Sally's Blog

Yesterday the City and the Pro Basketball Club (the OKC Guys) settled the lawsuit over contract performance just before Superior Court Judge Marsha Pechman was due to release her decision. While it's painful to see the Sonics leave Seattle and unsatisfying to not hold the OKC Guys accountable to their contract to play in Key Arena through 2010, I support the settlement. I hate seeing the team pack up and I hate seeing Oklahoma City buy into the "keeping up with the Joneses" new arena competition that partially fuels NBA profits at the expense of tax payers. I hate the prospect of Key Arena not feeding patrons out into the greater Queen Anne and Downtown restaurants and bars.

I'm willing to live with these things because I think the settlement is our best pathway to having a team in the long-term. If Judge Pechman had ruled for the City, the Sonics would have limped though two more seasons at Key Arena before packing up, we would have a scorched relationships with the NBA, and we would be stuck with $26 million in debt remaining from the last Arena upgrade performed at the behest of men's pro basketball. If Pechman had ruled for the OKC Guys, the Sonics would be taping up the moving boxes like they are now, we'd have a scorched relationship with the NBA, we'd be stuck with $26 million in debt remaining from the last Arena upgrade AND we'd be paying for their lawyers.

Under the settlement Seattle receives $45 million now, a little bit better than the value of the two years remaining on the Arena lease and the $26 million to pay off the remaining Arena debt. If the State commits to help with Arena improvements next year, Seattle is in the running for a new team either through league expansion or purchase of an existing team by Seattle owners. If we go five years with no team after the State commits to help, then the City receives $30 million.

If you feel angry about the loss of the team, I can only say that I tried to find the right answer for Seattle's long-term health as a city. Post-Intelligencer columnist Art Thiel is disdainfully furious at decision-makers like me for the settlement. He has written perhaps best about how municipal government shouldn't be involved in "amusements" like pro sports. I think he's right. He also notes that for 41 years the City has rented the Arena to successive Sonics ownership groups (now to the Storm's owners) and that until a better scenario comes along, we're stuck with that model. I'm committed to making Key Arena work for a new team and for Seattle taxpayers.

Liz and I played hooky from rowing this morning and took Bill Dog for a walk instead. It was a lovely morning and we were walking S. Holly St. toward Martha Washington Park when Liz looked down a side street, stopped and asked, "Is that a coyote?"

Sure enough about a half block away from us was a tall, lanky, big-eared grey coyote. We'd been hearing from neighbors about rumored sightings. Several cats have gone missing. Only one of ours goes outside at night and we're trying to keep him in now. The coyote or coyotes are thought to live in Seward Park and forage around the greater area.

The coyote looked at us. Bill looked at the coyote. Then everyone went on their way, the coyote moving north in the direction of Seward Park and us east toward the lake. We saw it again down past the park and it was still moving in the direction of Seward. I've heard from residents in North Seattle and even from people in the Arboretum and Denny-Blaine areas. This is the first sighting I've had of one in the City.