Posted on 04/13/2007 3:10:41 PM PDT by truth49
Washington State officials are sharply divided over two proposals that would use tax dollars to subsidize a NASCAR race track and a basketball arena for the Seattle Supersonics of the National Basketball Association. The bills combined would dole out more than $500 million in taxpayer subsidies for the private sports facilities.
Florida-based International Speedway Corp. (ISC) and Sonics owner Clay Bennett are pushing hard to secure funding for their respective projects.
ISC officials are promoting an 83,500-seat race track as a revenue-generating economic development project. They say the track would attract crowds of out-of-state race fans and generate enough additional sales tax revenue to fund the state's share of the project.
The Sonics are basing their case for taxpayer funding on the multi-use nature of the proposed facility.
Treasurer Slams Subsidies
Washington State Treasurer Mike Murphy (D) is railing against both proposals, calling them terrible deals for taxpayers. He says lawmakers need only look at Qwest Field, Washington's most recent subsidized sports endeavor, to see what a poor return taxpayers received.
The state will pay about $600 million over 25 years to pay off $300 million it borrowed in 1997 to build the stadium for the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks, Murphy said. In the same period, the Seahawks will pay just $25 million in rent while collecting virtually all of the parking, ticket, and concessions revenue.
"We might as well dispense with calling these things public-private partnerships, because they really aren't," Murphy told the state's House Finance Committee on February 20. One day later, in an interview with Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times, Murphy said, "The private side gets rich. The public side gets screwed."
Locals Oppose Track
In Kitsap County, where the NASCAR track would be built, support is weak. None of the state legislators representing the Kitsap Peninsula supports using state dollars to finance the track. Most, including Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-Poulsbo), are actively opposed to the plan.
"I have always believed that public money should be for a public purpose. The track ultimately offers my county nothing," Appleton said. "ISC has been offered 1,000 acres free in Lewis County with access to I-5. If ISC wants a track in Washington State, they should go there and pay their own way."
Citizens Denied Say
Other legislators are troubled by the addition of an emergency clause in both the NASCAR and Sonics bills, which would deny citizens the right to a referendum. State Sen. Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville) said he doesn't understand the need for an emergency clause.
Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) has also cooled to the idea of a publicly funded racetrack and basketball arena. He has told reporters other pressing needs such as education should take precedence.
Some Washington officials, particularly Lt. Gov. Brad Owen (D), are thrilled about the prospect of a NASCAR track in the state. Owen has urged skeptical lawmakers to consider the jobs, taxes, and tourist dollars the track could bring.
Commenting on the Sonics arena plan, state Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Olympia), one of the project's most enthusiastic supporters, has pointed to Denver's Pepsi Center as a model for what a multi-use facility could bring to Washington State. The Pepsi Center was recently chosen as the site for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Private Money Works
But critics point out the Pepsi Center was developed entirely by private funds, and that multi-use facilities do not need public funding.
Others point out that ISC, which operates a dozen speedways nationwide, could easily fund the project without tax dollars. Support for the project dwindled further, according to a February 18 article in the Kitsap Sun, after legislators learned the ISC was willing to privately fund the entire construction bill for a track on Staten Island in New York City, but not in Washington.
"The state is not denying NASCAR or the Sonics access to permits to build their facilities. The only thing keeping these structures from being built is the misplaced demand that taxpayers foot the bill," said Jason Mercier, director of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Economic Policy Center.
I love NASCAR but no taxpayer money for sports.
Idiots in almost every city will dole out Welfare to the Billionaire owners of sports teams. Seattle and Washington State will so just like the Morons in DFW that are paying the the Dallas Cowboys new Stadium.
Jerry Jones is the Biggest Welfare Queen of all.
I thought these items were both dead. I think this might be an old article
Arguing is silly.
Even if the populace votes both of them down, it only takes a phone call from Paul Allen to have both of them built — at taxpayer’s expense.
Glad I left that state.
France could pay for this out of his mad money. Greedy little twerp.
Sonics need one more vote to keep arena plan alive
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/davidpostman/archives/2007/04/sonics_need_one_more_vote_to_keep_arena_plan_alive.html
Are the people is Washington State so stupid as to vote to build the arena>
I love NASCAR, but no way taxes should pay for private sporting companies. Plus the last thing NASCAR needs is another track.
I live in the shadow of a NASCAR track, and know the place very well from a number of capacities.
ISC’s speedways are like casinos... The customers come in, and ISC tries to keep as much of their money as possible, leaving little for area merchants.
ISC bought a bunch of prime real estate for parking areas, meaning that they’ll never be $300,000 homes, full of people who will patronize local merchants year-round.
ISC does help some local non-profits with jobs during race weekends. And, they do make the speedway available for the state high school cross-country championship, as well as a huge hot rod show. They also donate tickets to charity groups for the IRL race (but in fairness, they only sell 20,000 and have 155,000 seats).
What we do have is a traffic jam from hell on race day. Either the traffic will be backed up, literally, for 24 hours after the race, or the state will need to build 4 lanes or more to the nearest Interstate.
Then again, at one time, NASCAR was a small-crowd regional series. It is possible that someday they’ll be that small again. Tracks do go bankrupt (Pikes Peak, Nazareth and Chicago recently, and a long list of famous tracks over the past 35 years).
I’d encourage anyone who wants a track in their back yard to visit me on a NASCAR weekend. AT least they’d know what they’d be getting.....
I totally agree. They seem to be trying to penetrate the northeast and northwest, but we fans know who brung them to the dance.
I’m torn on this issue because I would like to see the sonics stay in Seattle, and many businesses and jobs are lost by a major sports franchise leaving a city. The bike trail obsessed, liberal pandering bolsheviks that make up Seattle city politics are completely wrong in their public statements that pro-sports and these facilities don’t bring any cultural value to the city and state.
But these facilities have gotten soo expensive, its almost impossible to ever recoup your investment.
Same here!
I am not sure how any conservative could support Welfare for a pro sports team.
I’d like to see NASCAR drop Pocono or Indy and go back to Rocky, or run a race in Kentucky. Or add an early road race at Sebring.
When MIS was built near here it did nothing but produce money.
We (voters) don’t want it, but it sounds like the legislature is moving ahead with plans for the Sonics stadium.
If you are a WA resident, could you tell me if the area proposed for the NASCAR track is relatively dry compared to the usual Seattle-type weather? If it is similar to Seattle, why would NASCAR want a track where they would be under a rain threat that often?
I agree with the other posters: No tax funds for NASCAR!
I think thats only part of the deal. These facilities are also used for concerts, high school sports tourneys, entertainment events. Businesses and restuarants operate in and around them. I think people always underestimate how many jobs, commerce, and culture these facilities bring to a city. They create a lot of business opurtunities and fun for families and I guess as a conservative, thats the side I look for.
Kind of small for NASCAR, isn't it? Looks to be a litte bigger than half the size of the modern superspeedways, although it is in range with some of the old tracks.
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