No points for Sonics tax assist

The city of Seattle is really keeping its eye on the ball.

It's just the wrong dang one.

Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis is considering an idea to use $75 million in hotel-motel tax money to fund improvements to KeyArena.

The hope is that a shinier Key will lure a replacement NBA team for the Sonics.

The tax is already in place, goes the thinking. It's practically free money, right? So why shouldn't the sports fans at City Hall want to use it to get Seattle back on the national scoreboard?

They need only look at the ballot issues going before voters next week to see how far that money could go.

Voters are being asked to fund a $146 million property-tax parks levy; $36 million of it would be used to buy parkland throughout the city.

It's designed to save us not only from our continued growth, but from rising land prices.

And since parks serve everyone, it makes sense. Proposition 2 would cost the owner of an average home (assessed at $479,100 this year) about $91 annually, starting next year.

City voters also are being asked to fund a $73 million levy to upgrade the infrastructure of the Pike Place Market. The owner of the average Seattle home would pay $43 a year starting next year.

Incredibly, that gem hasn't seen a major capital investment since the early 1970s. Critics say the Market should pay for its own improvements.

I disagree; I'm happy to pay for parks and the Market. But these are tight times. If there is already a revenue channel, why not spend it on the parks we all use, or the Market, which entertains 10 million visitors a year?

The last Sonics season didn't even see a tenth of the Market's numbers. The Key drew 464,164 people; that's an average 13,262 people per game. Even in their championship season of 1979, they saw just 890,713 fans; an average 21,725 per game.

I don't understand why Ceis is even considering a play by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to bring a team here. There's not even a team available.

My only guess is that they miss the Sonics spotlight, the front-page faceoffs.

The drama, oh, the drama.

There's enough drama down here on street level. Talk of closing more Seattle schools. Overwhelmed health clinics. By next June, some 300 county workers might be laid off.

Andrew Zimbalist, author of "Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums," said the benefits of sports facilities are overblown.

"Independent researchers have found that, on average, new facilities and teams don't have a positive impact on the local economy," he said. "They don't raise employment or per capita income."

So why are we still pining for the team that got away?

I understand that professional sports are supposed to be a diversion, a release. But they shouldn't release the city's decision makers from doing the right thing for all of us — not just the ones who can afford to watch tall men play ball.

Ceis needs to set his hoop dreams aside and make the kind of tax moves that will help us all sleep at night.

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

She's happy with the Storm.