Local Thumbs Are Down For Stadium Boondoggle
If would-be Seahawks buyer Paul Allen wants Washington voters to OK a new football stadium in Seattle, he shouldn’t count too heavily on Spokane-area voters. An unscientific sampling of Bagpipes readers is unanimously hostile to the idea.
“Potential Seahawks owner Paul Allen is the key reason I’m voting no,” Harv Clark said in his same-day response by e-mail to Thursday’s column.
“Two weeks ago Friday, on a nine-plus-point gain in Microsoft stock, Allen made just under $1 billion.
Without losing ground, earlier this week Microsoft stock went up four-plus points in one day and yesterday, another two-plus points. That’s over $1.5 billion in just under three weeks.
“If he were to cash in just that much stock,” said Clark, “Allen could purchase the Seahawks, finance the destruction of the Kingdome, build the new stadium and exhibition center, fill every pothole in the state of Washington, take every Seattle resident to Mickey D’s for a Big Mac, stop at Starbucks on the way home for a cup of coffee and still have cash left over to fund football scholarships at the UW and WSU to stock his future teams. And he wants me to vote on what????
“Somebody once told me when you have that much money there isn’t a no left in the world. I think the voters of this state will prove that statement wrong on June 17.”
Like Clark, Carol Conzelman was pothole-conscious.
“If we can’t afford decent roads and decent highways, we can’t afford a stadium,” she said. “I think it’s unfair to put it to a vote because the people in Seattle are going to swing this vote against us.
“People down here need to get out and register to vote and turn this thing down right now. And we all need to call our legislators and tell them: No new stadium until our roads down here are drivable.”
“No matter how you look at it,” said James A. Nelson, “this new stadium in Seattle will cost the citizens of this state money. This money will be spent to satisfy the egos and line the pockets of owners and players of professional sports. While they are getting rich, the average wage earner or retiree in Eastern Washington will not even be able to attend one of these games due to cost.”
But none of the stadium foes who contacted Bagpipes’ could top Marian Moos for brevity: “I am opposed to funding the new football stadium in Seattle with public funds.”
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