As hangar erodes, so does vision

Doug Ancona looks out at Sand Point's Magnuson Park and is sure its namesake would "flip."

Ancona believes the late Sen. Warren Magnuson would hate to see longtime nonprofits having to uproot their annual events and fundraisers from the park's Hangar 27.Same for the for-profit entities that made their mark at that hangar. They're being forced to lease the smaller Hangar 30 — and turn people away. (A total of four Navy hangars were turned over to the city in 1995.)

Meanwhile, the city of Seattle is poised to finalize a public-private partnership with Arena Sports — a soccer-playing for-profit with the $6 million needed to renovate the red-tagged Hangar 27, and call it its own.

"It's one thing to renovate a parks facility," said Ancona, a former member of Friends of Magnuson Park. "It's another thing to renovate it for only one use."

Ancona once lived near the late senator, and believes he has a strong sense of the man's vision: "A respect for people of all ages and all walks of life." Now, Ancona wonders how that vision will be preserved when the city seems ready to hand Arena Sports the keys to a place where the entire city used to walk right in.

"We need to avoid the 'gold rush' mentality, so we need time," Ancona said of the city's decision-making. "But we also need to know that groups are suffering."

Among them is the Northwest Crafts Alliance, which was one of the first groups to use Hangar 27 for an annual event.

Alliance Director Kathleen Miller told me how her son installed the internal tarp-and-gutter system there to offset the leaky roof.

This year, with Hangar 27 destined to be Soccer Central, the alliance moved its annual show to Qwest Field Events Center.

"I was in tears," Miller said of the March 16 event. She estimated that the 240 artists involved lost about $1,200 each in sales. Show organizers lost about $21,000 at the gate.

The Rat City Rollergirls are in similar straits.

Since the raucous roller-derby team moved out of Hangar 27 and into Hangar 30, it's had to turn its growing fan base away. That includes the "Derby Brats" — young girls who need to sit in the no-alcohol family section, which is markedly smaller than at Hangar 27.

The Rollergirls will host their third match this weekend, when there will likely be long lines and disappointed fans.

Still, the proposal sits.

Arena Sports GM Spencer Perry said the longer the city takes, the more eroded Hangar 27 will be. But if his proposal is finalized by the mayor and City Council, then there's a chance everyone can use it.

"If we can figure out planning before we create our league schedule," he said. "I would much rather have a win-win."

So would the rest of the city.

But City Hall is dithering, while money — and the events that give us a Sense of Seattle — are being lost.

"And if that happens, not only does Magnuson's vision fall," Ancona said. "But the recognition that he deserves falls with it."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

She has Ultimate memories.