Tax Money For Stadium A Tough Sell Second Site Unpopular In Eastern Washington

Using public money to pay for a new football stadium in King County is not exactly a popular idea with Eastern Washington lawmakers.

State lawmakers voted to spend state money on a $325 million stadium for the Seattle Mariners just last year. So providing money for another stadium in the same town is a tough sell.

“A second stadium? We haven’t even started building the other one yet. It blows my mind. How much is the state supposed to invest in one community?” asked Sen. Eugene Prince, R-Thornton.

Prince voted for the Mariners’ new stadium, but said he won’t support another one in the coming session. “I couldn’t go home. There’s no way I could take that kind of heat twice.”

Sen. James West, R-Spokane, who will serve as chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee come January, said he’s trying to keep an open mind. “But it’s a tough sell right now.

“I don’t think voters in Sequim or Kettle Falls should be asked to pay for something in Seattle when right now we don’t have enough money to pay for all the schools we want to build. I’m not saying no, but I’m leaning that way pretty hard.”

He may never have to decide.

So far billionaire Paul Allen isn’t having any luck negotiating the purchase of the Seahawks. He’s got an option to buy the team, but hasn’t been able to agree with King County officials over the terms of the deal.

Feelings have grown so sour the deal may die long before it gets to Olympia, where Allen wants to ask lawmakers to help pay for a new, open-air football stadium.

The major sticking point is the lease with King County held by the Seahawks at the Kingdome. The lease runs for nine more years, and Allen wants it cut to three.

Allen says King County Executive Gary Locke, the governor-elect, promised last March to shorten the Seahawks’ lease if he bought the team.

Allen now wants Locke’s promise put in writing, but Locke says things have changed.

A shorter lease was offered only if Allen bought the team, Locke says. Instead, Allen bought an option to buy the team, which extends until July 1997.

Allen says if he doesn’t get a three-year lease agreement from King County by Dec. 15, he’s walking away from the deal.

He is becoming impatient with county officials who approached him in the first place about buying the team to keep it in King County.

People close to the negotiations say Allen’s not bluffing.

“I talked to him Sunday and it’s looking bad,” said Patrick Patrick, a Seattle bank president serving as co-chairman of a citizen task force put together to advise the county about what to do with the Kingdome.

“You look at this guy who’s got all this money and say, ‘why doesn’t he buy the team,’ but then again why should he? “He wasn’t treated very nicely. You would like to think your politicians would keep their word.”

Meanwhile, six options are under review by the task force to help decide the fate of the Kingdome.

They include:

Tearing it down and building a new football stadium on the site.

Building a new stadium in Kent.

Renovating Husky Stadium or renovating the dome for the Seahawks’ continued use.

Kevin Raymond of the county executive’s office said he’s optimistic King County and Allen can still cut a deal.

The county’s first choice right now is to keep the Seahawks playing in a renovated Kingdome, with Allen as the owner, Raymond said. That could change, depending on what the task force recommends.

Susan Pierson, spokeswoman for Allen, said a renovated Kingdome “is definitely an option, but it’s not rising to the top as the best solution.”

Allen prefers an open-air stadium and larger seating capacity than the Kingdome could deliver, even with renovations, Pierson said.

Allen will help pay for a new stadium, but he won’t foot the whole bill, Pierson said. Instead, Allen is seeking a “public-private partnership.” That means taxpayers’ money.

But Allen has a gauntlet of skeptics to run in Olympia.

“Tell Paul I could use a little help, too,” quipped Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley.

For Lisa Brown, a Spokane Democrat about to begin her first term in the Senate, “It’s a matter of priorities. Making sure people have shelter and food. Stadiums are low on my list.”

Rep. Larry Crouse, R-Spokane, said his vote for the Mariners’ stadium was his biggest mistake in Olympia. “I think this Legislature is a bit smarter than a year ago.

“You learn your lessons, you make your mistakes, but hopefully not the same mistakes.”

, DataTimes