It appears the Kings won't be using moving vans any time soon.
"Negotiators for the city and county of Sacramento moments ago finalized a deal with the Maloof family to finance a new arena for the Sacramento Kings," report Mary Lynne Vellinga, Terri Hardy and R.E. Graswich of THE SACRAMENTO BEE. "The financing package would rely on voter approval of a new quarter-cent sales tax that would produce about $1.2 billion over a period of years, sources said."
from nba.com
Just wondering: If there was a vote today on a 1/4-cent increase in the sales tax, with the money dedicated to building a new arena for the Sonics, would you support it?
14 comments:
Count me down as a yes. I know there are better things to spend our money on, but it would boil down to $50 for every $20,000 you spend in a year. That's not too bad.
Will anyone join me to protest the Sonics sale? I am boycotting Starbucks for one. Does anyone know a good place to protest on behalf of the Seattle Sonics?
I just don't see the value, Nuss.
understand, i'm a HUGE sport fan, I'm 31 and this is the first year since I was 13 I wasn't playing or coaching in either HS or college-- I love hoops as much if not more than anyone...
but c'mon. why supplement millionaires and billionaires?!? why should we foot the bill for their stadiums? I don't mind people paying when they are using the facilities, but this is not the same thing-- this is everybody publicly financing richer men than themselves... corperate welfare just so we can see a green and gold jersey and feel civic pride?
It isn't right. Class size ratios (wanna fix schools-- start here, TRUST ME.) Funding for breakfast and lunch in public schools for the impoverished. Roads. Healthcare. Adult Education. Public Transportation. State/National Parks. Medicare/Medicaid (some people work their asses off for 50 years for little money and we're cutting programs that support them left and right-- well, primarily Right with a capital "R").
And you want to put more money in rich men's hands? C'mon, people. Common sense. Public funds are limited, and if you are willing to pay for this ridiculously escalating game just because some other city will?!?
I was for Safeco because I was in H.S. and didn't know any better. But since then I've come to recognize that professional sports hold cities hostage. It shouldn't be this way, and if cities don't stop giving welfare to the rich, it will just continue to be a festering problem.
If they want to go, let 'em. I've had enough, and you all should have had enough too. LA basically has told the NFL to "F" off, and they still watch a great NFL team every Saturday afternoon. They don't miss it much at all. After the Sonics leave, we wont either.
It's an abusive relationship, we can never give enough of our attention and love, and our "partner" just doesn't care enough about us to make things right. So tell them to go to hell and find something more positive to do with your time.
My suggestion-- start going to high school games again. All classifications. Boys and Girls. The competition isn't always the best, the officials are Super Bowl worthy, but the kids will appreciate your attendence far more than the NBA does these days, and you are more likely to see two teams playing their ass off, and caring what the scoreboard reads at the end of the 4th.
T-Dawg - Well said. It's just hard to see my childhood team leaving, I mean I'm 30 and still have dreams of playing for the Sonics, and my jumper is UGLY, lol.
thank you, biggie. And it pains me to looks at things that way too, if it is any consolation.
on brighter things...
heh heh. my jumper is still nice, but my midsection looks like i lost an eating contest with Tractor Traylor and Mel Turpin. Actually, it ain't really a jumper now, since i do believe jumping is a key ingredient into "the jumper."
I seriously hurt my achilles last saturday playing in a weak run that included 6th graders. eck. My, how far the (once debateably) mighty has fallen.
t dawg, thanks for putting a perspective on things.
i would willingly take 50 dollers out of my paycheck every 2 weeks to sponser a new arena
Sure, you can definitely say that there are better things we can spend our money on. But remember, a tax like this STILL exists, as far as I remember, on restaurants and hotels to fund Safeco and Qwest. If its still there, why not renew it.
Just to be clear, I don't support increasing the sales tax to pay for an arena; I was only asking the question to see what others thought.
Sales taxes are demonstrably regressive and punish the lowest incomes more than anyone else. To me, it would be disgusting to force someone making six dollars who can't afford a Sonic ticket to pay anything for the stadium.
Nuss, we park our cars in the same garage, my friend.
To the anonymous individuals-- first, thank you for the compliment.
the others, whether you have that tax already or not it isn't right regardless-- why renew it? make things a little better by ending it. should your children's children end up paying for a bond to fix a pro sports team?
And to the other, it is hardly practical to throw it out there like that, whether you can afford to or not.
Be a 100 dollar a month donator to a poorer school district's athletic or ASB fund. Let a kid have some new uni's or their one lifetime trip to Disneyworld with their Snr. Class.
Pay for tickets, fine. Donate at the gate, fine. Buy the apparel, fine. Tax immediately local businesses that benefit from the increased game-day consumer traffic, fine. But don't suggest that people who have no care about the team should pay for it.
It is a luxury to have a team, and luxuries should be attended to only AFTER immediate and important needs, not prior to them.
t dawg, I appreciate your well thought out opinions. May you continue to express them.
Listening to Calabro while watching the gold and green is like going to church for me.
It is a luxury to have a team. A luxury I dont want me or my kids to do without. I dont think its too much to ask people for that extra fraction of a cent when they go out to eat or stay in a motel regardless of whether or not they are fans. Also, by eliminating this meager tax it certainly doesnt mean that the money it would have raised will magically appear and be given to any - insert more noble cause here -.
I am very sure I am paying taxes for things I have no interest in. Our taxes are paying for new roads and numerous other projects in places outside of Seattle.
We can hope and work for a more effective government on every level but lets not make our beloved Sonics, Seattle's oldest franchise, the sacrificial lamb here. I dont want to imagine a gray winter without them.
well put. agree to disagree with the dollars, but want to point something out:
"Listening to Calabro while watching the gold and green is like going to church for me."
His poetry is so wonderful to the ear in this day of Theismann, Walton, Packer, and Vitale. I never realized how blessed I was to grow up with the distinct and eloquent voices of Gross, Neihaus and Calabro.
To lose Calabro to the midwest would be the worst crime of the whole situation...
wait-- maybe living out of the Seattle area it would be a blessing for me-- he'd probably get hired to be the lead man on nationally.
...
Also, I added this seperate in case 'nuss wanted to delete it, but I'm fired up and frustrated with the status quo:
"Hate to gripe politics here (really i do!), but you are right about the fact that the money wont go to any more noble cause-- hence my issue with "Compassionate Conservatism"--those tax breaks don't seem to find their way into charitable donations to help the needy, do they?!?"
I just wanted to chime in. I remember hearing the same things with the Seahawks and M's a decade ago. People don't seem to get the fact that if these tax dollars are not going to the stadiums they are not going to automatically go to schools or roads or museums or any other "noble causes" as you guys put it.
I was born and raised in Seattle and even though I no longer live there it saddens me to think that I won't be able to catch a game on my frequent visits back home.
We all know that the NBA is a flawed system. The salaries are out of control so the teams are trying to stick it to everyone for any kind of revenue to make up for it. I used to be a die hard Supes fan growing up, but I must admit that I haven't followed them very closely in the past few years since moving away, mostly because the sport has changed in some way and lost it's luster. However when they made that mini run in the 05 playoffs I have to admit that I was rooting them on as hard as in the old days.
While I agree that it is a tough pill to swallow for taxpayers to have to pay for what seems like a private business to be in your town, anyone that was in town last winter during the Hawks Superbowl run will tell you how important professional sports can be to a town.
In the end I hope something gets worked out.
Just my 2 cents,
Dusto
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