Sonics Arena

The Council needs to recieve details on the Sonics Arena proposal as soon as possible. Several of us on council have expressed our support of having the Sonics in town, but we are getting nervous about not getting formal information from the Mayor’s office, and not having a chance to discuss the options. When we ask questions, we get fierce lobbying instead, which is not what we need to develop a winning package. Meanwhile, today’s Times makes it sound as if Renton is being eyed for more than one-hundred million dollars, when council has in fact not approved any expenditures for this project. While we have a great site, and a beautiful proximity to new shops, restaurants, and parking at the Landing, and a council willing to work with the Sonics, we only have 58,000 residents….one-hundred million dollars is a lot of money for 58,000 people!

I would like to see the council get involved in the problem solving for this project, so that we can examine every possible way to make this successful. Pushing us out of the decision-making is not going to work.

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Here is an email I recieved from my colleague Denis Law on this topic on Friday.

Dear Colleagues,

I want to share some of my observations regarding the meeting the mayor convened
this morning regarding the Sonics. Please call me if you wish to discuss this so
that we don’t violate the Open Public Meetings Act. My intention is to just
inform you of what seems to be taking place from my point of view.

Those invited this morning were primarily business owners who would have a
predictable opinion on the value of having the Sonics locate in Renton. We did
have representation from the Kennydale Neighborhood Assoc., North Renton and
Highlands. There was no well-planned presentation and most of the the time was
devoted to asking the opinion of those in attendance as to whether or not there
is community benefit to have the Sonics in our community. The majority reaction
could have been predicted without attending the meeting.

What I see that is wrong with our process is that we’re asking local restaurant
owners or the chamber if there is a benefit of having the Sonics in our
community. Duh………………… of course there is benefit. What is
concerning to me is to have a restaurant owner call me after the meeting and
relay that he was asked by a member of the mayor’s staff what he thought about
the Sonics announcement. He replied that he thought it was great, and was then
urged to share his thoughts with the council since there are council members
clearly concerned about the Sonics coming to Renton.

I have heard some very legitimate questions raised by council members but have
not heard one word that we should not work with the Sonics to make this happen
if possible. Why would the administration spread the rumor that the council is
against the Sonics, or to try and influence community leaders to pick a side?

Our role is to understand what it will cost Renton residents in real dollars,
impacts and long-term debt to build a stadium in our community. We need to
determine if we can truly mitigate the impacts to neighboring communities and
also generate enough revenues to support the cost of city services needed to
support this facility while also repaying the bonded indebtedenss that we may
decide to incurr.

I have stated in emails to Jay and to Toni that I feel strongly that the council
needs to have the opportunity to weigh all of the information in order to make a
decision that is in the best interest of our citizens. I want to reiterate my
opinion that we should not spend any money on studies or consultants until the
council has had the opportunity to understand what will be expected of us, in
terms of financial support, and the proposed use of the facility in order to ask
questions regarding mitigating impacts to our neighborhoods. It’s my
understanding that Alex’s staff is prepared to move forward with hiring a
consultant without council approval or input.

It’s my opinion that the city council needs to be the driver of how we solicit
public input, time-frames and other aspects of this process. Right now, it
appears to me that we’re merely an inconvenient nuisance that needs to be dealt
with at some point in this process.

It’s my sincere hope that the city council will be the driver to all processes
involving the potential stadium being located in our community.

Thanks for listening!
Denis

—
Denis Law, Publisher
The Business Report
Renton Magazine
15 S. Grady Way, Suite 514
Renton, WA 98055