$180M to Safeco Field fixes or affordable housing?

The battle over whether millions of dollars in public money should be used for fixes to Safeco Field or affordable housing is on hold until the King County Council considers the matter again next week.

Mariners VP: We want Safeco Field to be around for 100 years

At issue is the roughly $180 million of hotel-motel tax money the Mariners were expecting to get as part of their new 25-year lease.

The Mariners rent the stadium from the county’s public utility district and expected the money for things like the roof and other maintenance.

There’s been significant pushback by many on the proposal to use the tax dollars for Safeco, including from county councilmember Dave Upthegove, who believes the money would be better spent on affordable housing to help address the region’s homeless crisis.

Katie Wilson, with the Transit Riders Union, wants to re-direct that money.

“It’s 37.5 percent, according to state law, has to go to affordable housing,” Wilson said. “Another 37.5 percent has to go to arts. The county, right now, has proposed doing the bare minimum for housing and we want them to do more than that.”

Peter Von Reichbauer remains committed to the plan.

“If we didn’t have sports, what would we cheer about? And the reality in today’s news, even more importantly, sports is a critically important for our community. It’s important to recognize not just the economic benefit, but the community involvement,” Von Reichbauer said in a meeting last week.

Joe Chard is the Mariner’s Vice President of Corporate Business and Community Relations and was key in setting up Mariner’s Care, the team’s nonprofit foundation, which he says has helped to raise over $25 million for local charities since 1991.

But he says the Mariners also recognize they have to be part of the solution to the homeless crisis.

“That’s why we’ve partnered with organizations like the Mockingbird Society, Compass Housing Alliance, and Mary’s Place to work to help sponsor their events and just get with them to see how we can be part of the solution in this issue,” Chard said. “As you know, just last week, we had the Pearl Jam shows that helped raise around $11 million for the Vitalogy Foundation that helps to work solutions for homelessness.”

The Seahawks have detailed the various work the team and the players do to help kids in the community, veterans, and others.

Three councilmembers have come out against the plan and two for it, including Von Reichbauer. The other four county councilmembers have not indicated whether they were for or against it, but at last Wednesday’s Regional Policy meeting councilmember Larry Gossett also appeared to signal his lack of support for the plan.

“Two or three dollar increase in tickets, a little less profit from the owners could easily come up with $190 million in 15 or 20 years and that still remains the crux of the issue that we’re going to have to deal with,” Gossett said.

Von Reichbauer responded with a reminder.

“And I’m sure you remember, too, that the facility [Safeco] is not owned by the owners, it’s owned by the Public Facilities District,” Von Reichbauer said.

The Mariners say they’re expecting $800 million in stadium fixes over the 25 years of the new lease, most of which they’ll cover on their own.

The $180 million is coming from the hotel-motel tax, some of which already goes toward affordable housing. The argument is that the rest of the money, which can be used for housing or tourism, which includes stadiums, should, for the most part, go to housing given the homeless and affordable housing crisis. County councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Wells, an original sponsor of the proposal who later pulled her support, has suggested using just $25 million of the hotel-motel tax dollars for Safeco.

Dori: Give $180M back to taxpayers, not Safeco Field

The Mariners say that’s not something they can support, and while they are not threatening to leave Seattle, they say $25 million is not enough. They could end up signing a short-term 5-year lease if they do not get the $180 million for Safeco and revisit the issue later.

KIRO Radio’s Hanna Scott contributed to this report.