. The fund is significantly less than the $180 million estimate to build a Lander Street overpass for freight, but it could tackle projects already identified by the city and the industrial community, city sources said. The City Council also negotiated stronger financial protections for the city to ensure its investment would be repaid. Those include increased audit capability to give the city notice if there are financial problems with the teams or ownership groups, and a third-party assessment of Hansen's business plan and the investors' worth and equity in the arena deal. The revised agreement also says that a state environmental review, including an evaluation of alternate sites such as Seattle Center, must be completed before any construction or transaction documents are signed. That doesn't mean Sodo won't be the ultimate location, but it does mean Hansen would have to pay for mitigation, such as traffic and pedestrian improvements, City Council sources said. Times staff reporter Eric Pryne contributed to this report. Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Bo7 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 So does this change the NHL's desire to be in Phoenix for the next 20 years, or is Bettman that stubborn? Interesting that this news comes out right before the board of governors are to vote on the sale of the Coyotes to Jamison. Could this change their decision? A team in Seattle would actually be profitable and therefore alot of the owners would save millions of dollars that they have to dole out to the Coyotes each season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 betteman's that stubborn, and the coyotes vote will probably have to be delayed now that the sales tax increase will be put on the november election ballot after all. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/09/05/20120905glendale-sales-tax-initiative-appear-ballot.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngould21 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 betteman's that stubborn, and the coyotes vote will probably have to be delayed now that the sales tax increase will be put on the november election ballot after all. http://www.azcentral...ear-ballot.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Seattle Rainers...makes me think of... Or Seattle Totems, Metropolitans or Storm sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Vs Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 I hope Seattle gets an NHL team. Great City. Close to Vancouver. History with Seattle in the NHL. I think Junior Hockey would survive in the Seattle area too. Was down there a few years ago and talked to a few people. Asked them specifically about hockey, and they said they'd love to go to games, and have Vancouver fans come down. They do love their hockey, albeit behind the Seahawks, Mariners and Sonics...but if the NHL team does well, that will drum up more outside interest besides the hockey fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Aerosex Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 I hope Seattle gets an NHL team. Great City. Close to Vancouver. History with Seattle in the NHL. I think Junior Hockey would survive in the Seattle area too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullMetalOilDrum Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 I'd love to see the day Seattle gets an NHL team. Imagine the games between them and the Canucks. They should call the team either the Seals or the Metropolitans (who were actually a real team from the 1920s) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngould21 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 One more Seattle council meeting to go and their arena is a done deal. Sounds like a 9-0 vote is coming on Monday night. However, it seems that IF Seattle is going to be a member of Gary Bettmans' band of merry men, its going to be via expansion. Expansion??? What a friggin' joke! 31 teams, with a possibility of 32 with either Quebec City or if you can believe it, La$Vega$. I'll be damned if I want to see another 5 or 6 years of watered down hockey, but this is unbelievable. Lets just through another $25M per at Glendale, lets prop up Nashville, Florida, Columbus, rebuild Dallas, with all this expansion money boys, 'cause this is the way the NHL is going to continue to operate. Can you say lock-out or strike in another 5 or 6 years, because of what? You guessed it sports fans, whom wants more of their share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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