You Vote: Give $135 Million To Mariners For Safeco Upgrades?

SEATTLE, WA - A controversial proposal to give the Seattle Mariners $180 million in future lodging tax revenue has been changed, but not by much. Instead, the King County Council approved a new plan that would funnel $135 million to the Mariners - a team worth $1.45 billion, according to Forbes - for Safeco upgrades and maintenance.

In 5-4 vote, Council members Kathy Lambert, Joe McDermott, Reagan Dunn, Claudia Balducci, and Pete von Reichbauer voted for the alternative plan. The full County Council will vote on the measure on Sept. 17.*

Another proposal before the Council Wednesday would've cut the amount going to the Mariners to just $26 million. That measure, sponsored by Councilwoman Jeanne Kohl-Welles, was defeated on a 4-5 vote, with Council members Dave Upthegrove, Larry Gossett, Kohl-Welles, and Rod Dembowski supporting it.

Another measure proposed by Dembowski would've allowed voters to cast an advisory vote on the lodging tax issue. That proposal was defeated 4-5.

The plan approved by the Council Committee of the Whole on Wednesday would:

• Increase funding for affordable housing by $165 million to a total of $661 million (includes a $100 million bond already proposed by the county)
• Cut tourism funding by about $100 million to just $8 million; that includes the elimination of $1.3 in proposed funding for Kent's Showare Center
• Maintain arts and culture funding at about $496 million

The vote came after a long, contentious meeting at the King County Courthouse Wednesday morning. Members of the public showed up to speak against giving the Mariners $180 million, advocating instead for more money to build affordable housing.

The $180 million "is not going to build enough housing to get everyone out of homelessness or stop the avalanche of people getting into homelessness," SHARE/WHEEL founder Anitra Freeman told the Council. "But the primary driver of homelessness is a lack of affordable housing. Every little bit will save a life."

Plymouth Housing Chief Program Officer Kelli Larsen told the Council that housing projects can be built right now - if the resources are available.

"Plymouth is ready to build hundreds of units," she said. "We simply do not have the resources to start projects. We are waiting for the resources to start more homes to bring people inside."

The few who spoke for giving $180 million to the Mariners included some from labor unions. They said workers would benefit from maintenance jobs at Safeco as opposed to work on affordable housing projects.

"We have those assurances from the Mariners, haven't seen those assurances from any housing developers," Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council President Dale Bright said.

Business owners from SeaTac also came to the meeting, supporting an increase in affordable housing, and pleading for an increase in tourism funding for cities south of Seattle. The alternative approved by the committee Wednesday would do the opposite.

If you're unfamiliar with this issue, here's the background:

• Earlier this year, the Mariners and the Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium Public Facilities District, which owns Safeco, negotiated a new 25-year lease agreement. As part of the agreement, the Mariners would get $180 million in lodging tax dollars over the life of the lease for maintenance. The Mariners say the county should pay for basic maintenance just like any landlord would.
• King County installed the lodging tax in the 1960s to pay for the construction of the Kingdome. Later, the county used the revenue to pay for the construction of CenturyLink Field. The county will finish paying off the CenturyLink debt in 2020, and in 2021 the lodging tax revenue will be available to spend.
• The proposal to give $180 million to the Mariners had been supported by King County Executive Dow Constantine and some on the Council like Pete von Reichbauer and Joe McDermott. A wide swath of activists associated with affordable housing and homelessness had criticized the proposal. They oppose giving money to the Mariners amid a homelessness crisis. There are about 12,000 people living homeless in King County, and the county's own auditor has said that a lack of affordable housing is a major impediment to solving the crisis.
• Housing advocates say the Mariners can afford to fund maintenance at Safeco without tax dollars. Mariners owner John Stanton came out against Seattle's now-dead head tax, which would have funded affordable housing development.
• On Aug. 29, the Council's Committee of the Whole held a public hearing on the issue. The hearing lasted about three hours, with about 80 people speaking during public comment. The committee decided not to act on the measure, pushing the issue to the Sept. 5 meeting.

*The Committee of the Whole, which voted on the measure on Wednesday, is comprised of the same members as the full Council.

File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch