Speculate all you want about Seattle developer Martin Selig’s $10,000 contribution to the No Tunnel Pro-Rebuild Alliance, but from what I hear, political payback is likely a factor. Selig is still pissed off at Mayor Greg Nickels for forcing him to pay his electric bill, and nothing would please him more than to fuck with the Mayor’s Viaduct plans in return.
Notorious for his ethical ambivalence, Selig’s standard business practice seems to be predicated on the assumption that fighting long past-due bills costs far less than the profit to be earned from investing the money elsewhere. Back in 2004 it took a strongly worded shut-off notice sent to Selig’s tenants to force him to pay a $950,000 Seattle City Light bill, but unsuspecting vendors, contractors and partners who lack such leverage are apparently forced to accept pennies on the dollar, or pursue their accounts receivable in court.
And yet Selig, routinely unable to to pay his own bills, somehow managed to scrape up $927,000 in spare change to spend on an initiative to repeal the estate tax, and hundreds of thousands of dollars more killing the Monorail.
Already the Pro-Rebuild Alliance’s largest donor, you can be certain Selig is willing to spend plenty more to assure that a massive, double-decker freeway continues to run through Seattle’s waterfront. And to finance his civic participation, you can be sure that some contractor or vendor somewhere is going to be stiffed this month by Martin Selig.
One would think he’s got a substantial interest in getting rid of the viaduct, given the business and residents it could attract to downtown, further increasing real estate prices. Maybe you’re on to something here with the Selig-Nickels rivalry? Or maybe Selig just has one too many screws loose upstairs?
Selig is a classic rich Republican — he wants Aunt Tillie to pay higher rates so he can get free electricity for his buildings and pocket more profit.
He probably doesn’t have anything in his own name, either.
Martin Selig = redneck economics on a macroeconomic scale
Martin Selig, the deadbeat who can’t pay his light bill, has plenty of money not only for initiatives but also for tearing down beloved historic churches.
http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/s.....ch+Seattle
This site has turned into a bunch of cranks and hacks Selig is from the old school of developers, taking risk and going banko often in the procecss
Only you are are even interested in how he spends in his old age
Write a play
By the way, set aside all the drama and conspiracy theory – polling says the bulk of Seattle voters are OK with the rebuild at this time
Does each of them have a script which involves the mayor, the monorail, Goldy pro or con, tenants and their own pocket?
No, it makes sense to let the state spend its money and proceed to solve a major problem. Six years of discussion – bang the gavel, vote, and build.
Keep looking for the pie in the sky, maybe there is real danger in too much drinking and smoking weed.
I think we can all agree Martin is a pig.
adulterer
tax cheat
fast and loose w/ borrowed money as he built his empire
(i think i could go on and on)
Roger Rabbit says:
Selig is a classic rich Republican — he wants Aunt Tillie to pay higher rates so he can get free electricity for his buildings and pocket more profit.
02/08/2007 at 1:31 am
While I agree Selig is unethical, he’s hardly a “classic rich Republican”. He’s contributed thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates, i.e. Lieberman, Cantwell, Senn, and Bill Bradley, over the years.
Seattle … why develop?
I am mystified by Seattle’s development scene.
As a taxpayer I pay the highest rates in the State, perhaps 2X Bellevue.
Why? And why don’t tax rates FALL as Vulcan et all develop properties? Why should rates be higher here than on Mercer Island?
Possible Answers:
1. High impact of low income kids omjn schools
Perhaps, but Seattle also has a huge number on child families. They pay same taxes as those with kids so this should conterbalance to some extent. Also the bulk of the new development is kid unfriendly (anyone here about the new Belltown Elementary?)
2. Seattle subsidized the region
I wondwr. We have lots of regional facilities, who pays their civic bills? the UW? the Port?, then there is the zoo, the Library, SAM, etc.
3. Lower evaluations of housing
Possible,
4. High costs to support commercial properties
Workers in the Columbia Tower benefit hugeky from Seattle but pay their taxes elsewhere.
5. Welfare costs
Again, these should decrease in proportion to new housing. Also as Seattle home prices rise, folks leave.
So, my question for those who know more than I do … does it COST the Seattle taxpayer to develop SLU? Will kit raise all our taxes or lower them?
I like 4. Seattle is the economic engine of the region – Idaho and everyone west of there ought to pay taxes to support the facilities that make Seattle a major money machine. Instead, the costs are pushed on to urbanites, since they are all effete and democrat leaning (if not Democratic).
Martin Selig is donating HUGE bucks to a rebuild effort?
Can everyone now SHUT UP about how “big city developers” are all for the tunnel?
Lordsman @5,
Hmm. So some average Joe has a family illness or loses his job and can’t pay his bills, and we’ve got to rewrite our nation’s bankruptcy laws to deal with shiftless, deadbeats like that… but when a wealthy developer like Selig refuses to pay his bills because he’d rather invest the money elsewhere, well, he’s just an “old school developer, taking risk” who we should somehow honor and respect?
Geez.
Perhaps Selig got caught flat-footed, and he doesn’t have any options on waterfront property which would appreciate in value if the viaduct is torn down? If the waterfront area changes from warehouses to office space/condo development, then it would tend to lower the values of the “uphill” properties.
City Light sending a shut-off notice to a big developer with a lot of money? I am shocked! Say, I wonder if Selig believes in energy conservation, maybe he should look at why the bills get so high. One of the reasons City Light promoted conservation, was the skyscrapers were consuming too much power. The old Seattle First National Bank Building(between 3rd and 4th Ave, Madison and Spring streets) consumed around 2 Megawatts of power. That was where City Light drew the line. Notice that most new big buildings in Downtown have bigger windows now?
Also, by the way, who developed IDX Tower? It looks like it has some solar cells on the roof and upper floors.
Just because Selig is a lying sack of shit doesn’t necessarily mean he’s wrong on the tunnel.
Gee, I haven’t seen MTR posting here lately, unless he has taken on a new moniker. Perhaps he was shamed by the Staples Office Supply salesman in Illinois, who promptly arranged to make good on his own bet, no matter how personally embarrasing?
(News Item):
“DECATUR, Ill. (AP) — Scott Wiese, a die-hard Chicago Bears fan, will legally change his name to that of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning after signing a pledge in front of a crowd at a Decatur bar last Friday night. He vowed to adopt Manning’s name if the Bears lost Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The final score was Colts 29, Bears 17.
So on Tuesday, Wiese went to the Macon County Courts Facility and started the process of changing his name.
“I made the bet, and now I’ve got to keep it,” said the 26-year-old, who lives in Forsyth, just north of Decatur.”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....CTION=HOME
rhp6033@16 Shhhhhh. Speak of the Devil, and he doth appear. . . .
Martin Selig sucks as an artists, too!
Nice source Goldy…..
It’s bad enough to use The Stranger as a source but Erica Barnett is an absolute Joke.
Your post has zero credibility now.
re 19: You mean some sources are “ipso fatso” suspect — like Jonah Goldberg and anything issuing forth from the “Heritage of Murder, Theft, and Lies Foundation”?
@20 Jawohl!
@5 Selig is the kind of leech who gives capitalism and real estate developers a bad name.
@5 (continued) It’s easy to take risks with City Light’s money. Is going bankrupt frequently a virtue? If I were a contractor doing business with this shylock I’d automatically add a 40% bad debt/late payment premium to my bid.
@8 I’m curious where you got that from as my reading on Selig indicates he contributes (if at all) to Republicans. In fact, the Stranger article Goldy linked to says,
” … Selig has given money to a few, mostly Republican, candidates — including $2,000 to Patty Murray challenger George Nethercutt and $6,000 to President Bush — and has even been spotted wearing a ‘W’ tie … ”
That doesn’t sound like a Democrat to me.
@13 “Perhaps Selig got caught flat-footed, and he doesn’t have any options on waterfront property which would appreciate in value if the viaduct is torn down? If the waterfront area changes from warehouses to office space/condo development, then it would tend to lower the values of the ‘uphill’ properties.”
I think you’ve got it right. Selig makes more money if he doesn’t have to compete for office space tenants with a new slew of view properties. Since he’s mostly uphill from the waterfront and doesn’t have much view property, he doesn’t want others to have it, either.
@19 And you have more? Why?
So I could buy up Selig’s debts for pennies on the dollar, then take him to court for everything he (now)owes me? Just asking.
How many buildings does he own? This might be worth it.
RHP and Roger, I’m with you….Selig is heavily invested in the “old” downtown up the hill, and it won’t do him a whole lot of good if the Viaduct gets torn out to make way for a bunch of sexy new properties with a better view. Either he’s reached the age where he no longer wants to take on any big new projects, or he’s not part of the anointed group of developers for what’s to come.
With that in mind, I have two questions…first, who’s the real owner of the space in question? Is it city property or is it still railroad right-of-way with air rights above that ceded to the city or the Dept. of Transportation? And where, pray tell, does Paul Allen fit into all this?
If you go to the Washington State Courts name search page:
http://dw.courts.wa.gov/index......rms=accept
And search for “Selig, Martin”, the results are actually pretty amusing. Unfortunately, the web page stops returning cases after the first 200.
Roger Rabbit says:
Since he’s given thousands (look it up on the FEC site) to Democrats he dosn’t sound like a Republican either, especially a “classic rich Repbulican”. I’d say he’s a political opportunist who contributes money to candidates whom he thinks he can personally benefit from, if they win.
Go to:
http://www.fec.gov/finance/dis.....dsea.shtml
And search on the name “Martin Selig” to see who he’s contributed to.
“http://www.fec.gov/finance/dis closure/norindsea.shtml
And search on the name “Martin Selig” to see who he’s contributed to.”
Gee, I went to that site and typed in my own name. It’s scary. Somebody with my name actually gave to the Lyndon LaRouche campaign! And it doesn’t even show my actual contributions.
The company I used to work for had/has Selig on a cash-only basis, a corporation with deep pockets too. I can’t figure this guy out. He’ll spend a million to keep the monorail away from his properties, yet spend $10,000 (it’ll grow if history is any indication) to help rebuild a monstrosity 5 times as offensive next to the same properties. He wore a Bush pin during the 2004 election the same year he gave the max to Senn. I just think he gets off on being a pain in the ass.
Selig:bad::Allen:good ??
Can someone please explain the preoccupation here with Selig? Lets see .. Paul Allen got the citizens to buy him a stadium, a streetcar, a melty museum, and he is a good guy?
Selig seems like the typical avaricious and probably unimaginative money grubbin developer. Tsk tsk
I just had a brilliant idea for Martin…
He should buy the Sonics, then we can buy him an Arena and love him too.
I suspect that Selig is more anti-Tunnel that pro-Rebuild.
Of course actually asking Selig “why?” would be too much trouble for Goldy — the superficial cheap shot is more red meat for the mob.
Actually, from what I hear, Selig is more pro-retrofit than anything else.