Seattle settles with the Sonics for the $ equivalent of 57 high tech toilets. (or 35 if we get another NBA team in the next 5 years)
Wow, what a sad day for the city, we lost the Sonics and found out that Seattle can be out-hustled by a group that wants something really badly and isn’t afraid to fight for it.
I wonder if losing the Sonics will be to Mayor Nickels what the WTO was to Mayor Paul Schell - the straw that broke the mayor’s popularity.
Of course, the $45 million cash settlement the city will receive makes my spidey-sense tingle - because the best thing to do would be to use it to pay off the remaining $37 million debt on Key Arena - but you know our mayor and city council, they like to ’invest’ in ‘interesting’ programs.
In fact, based on some prior decisions they’ve made - here are some things I wouldn’t be surprised we ended up with; Seattle could buy 57 high tech toilets (previously bought and maintained 5 high-tech toilets for $6 million)
Could build another 1.3 mile streetcar line. Maybe this time from Pioneer Square to the Sculpture park - oh wait, that would mean using existing tracks to service a streetcar line that successfully used to shuttle people around the waterfront. Never mind, stupid idea, that won’t happen. 
They could provide developers who build ‘affordable’ housing with 28 additional kinds of tax breaks like the one they gave this week. 
Or maybe hold some more advisory elections, how about some more viaduct advisory votes?
Anyway, since I’m bummed at the Sonics’ passing - here’s something to brighten your mood - a clip from Game 7 of the ‘96 NBA Western Conference Finals when the Sonics stuck it to the Jazz (and in this game they especially stuck it to Malone and Stockton).
Oh yeah, and here’s one more thing - at least we all don’t have to follow the team to Oklahoma - living there would be the biggest bummer of all.)
5 comments
“I wonder if losing the Sonics will be to Mayor Nickels what the WTO was to Mayor Paul Schell - the straw that broke the mayor’s popularity. ”
You mean a tree program that doesn’t save trees and enough giveways to developers to make a 50s-era Chicago politico blush wouldn’t be enough?
Break what popularity?
The Mayor’s PR team does a such a good job of marketing his minor wins (like all those little ‘green’ initiatives he creates) through both the press and and all those ‘Evening Magazine’ type city rah-rah shows he keeps pumping out on the Seattle Channel, that unless you’re paying close attention (and most people don’t pay close attention) it is easy to think that he’s doing lots of significant things.
I think (hope) this Sonics loss was so spectacular and visible that it will serve as a wake up call for cityto start looking at how the Mayor is handling other issues.
While I have no idea why anyone would WANT to live in OC, no need to rag on them for this fiasco. Although it probably is worth poking fun at the meme that getting an NBA team makes one a “big league city.” That’s the paradigm that drove the Bennett group to target and acquire the Sonics and plainly it ignores all of the authentic features that one would like to see in a ‘real’ city.
As for the mayor and the politics of this situation, I am curious why there hasn’t been any hue and cry regarding Slade Gorton’s conspiratorial machinations. After all, Skeletor’s ‘dirty hands’ was the only weakness in Seattle’s legal case.
David
Whoops, didn’t finish my OKC rag - ‘living there would be the biggest bummer of all…because of their third-worst in the nation smoking rate.’ (http://newsok.com/article/3135426/1190949723)
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking when I wrote this.
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