City Council to hold additional committee meeting on arena on June 29
Seattle – The Seattle City Council and King County Council announced today that they will co-host a joint public hearing on July 19 regarding the proposal for a new multi-purpose arena in SODO. Members of the public are invited to attend and give in-person testimony to City and County councilmembers. Both Councils accept written public comments at any time.
Who:
Seattle City Council and King County Council
What:
Public hearing on proposed SODO arena legislation
When:
Thursday, July 19, 5:30 p.m.
Sign-up begins at 5 p.m.
Where:
Bertha Knight Landes Room, Seattle City Hall
(600 Fourth Ave, First Floor)
The City Council's Government Performance and Finance Committee has also added a meeting on June 29 to its review of the proposal. The additional meeting and public hearing are highlighted in the City Council's review calendar below:
Wednesday, June 20, 9:30 a.m. | Presentation by Mayoral staff on KeyArena followed by discussion with Chris Hansen |
Friday, June 29, 9:30 a.m. | Presentation by Mayoral staff on Initiative 91 |
Thursday, July 5, 2 p.m. | Committee deliberations |
Friday, July 6, 9:30 a.m. | Committee deliberations |
Wednesday, July 18, 9:30 a.m. | Committee deliberations |
Thursday, July 19, 5:30 p.m. | Public hearing |
Wednesday, August 1, 9:30 a.m. | Committee deliberations, possible vote |
Monday, August 6, 2 p.m. | Full Council consideration and vote (tentative) |
Monday, August 13, 2 p.m. | Full Council consideration and vote (tentative) |
Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on theCity Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and onFacebook.
The next two weeks are pretty big for the arena effort. The special joint hearing on the 19th is an opportunity for your voice to "officially" be recorded as testimony. This is as much a court of public opinion as it is a court held by councilmembers.
The I-91 presentation on the 29th of June should help focus the conversation and deliberation on the parameters the city set for public/private partnerships for sports entertainment. It is unfortunate that some folks have attempted to introduce elements into the discussion that are based on fictional numbers of unlikely futures as a means to veil opposition that represents an expression of being purchased by monied interests and not born of the facts submitted for deliberation.
The bar is set pretty high, compared to a variety of public/private partnerships in Seattle and King County, and will have an influence on non-core government proposals going into the future.
