Friday, October 31, 2008

Mr. Baker has sent you a video from tvw.org, Washington State Joint Task Force Local Financing Options for King County

The lesson is: Do not stop looking for information that you want.

About 3:26 minutes into the linked video that actual meeting takes place.
The meeting is the July 16, 2008, of the Washington State Joint Task Force Local Financing Options for King County

Have a great day,
Mr Baker
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: tvw@tvw.org
Date: October 31, 2008 8:03:45 AM PDT
To:Mr. Baker
Subject: Mr. Baker has sent you a video from tvw.org

Mr. Baker has sent you a video from tvw.org
 Local Financing Options for King County Local Financing Options for King County held on July 16, 2008 9:00am
Task Force administration (selection of Chair, discussion of goals, meeting schedules), overview of stadium-related material in King County, review of 2008 legislation (SB 6638 - reallocating existing lodging taxes for heritage & arts programs), other.


Please click here to watch video or paste this url into your browser address bar: http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?EvId=2008070075




please do not reply to this email.
for questions or concerns please email support@tvw.org


The web is a wonderful thing.

9 comments:

Mr Baker said...

So, there is a desire by a couple of them to sunset some of the taxes, a desire to understand the anticipated impacts to the communities before and after safeco and Qwest were build.
There was a desire to understand how other places were doing it, and i see from the Oct 1st meeting that there was a list of basketball arenas.
santos said they have to be done by december 1st, that's the same day it was reported by eric D. Williams in the TNT that the city would provide its proposal.
My guess is that they will have to provide it before then.
The meetings after the first one are supposed to be in different places around King County, I doubt there will be video.

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember reading an article buried in the Times or PI regarding the WSCTC tax. I believe the state used it to balance the the '07 budget. Since the state is about to inheirit a deficit could this be a reason that the director is hedging as well?

Mr Baker said...

Yes, that happened. That is one of the big reasons the hotels pushed to have the law changed to limit what that tax can be used for, that is how and why we have Senate Bill 6638 passing last March, and going into law July 1st. That can not happen again, so when people say the tax should be spent on schools and roads they just do not know that the law changed, and that is not possible.

Stadiums and Exhibition construction, some cultural projects. Pike Place Market may qualify but the city can not ask for both things but the Market could pass a public vote right now.

No, that is not why he is hedging. I really think they want to use the revenue in the near future for expanding operations, and they do not think the city will give the tax stream back after Key Arena is rebuilt.

There is a Seattle Center Master Plan out there that could cost 565 million dollars with no known funding source. I think that is the roadblock.
They are going to have to agree to share this going into the future.

Check out Senate Bill 6638, it is on the Task Force web page.

Anonymous said...

All the more reason that the city and the convention center work jointly. Damn! How hard can this be?

Mr Baker said...

agreed, it is kind of dumb.

This city's desire to turn everything into a giant greenspace/lawn is nuts. New York needs Central Park because of the endless urban environment, Seattle wants one in spite of having its urban environment encapsulated by green spaces.

The Center House should be crushed and made into a convention center, with monorail service to downtown hotels. How freaking hard is it?

What they have planned now is blowing out a wall and putting on a glass roof. Why bother.
Clearly I am in agreement, and unhappy with the situation.

They want to cover every lawn with condos, and force everybody to public lawns. As if the current parks and green spaced are completely utilized.

Traveling to a community lawn while I have a back yard is not going to happen. Condo owners know they are buying a house without a lawn.

Anonymous said...

One more thing about the convention center: When describing the lack of space for the WSCTC, the director (who's name I keep forgeting) often compares it to cities that have more space like San Franciso and San Diego. Is this is some kind of Freudian slip? Because I can't help but notice that those cities have no NBA teams or major professional indoor sports. The San Diego Sports Arena host frigging swap meets on the weekends! Swap Meets! I don't have to go into detail on that plausibility with Seattle Center. San Fran has the venerable "Cow Palace". Why would the Warriors ever leave for Oakland, when you can play in a arena built in 1941 that was more known for rodeos and livestock expositions? Freudian slip or not this definately where we're headed if the city does not get its stuff together by December 2009.

Mr Baker said...

no, those two cities have made major investments in convention space, San Diego was mentioned in a CNN story I posted a link to over at SonicsCentral. New Orleans mentions SD as who the compete with for warm weather convention destinations.
The Apple WWDC is held in San Fran.

Don't be shocked to see SD make a play to get the Clippers back.

Anonymous said...

Yeah I would be shocked since they don't have an arena...yet. And Anaheim seems to be angling for another tenant in the Honda Center. So I'm a bit skeptical whether they could get the Clips back. Much less want them back. I'm just seeing a trend here with Seattle----alot San Fran envy going on I think. San Diego and San Francisco gain alot of their income from tourism and conventions. I think there is a belief that Seattle can compete with them.

Mr Baker said...

San Diego Sports Arena is about to get crushed. They could replace it with nothing but condos and shopping, or build a brand new arena (if they can get the anchor tenant) . They are a step ahead of B2, at least they have land. B2 is short land and a team.
Clips are jacking up prices on lower bowl tickets, so they may stay if they can cash in.