It has been announced the Sonics have chosen Renton as the site for their new arena, pending funding by the State and City of Renton.
So, is this a good thing or not?
Me, I like basketball. I have followed the Sonics for almost 30 years, and I follow the sport. I played basketball as a younger person, and was never any good, but now I'm old, fat, and slow, and still short.
I have fond memories of the Sonics '79 NBA championship. I also think an arena in Renton would be good for the city's coffers, and for bars and restaurants nearby.. I'd love to see them come here. BUT WAIT!!!
My opinion over the years has hardened over public subsidies of privately owned arenas.
There are some pressing needs in this state, and taxes can be stretched only so far.
Whether it's Paul Allen we're subsidizing or Clay Bennett (new Sonics owner), do they really need us to build them an arena? Aren't they gazillionaires?
I'd prefer not to see the Sonics leave for Oklahoma City...I might even be okay with having taxpayers fork up 25% of the total cost involved, but geesh! It's like Robin Hood in reverse: Taking money from the pockets from ordinary working stiffs and giving it to the richest folks in the country, who will then charge 60 bucks for tickets to this arena. No thanks. As far as I'm concerned, if Clay Bennett is not willing to pay for the vast majority of a new arena, he can ride his horse back to Oklahoma, and take the Sonics with him.
But I'm just not that strongly principled. If the Sonics do actually move here to Renton, I'll probably go to a few games a year.
But, y'know what?
It ain't gonna happen. It's not like the '95 Mariners, where the state legislature overrode the vote of the people because the M's were in a playoff chase, and it seemed at that point that the voters regretted their vote.
Now, the Sonics just plain suck. If they started winning, there might be more interest on the part of residents and politicians to keep the team in the Seattle area, but as I see it, it won't be the Renton Supersonics, but the Oklahoma City Soonersonics.
2 comments:
If you do not like the high priced menus, I totally recomend checking out DCs,$1 tacos and bottles of beer by the bucket. We had 10 tacos and 5 coronas for about $20 and the bartender let us play our own "set" on our ipod while we ate. What a different type of bar. I will be back.
My thinking is this: I haven't seen any real positive proof that sports teams give definate return on taxpayers' money. But I have seen definate proof that taxpayers' money has greatly helped out in increasing the bottom line of already rich sports team franchises. So I would think that only AFTER we get education, health and affordable housing straight; only THEN should we turn to the pressing needs of the wealthy.
And what benefit is this going to be to existing Renton businesses? All of the businesses surrounding the proposed field will be new development on the property that Boeing recently sold to Texas developers. I doubt anybody currently doing business in the area will do anything but LOSE money with the increased competition. Any jobs that are added will be mostly minimum wage.
Also, I'm not wild about the fact that two of the Sonics' owners are rabidly anti-gay and have donated more than $1 million to extremist groups such as Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. I would prefer that not one cent of my tax dollar goes to the benefit of people like that.
And I suspect that the only reason that the Renton City government is for it is because of bigger budgets and increased clout. The whole thing is just plain wrong.
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