Game on: Critics, supporters clash over new Seattle arena

Kris Brannon has been a fixture at many of the Seattle-area’s biggest events for several years.

From concerts to Seahawks’ games, the Tacoma-native known as “Sonics Guy” has waved signs, handed out flyers and done all he can to single-handedly keep the memory of Seattle’s former NBA team and hopes for its return to a new arena alive.

Related: Why 40 state lawmakers oppose proposed Seattle Sonics arena

“I’ve been to thousands of events of every type of sports and every different type of political event. I’ve been to Tea Party rallies, I’ve been to Pride events,” says the lifelong Sonics fan, recognizable for his towering Afro and green and gold Sonics sweat suits.

But Tuesday afternoon at Seattle City Hall, he’ll have some help. Hundreds are expected to join him for a rally ahead of the first of four public hearings before the Seattle City Council votes on whether to give up a block of Occidental Avenue just south of Safeco Field, where developer Chris Hansen wants to build a new arena.

“It’s interesting because no matter what your politics or where you’re from, everyone loves our local teams. And that’s why everyone wants to get the Sonics back,” he said.

Depending on who you believe, the block is either a rarely used side street paralleling First Avenue South, or it’s a critical part of the area’s transportation grid and a key artery for the Port of Seattle.

The Port has been an outspoken critic of the arena proposal and the street vacation, arguing it would cripple roads and port operations. Longtime Port Commissioner Jon Creighton says despite all efforts to come up with a way to co-exist, the proposed arena is simply too much of a threat to the maritime industries and the jobs that go with it.

“Sure, it doesn’t take much port freight,” Creighton said in discussing the importance of keeping Occidental Avenue open. “What it does is take cars off First Avenue South and really aid the whole system. And we feel that in this age of creeping congestion, in this age of increasing stress on the overall transportation network, it is the wrong time to be considering vacating an important street.”

But Mike Baker, a writer with the blog Sonics Rising and arena advocate, argues the Port has been crying wolf for years without any substantive study to back its claims about the impact.

“They put a lot of emphasis on this one street when it’s obvious to anybody that just looks at it, that it’s really not that big of a deal. So it kind of makes you wonder how good of a grasp they have on their operation,” Baker said.

But the port and maritime industries aren’t the only outspoken critics of the street vacation and siting of the arena in SoDo.

Along with the Seattle Mariners, the list of opponents continued to grow ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, when 36 state lawmakers from all over Washington and both sides of the aisle – including the chairs of both the House and Senate transportation committees – signed a letter urging the city council to oppose the street vacation.

That’s despite a study and recommendation by the Seattle Department of Transportation that the impact on traffic would be minimal and manageable.

Creighton says SDOT is just plain wrong.

“We feel that the SDOT recommendation fails to consider the full range of negative impacts, on port operations, on transit, on existing sports facilities, Seattle commuters and the maritime industry in particular,” Creighton said.

Creighton insists he and the Port are pro-Sonics and pro-arena, just not in SoDo. And he points to a survey commissioned by the Port last week that found a vast majority of those surveyed opposed the arena in SoDo.

But arena supporters says the Port is simply grasping at straws to protect its own interests, and their claims are merit-less.

A street vacation is certainly not without precedent. The city granted the Mariners a street vacation to build Safeco Field, with Occidental running directly through what is now the third base line.

KING 5’s Chris Daniels reports Hansen has agreed to build a public park, pedestrian overpass, new sidewalks, bike facilities, and an access road for the Mariners on the east side of the new building.

Tuesday’s hearing is the first of four public meetings over the next month or so leading to the vote considering crucial to Hansen’s plans to build the $500-million arena, funded in part by $200 million in bonds financed by taxpayers, to be repaid with revenues generated by the arena.

A committee vote could come as soon as late April, with the full council expected to vote in early May.

Tuesday’s hearing gets underway at 5:30 p.m., following the rally hosted by former Sonics play-by-play announcer Kevin Calabro at City Hall.

You can count on Sonics Guy Kris Brannon to lead the way.

“This is not just Seattle’s team. This is Tacoma’s team, Renton’s team, Everett’s team. This is our team, and we want it back,” he said.

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