Since daily newspapers are fair and balanced institutions staffed entirely by objective journalists who merely report the facts, one might expect that our two dailies, covering the same public hearing on the same day, would pretty much report the same story.
Hmm. Interesting thesis. But how does it work out in practice?
Seattle Times:
|
Seattle P-I:
|
According to the Times, the big story was the stunning, plot-twisting conclusion to the Bellevue vs. Renton “mystery.” According to the P-I, the big story was the Sonics intention to fleece $400 million out of taxpayers to build them the most expensive basketball arena in the nation.
Both articles report that the proposed arena would cost about $500 million, and that the Sonics are requesting $300 million in “state-authorized” taxes — but only the P-I spells out that the tax money would come from King County residents, not the state. The Times reports that the remaining $200 million would be “split among private investors and the city of Renton,” whereas the P-I is more specific:
Bennett told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that he expects the public to provide most of the financing — $300 million from the state, about $100 million from the city of Renton — and that most of the money from the facility should go to the team.
And only the P-I points out that the 22-acre site the Sonics have chosen is probably not for sale.
One hearing, two newspapers, two ledes. And two very different story lines coming out of yesterday’s events. I’m not implying any intentional bias on the part of the various reporters, just that bias inevitably exists, and inevitably seeps through every journalist’s work, no matter how hard they try to suppress it. (And sometimes, because they try to suppress it.)
With liberals running Olympia, they will probably get their golden palace. The liberals will declare an “emergency” just like Liberal Gov Mike Lowry did for Safeco field.
Millionaire sports teams over homeless people. “Progressive” indeed.
Stop and think OK City is dying for an NBA team, owners are from OK city. You do the math.
Remember Jeff Smulyan, Ken Behring? How different is this. Anyone notice the Sonics were moved from the station that could best promote the arena to a station that only a handful of it’s fans listen to?
Get out your calculator and tell me if it all adds up.
During the same hearing, the Senate also was told the Kent needs state money to build its own arena for Seattle’s existing hockey team to relocate to. Renton and Kent arenas just a few miles apart and both with heavy public subsidy to pull events out of Seattle and leave that city with a facility with no tenants. I rarely feel sorry for the City of Seattle, but I do this year.
If this goes through, we will see another decade of anti-tax initiatives in response.
And this time, Seattle voters may give a majority vote for them.
Sigh…
And by making “King County” pick up the tab which Seattle residents had already specifically rejected, the whole scheme still looks to Seattle to fund the major part of the package, even though the team will move out of the facility which they remodeled to Sonics’ specifications barely ten years ago.
Although I’m not sure how much of a “hotel and car rental tax” would actually be paid for by local residents anyways.
Gee, how much additional hotel/car rental tax would be generated by the Sonics in Renton? Most who attend are local, aren’t they? And where will the visiting team or media folks stay when they are in town – probably not Renton, but perhaps SeaTac or Bellevue? You might well have media that come in to see the game, do their reports, and leave, without ever seeing the Space Needle even once during their trip.
I thought “lede” was a typo, but I wondered when I saw it used twice in the same post. I looked it up, and Goldy’s use is correct.
http://www.randomhouse.com/wot.....e=20001128
This difference in perspective is the whole point of having two newspapers insted of one.
Bennett’s true intention, no doubt, is to present to the community an unreasonable set of hoops to jump through and jigs to dance, before he hauls the Sonics and Storm off to Oklahoma, claiming to have made a “good-faith effort” to keep the franchise here. It’s indeed possible that, local politics being what they are, that our “leadership” will actually go for it.
With liberals running Olympia, they will probably get their golden palace. The liberals will declare an “emergency” just like Liberal Gov Mike Lowry did for Safeco field.
Actually, I wouldn’t count on it. A number of people in the Leg are very lukewarm about this.
My guess is the only way it moves forward is as part of a package deal where Kistsap gets NASCAR, Tacoma and Spokane get new ballparks, Lewis County gets an equestrian center and so on.
And, uh, hate to break this to you, sport, but the R’s ran the Legislature in 1995 and 1996. Nice try passing this off as something the “liberals’ did.
Why are newspapers exempt from the state sales tax? Let’s eliminate that exemption and dedicate the proceeds to the proposed new arena. Newspapers and their readers who follow the Sonics will benefit from the proposed new arena. Let’s force at least some of the intended beneficiaries of the new arena to pay for it. Let the users pay.
“Bennett’s true intention, no doubt, is to present to the community an unreasonable set of hoops to jump through and jigs to dance, before he hauls the Sonics and Storm off to Oklahoma, claiming to have made a “good-faith effort” to keep the franchise here. It’s indeed possible that, local politics being what they are, that our “leadership” will actually go for it.”
It’s called an “exit strategy”
The real difference is this – the only NEWS in the articles is Clay’s preference for Renton over Bellevue. The other stuff – that the team wants the public to pay, now, without a vote, and that the team wants all the profits – is not NEWS. All that has been reported before and indeed is par for the course (excuse the sports reference) for these sort of stadia. Nothing new there.
(And PS – it would be fine by me if the Sonics are in OKC next year).
Last night on KIRO radio, New York Vinnie was almost falling over himself fawning over the mayor or Renton and Clay Bennett and the whole idea of “keeping the Sonics in the Seattle area”. Of course KIRO and sportscasters like New York Vinnie have a vested interest in keeping the team here. How else are they going to fill programming time between January and the start of the Mariner’s season?
But one of the essential elements is lost towards saving the Sonics. The fact that they have a miserable team, and have had one for several years.
Hey, if we are paying the expense of building the stadium, maybe we should all get to sit in the owner’s luxury box, huh? I didn’t think so.
Hey, Goldy…maybe you should start another threaad about the Giant Viaduct from Hell. We really didn’t get a chance to sort that out before Klake went off his meds.
Oh, so now Bennett wants taxpayers to put $400 million, not $300 million, in his outstretched tin cup?
Bennett HAS to be a Republican, because this is the Republican business model in spades: We put up 80% of the money and take 95% of the financial risks, while he gets 95% of the revenue and 100% of the profits. Fuck him.
There are so many deal-breakers in Bennett’s proposal that it’s extremely difficult to believe he’s not trying to force our community to let him take the team to Oklahoma. Bennett’s arena plan was designed to be rejected.
This is why, if Seattle becomes a 1-newspaper town, the P-I should be the surviving paper.
@3 No reason to feel sorry for Seattle yet. The money and the votes are in Seattle, and we don’t have to give those two-bit towns either our money or our votes.
@5 Don’t forget the restaurant tax. You’re paying for this turkey every time you eat out, whether it be at a McDonald’s or Space Needle Restaurant. My understanding is the restaurant tax is statewide.
Okay, here’s the plan. We build a combined tunnel/viaduct/basketball stadium, using funding from both sources. During commutes, the courtside seats would be retracted, allowing an extra driving lane.
@9,
“And, uh, hate to break this to you, sport, but the R’s ran the Legislature in 1995 and 1996. Nice try passing this off as something the “liberals’ did.
BULLSHIT! Gov Mike Lowry was responsible for that. I remember his news conference about “saving baseball in Washington” with the kid dressed in a baseball hat.
And this “Well Republicans ran the legislature” is crap! There is something called the VETO which the LIBERALS never used because they supported the subsudy for millionaires.
When liberal “progressive” values meet reality, they come out on top for millionaire sports teams and piss on the homeless and disadvantaged. That is the hard truth. Get used to it.
“My guess is the only way it moves forward is as part of a package deal where Kistsap gets NASCAR, Tacoma and Spokane get new ballparks, Lewis County gets an equestrian center and so on.”
Again, the liberals running Olympia show their high sounding “Progressive values” are really just feel good bunk to mask their subsidies for millionaire sports teams. Giving sports subsidies to several counties now is better than just one? WTF? Only a liberal could so twist that and believe in his head that he is still looking out for the downtrodden.
by Goldy, 02/14/2007, 10:34 AM
No matter the Kelo decision will allow the city of Renton to use eminent domain to get the land for the Sonics.
@15 Rabbit says:
He is probably a Democrat by the way he is looking for a handout from the government. But I agree – screw him.
But judging by past liberal actions, the liberals running Olympia will roll over and hand more money to the millionaires meanwhile scratching their head wondering how to find money for other things they SAY they acre about like sate funded health insurance for low income people and such.
Safeco field is a monument to how liberal “progressive” values diverge from their actions to subsidize the rich.
You are brain dead if you don’t understand that the anti-tax movement’s roots can be traced back directly to Liberal Mike Lowry shoving Safeco down our throats.
Sorry, PBJ at 20, but a governor’s veto NEVER EVER appropriated money. The governor can cancel a spending bill with a veto, but he can’t initiate one. There is no way the Democrats could be responsible for a spending bill in the legislature without substantial Republican support, both in leadership (allowing the bill to come out of committee and to a vote on the floor) and for the votes themselves.
Both Republicans and Democrats on state and local levels cooperated in building both the football and the baseball stadiums, in order to satisfy the voters who wanted them. Trying to blame the Democrats after the fact is a bit of historical revisionism.
Don’t ruin PBJ’s fantasy. He was just getting some lead in his droopy pencil and now you have to ruin it. In PBJ’s world, there could be 99 Republican shysters in the legislature and one Democrat, and any spending problems would be the Democrat’s doing.
Hero worship is such a sad thing to witness, especially when the subjects of worship are as pathetic as the Republicans.
PBJ,
Oddly enough, I was always under the impression that Slade Gorton, the guy that took it upon himself to ignore the Seattle vote and guide the legislature to funding Safeco, was a Republican US Senator. Thanks for correcting that !!!!
Continuing my daydream, of a combined Viaduct/Tunnel and Sonics Arena:
The new viaduct/tunnel could serve as a parking lot for the arena on game days. It will already be serving that purpose anyway……
The idiot pbj spews:
You really don’t have a clue, do you?
From Opensecrets.org and their FEC database, it’s easy to see just how much of a wingnut Republican Clay Bennett is. Here are links to his political contributions for 2006 ($17,500), 2004 ($23,000), and 2002 ($5,500).
Though there are a few contributions to Democrats — specifically, Dan Boren (OK-02) — the great majority of his money goes to the reactionary GOP ilk of James Imhofe, Tom Coburn, Pete Coors, Ernest Istook, Don Nickles, and Frank Lucas.
And, of course, George W. Bush.
No, Clay Bennett is just another rapacious corporatist, taking from anyone and everyone (particularly governments and regular folk) to fill his pockets with even more money than he already has.
15 It rather looks like Bennett is trying to avoid taking the Sonics to Ok. City the same way Bush is trying to avoid war with Iran.
20 Lowry? Gee, I coulda sworn that was Slade taking all the credit.
25 Fantasy? Nah, pbj isn’t delusional. He’s just another damned wingnut liar.
ArtFart at 28: All Bennett has to do is wait until Oct. 31st. If he doesn’t get a signed deal by that date, he can move the team. All he has to do is sit back and say “show me the money”, or “I’m not feeling the love yet”. Then he will complain to the media, as the moving vans are loading up the equipment from the Sonics headquarters, that he wanted to keep the team here, but the city/county/state/whatever just wouldn’t cooperate.
I do think it was interesting that the estimated construction costs of the arena suddenly jumped another 1/3.
Another thing to point out about the taxing proposals the Sonics are making to fund the team. The Sonics are trying to pass this off as no real “new” taxes, but only as a continuation of taxes which are already in place. Okay, maybe a “little” new taxes.
But think of this as “lost opportunity”. Taxes going to the Sonics for the next twenty years are tax revenues which we cannot access for other projects – like the Tunnel, the 520 Bridge replacement, etc. To do that, we have to enact additional taxes ON TOP of the ones the Sonics are demanding.
Having professional sports is really a quality of life issue for folks who like that sort of entertainment. Other than supporting the surrounding businesses that spring up…bars, trinket shops, restaurants and the parking bandits….there is no real financial benefit to the community as a whole.
I am Democrat and a liberal, but I oppose team owners who attempt to extort arenas and income from their city of choice. If I own a McDonald’s can I go to the city and say build me a new restaurant or I am leaving? It is my responsibility to build the building, after all, I am reaping the profits.
While having the Mariners here adds to my entertainment choices (I am a seaon seat holder) I am not so emotionally attached to them that I couldn’t live without them. Same for the Sonics and the Seahawks. I would not have moved to St. Petersburg, and I am not moving to Oklahoma, to follow MY? team.
That is what satellite TV is for.
@20 “There is something called the VETO which the LIBERALS never used because they supported the subsudy for millionaires.”
Why didn’t the Republicans who controlled the Senate use the VETO to protect the taxpayers from the evil scheming Mike Lowry? Huh?
ROGER RABBIT POLL
Who is more likely to buy tickets to Sonics games?
[ ] 1. Democrats earning $8 an hour
[ ] 2. Republicans earning $8 a minute
Mayor Billions says “How about 2 basketball hoops at each end of my mega billions tunnel? We can toss rabbits through the hoops, and see if any spare change rattles out.
The baseball stadium was supported by politicians from boht parties. The state senate vote — at a time when the GOP held a senate majority — was 28-16 in favor. This was not solely a Mike Lowry show. Obviously, there were many Republican votes for the stdium in the legislature.
@1 Liberals, liberals, liberals — you sound like a broken record. For the first time since 1994, Democrats control the legislature — and the current Democratic-controlled legislature is the LEAST receptive of any recent legislature to public subsidies for sports teams. When your pockets got picked by the Mariners and Seahawks, the Republican hand was in your pocket, too. You’re a wingnut liar.
PBJ CAUGHT LYING!!!
pbj said @23: “He [i.e., Clay Bennett] is probably a Democrat by the way he is looking for a handout from the government.”
BULLSHIT!!!
Unfortunately for pbj, it is possible to research this by looking up Bennett’s campaign contributions in the Federal Election Commission’s database — and a 3-minute search reveals $61,100 of campaign contributions since 2000. Except for $5,100 to Rep. David Bowen (D-OK) and $2,000 to a PAC, Bennett gave all of that money to the Republican National Committee ($10,000) or Republican candidates (including Peter Coors, George “Macaca” Allen, Rick Lazio, and a raft of GOP congressional candidates).
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/qind/
pbj is caught blowing smoke out of his lying ass again.
@23 (continued) Bennett also contributed $2500 to the Republican candidate in a local prosecutor’s race. http://www.horsesass.org/?p=2536#comment-644131
The land is not even for sale…Yawn. How do you say Bye Bye Oklahoma Sonics.
This whole topic has been decided by Bennett, and all the rest is pure fluff. The team is moving.
It’s beginning to have as much potential as Mayor Billions Tunnel.
David, I’ve been critical of you in the past, but your identification of the contrast was brilliant. Furthermore, I’m shocked by your brilliance, especially since you wrote your post at mid-morning, after having pounded them big-time the evening before.
An increase in the Inheritance Tax er… death tax would probably cover it.
3
Say what??
Have the Thunderbirds expressed some kind of desire to leave Seattle? Or are Kent’s city fathers anticipating that Seattle is going to have a fire sale on minor league sports franchises?
It’s not like we’re talking the NHL here. I don’t know what the WHL’s rules for expansion are, but if Everett and the Tri-Cities can have their own teams, I don’t see why Kent can’t. Let’s get a little three-team around-the-Sound rivalry going.
Tell Bennett to eat shit and bark at the moon.
His business partner donated a ton of money to the Swift Boat Liar Rat Bastards.
Good bye, Sonics and Storm.
I’d rather have a tunnel to replace the viaduct that a sports arena for a mediocre basketball team.
Sorry Roger but the restaurant tax is a purely King County thing. Thank you. My Happy Meals are cheaper than yours. And it doesn’t matter if Seattle has “the votes” when the State is helping other cities build arenas designed to pull event dollars out of Seattle. At the hearing on the Kent facility, supporters boasted about taking events out of other public facilities- both Seattle’s and Tacoma’s. There is something wrong with the State helping one city do that to another.
And as for Killin Me @ 45: the T-birds have said they want a new facility and are talking with Kent about a lease in their proposed arena.