Written by 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
DENIS LAW
well I have been saying that I am certainly going to vote for Denis law. I also said that I do not know if i support him yet. well a bit more talk like the most astute comment posted here and that will change. keep up the good work.
Re: DENIS LAW
from Inez Somerville Petersen
It is true that Denis Law has been silent for most of his career as a councilmember.
But he did make a great comment on April 17, 2006 (night of Mayor Koelker’s lipstick blunder). He said: “Madam Chairman, what law did you say Council President Corman violated?” Of course, the “tyrant of the night” didn’t have an answer, and she later hid behind the City Attorney. The Council hired its own attorney to answer the question. And, of course, the answer was “NONE.” Does that cause you to ask if Mayor Koelker might have some “power and control” issues? And if she can’t be upfront with the Citizens about this Sonics Stadium, that’s pretty pitiful.
And last week, Denis did speak up on behalf of the Kennydale Blueberry Bog, so let’s hope that is the beginning of commentary which leaves no doubt on which side of the fence he is standing. We need councilmembers who are courageous and will speak their minds AND listen to the grass roots citizens.
Sonics Arena
Why am I not the least bit surprised to read how the mayor’s meeting was conducted re: the Sonics Arena, and the lack of substantive information getting to our City Council members? This is the same form of marketing and mismanagement exhibited re: the plan for the corporate jet center that certain council members and city employees are trying to push through under cloak of darkness, without any substantive financial forecasting of all potential options, environmental studies, and without listening to the citizens of Renton. The presentation on Mercer Island re: the airport marketing scheme was an embarrassment as no substantive work had been done to answer even the most basic questions. Ask the Airport Manager basic questions and you can’t get any answers. The Renton Aviation Advisory Council members don’t even know who has the authority to vote, and when a vote is pushed in the next month or two, they don’t need to be present to vote. Ouch! This is the current government of Renton at work, folks! The same approach was taken in trying to push the rezoning of the blueberry farm through without doing even basic work in delineating the wetland area. If it hadn’t been for Denis Law and Randy Corman, this would have just been pushed through. Why should it be any different regarding the Sonics Arena? Mayor Tanner must be rolling in his grave at what has happened to our City government.
Why don’t the Billionaire Sonics Owners Build their own stadium?
This whole trend of taxpayers having to build playgrounds for billionaire team owners and millionaire players is preposterous. Let these rich playboys build their own playpens. When given the chance, the taxpayers always vote no, and yet we get these boondoggles anyway. The poor overtaxed taxpayers get to pay the full freight, and then the owners rake in all the gravy, get to sell the concessions, food joints, special box seats…anything that generates revenue goes to the team owners, and anything that is a loss or an expense, goes to the taxpayers. Then these rich thugs have the audacity to name the place after themselves. If Renton falls for this scam, they should call it “Sucker Stadium.”
By the way, it’s great to finally see the city council growing testicles. I thought only the mayor had them.