Argument: Money spent on Key Arena will take away from roads and schools.
Rebuttal: Everybody in Seattle is committed to providing the best possible roads for our citizens and schools for our children. However, it is crucial to realize this is not an either/or proposition. Professional sports generate millions of dollars annually in revenue, which positively effects the budgets for both schools and roads.
If a new arena is not approved in the region, City Council Chair Nick Licata's alternative proposal calls for nearly $130 million in vaguely defined "tourism development" funds to offset the lack of national media coverage received by having an NBA franchise, and approximately $65 million more for Key Arena debt payoff and renovations. That is $195 million dollars in tax monies to be spent on how to best replace the income generated by the Sonics and Storm – virtually the same price it would cost the city to build a new arena in the first place.
All funds for a basketball arena would come from a specific use tax designated for that purpose. Seattle taxpayers should be more alarmed at the prospect of subsidizing the Seattle Center out of the City's general fund for the foreseeable future should it lose the Sonics and Storm as anchor tenants. Even opponents of a new arena need to demand a plan to replace this revenue and protect our budget from the loss of sports-related revenue.
Quotes: If House Bill 3233, or its companion Senate Bill 6849, do not pass, legislators should consider using the same revenue streams identified in those bills to promote tourism in this region through the support of multiple cultural, entertainment and heritage facilities…An Economic Impact Study of Arts and Cultural Organizations in King County:2003, conducted by GMA Research said: "In 2003 $835 million in business activity was generated in King County by the spending of these patrons and cultural organizations. In addition some 23,600 jobs and $383 million in labor income was generated due to these activities."
- Seattle City Council chair Nick Licata,
http://www.seattle.gov/council/licata/up_210.htm |