His story at Crosscut.com, Olympia about to renege again on funding King County arts groups, expresses frustration with failure of the current process.
4Culture, the nonprofit successor to the old King County Arts Commission, has long received some of this hotel-motel sales-tax, so it has a good place in line for its continuation. They've played ball with the Sonics in some years, letting arts give a high-minded cover for the sports barons. Speaker Frank Chopp holds the key to these fund, and he wants to pledge about $10 million a year of that money for low-income housing. (Chopp's demand is a political problem, since it is a serious stretch of the nexus established between taxing hotel visitors and providing benefits, like stadiums and arts, that bring more visitors.) Others like the UW, wanting a different pot of visitor money, the 0.5 percent tax on restaurants, for a remodeled Husky Stadium, further muddying the waters.
Speaker Chopp likes to keep all the supplicants waiting to the last minute, so he can then cut the deal. Last year he set a new record in cleverness by giving 4Culture a promise of the funds — expiring in a year. And he reportedly assured the arts groups that he would definitely come through this year, so long as he also got, dollar-for-dollar, his low-income housing. Now it appears he has stepped on a Senate version of the bill that gives him the money he wants but not until 2020.
