‘How can you ask people for $1.5 billion?’: Jake says city must address safety before new Seattle Center

As the Seattle Center Foundation is advocating for a $1.5 billion bond measure to revamp the Seattle Center, KIRO host Jake Skorheim argued the city has more pressing concerns and should first prioritize safety.

“Seattle used to be just a different city. Like they had different priorities. They wanted to keep people safe,” he said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “Seattle used to be a little bit more like Bellevue is now, where it was a pretty clean city. It wasn’t always the best, but it didn’t feel unsafe. If they’re not going to get ahead of those things, I don’t see how you can ask people for $1.5 billion for something like Seattle Center.”

Jake pointed to the original cost of developing the Seattle Center, noting that voters approved a $7.5 million Civic Center bond in 1956 for fairground development, while the State of Washington spent $4.5 million to build the Seattle Center Coliseum, now Climate Pledge Arena.

“Now you’re talking $1.5 billion, it’s too much money. A billion dollars is too much money,” he said.

He questioned whether $1.5 billion is excessive, as the original civic center bond would be worth around $87 million in today’s dollars.

“What is all the extra money for? Isn’t there a way to do this cheaper, and make it better for people, and not require them to give so much of their money for something they’re likely not going to use? Why are they spending so much money?” he asked.

Should Seattle go big with Seattle Center?

KIRO host Spike O’Neill said that while he sees Jake’s point, he questioned whether scaling back would even be worth it.

“Do you half-tail it? Or do you go all in? Go big, or go home?” he said.

Spike noted that if the city splits the amount in half, that’s still a whopping $750 million.

“What’s it gonna do?” Spike asked. “Is it going to make it any different than it is today, with regard to drawing people in?”

If the city does end up investing $1.5 billion, Spike said the most important point is making sure residents actually benefit by turning Seattle Center into a true community hub.

“Can you make it enough of an attraction, enough of a center of life?” Spike asked. “There’s gonna be more housing around there. They’re not making shorter buildings anytime they take something down. Can you make that $1.5 billion investment into Seattle Center enough of a vibrant heartbeat of a community to get it done right?”

Jake’s recommendation is to reach out to a wealthy tech mogul, like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, and ask them to invest in the city.

“I would spend $0 and instead — as the person who’s trying to get this done, as the mayor, whatever — as a big, giant win for the city, I would go and make some sort of a financial agreement with a massive tech investor who wants to be good with the community, as $1.5 billion for these people is almost nothing,” he said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.