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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Sports Arena Critics Release Reports on Negative Impacts of Sodo Stadium (Updated!)

Posted by Unpaid Intern on Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 12:13 PM

Posted by news intern Mike Gore (Originally posted at 11:11 a.m.)

Three new reports have been released by the Port of Seattle on the the potential impacts of a new sports arena on the Sodo area's maritime industries. We haven't had time to look through them (primary election day and all that...) but you can download them below and have a blast:

Economic Issues Report (pdf)

Peter Steinbrueck Land Use Report (pdf)

Port of Seattle Impacts (pdf)

Among the primary concerns: "Additional events at a new arena will make it harder for trucks to reach the Port, increase cargo shipping costs, and affect the Port’s ability to retain and attract customers," says the report on port operations.

Meanwhile former Seattle City Council member and staunch arena critic Peter Steinbrueck offers five recommendations that include beginning to "examine alternative sites."

UPDATE: Dominic Holden here. We just got a furious call from Port of Seattle spokeswoman Charla Skaggs, irate that we posted these reports on Slog before a 1:00 p.m. embargo and purportedly didn't give other outlets a level playing field. But Skaggs has it backwards: The port never shared these records with The Stranger, never told us about the embargo, and instead made their deal with other news outlets. We got the records from another source and never heard about any embargo. So even though Skaggs says we "violated a contract," they never presented us with a deal. For the record, we don't violate embargoes and would have honored it if we'd known about it.

Ironically, it's the port that tried to create a slanted playing field by hand-selecting certain media outlets to see advance copies of their report—perhaps media outlets like the Seattle Times, which shares the port's opposition to the arena—while withholding the reports from The Stranger. In essence, the port gambled that they could frame the coverage by picking the media who would get a head start on this. But they lost the gamble.

Skaggs and her boss asked us to take down the reports. We're not doing it, even though Skaggs says it "will affect the way we interact with you in the future." By that, I assume she's not threatening to withhold information (after all, it's not much of a threat if that's already her modus operandi). I assume Skaggs means she will contact us proactively and professionally instead throwing a tantrum when her media strategies backfire.

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Comments (21) RSS

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@1 for the I Am Spam And SLOG Has Not Cancelled Me Yet win.

Just get real, cancel the Billionaires' Tunnel, bring back and extend the streetcar, and we can easily afford a third stadium.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 7, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Thanks for deleting them.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 7, 2012 at 11:33 AM

Shouldn't you add "paid political consultant" to Steinbrueck's bio? After all, the Port is paying him to be an arena critic. Are you going to give the same credulous treatment to some flack arena proponents hire, or do you just favorably describe opponents?

Posted by Bax on August 7, 2012 at 11:53 AM

I think you mean architectural design critic. People can have many hats.

I prefer a Stetson or a Fez, myself.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 7, 2012 at 11:58 AM

Stetsons are cool.

Posted by California Kid on August 7, 2012 at 12:04 PM

I'm going to guess that the heavy sarcasm of Dom's last paragraph indicates that you believe that The Stranger's relations with the Port are now on par as the ones you enjoy with Rob McKenna.

Posted by Matt from Denver on August 7, 2012 at 12:19 PM

A hearty congratulations to Ms. Scaggs, professional media relations person. By going off half-cocked on a misinformed tirade against the Stranger, all because some reports leaked one hour early and not through any wrongdoing by the Stranger, you've managed to take a rather dull story that had been of interest purely to the hyper-aware civic-affairs gearheads and make it into an entertaining story about how you're an incompetent prick. Kudos!

Posted by Warren Terra on August 7, 2012 at 12:25 PM

@7: Precisely.

Posted by pheeeew!crack!boom! on August 7, 2012 at 12:40 PM

Also, see... this is the benefit of having sources all over the place instead of participating in press release journalism like those slackers at the Times. The PR folks don't even know how to deal with it when a story breaks they didn't architect ahead of time.

Posted by pheeeew!crack!boom! on August 7, 2012 at 12:43 PM

Maybe they should hire a PR person who actually knows their job ...

They didn't get McK's castoff did they?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 7, 2012 at 12:56 PM

The story of the story's more fun to talk about than the story any more.

Posted by gloomy gus on August 7, 2012 at 1:02 PM

The Stranger is the only real news source in this town. Excellent as the Stranger is, that's a sad comment.

Posted by sarah70 on August 7, 2012 at 1:04 PM

@12: Oh my god, yes. Way to go, Charla Skaggs!

Posted by TVDinner

on August 7, 2012 at 1:11 PM

Oops. I mean @7. Seen one number, you've seen 'em all? Erm.

Posted by TVDinner

on August 7, 2012 at 1:13 PM

I would assume "affect the way we interact with you" to mean future interactions will involve a baseball bat to the kneecap.

Posted by chinaski on August 7, 2012 at 1:16 PM

"give other outlets a level playing field."

Good god, the media can't die soon enough.

Posted by they really have no idea how rotten they are on August 7, 2012 at 1:25 PM

@15 Precisely. I hope The Stranger knows that when they are dealing with the Port, they are dealing with mobsters.

Posted by Sir Vic on August 7, 2012 at 1:56 PM

From the outside it's hard to tell the difference between those who have a good relationship with the Stranger and those who don't.

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on August 7, 2012 at 2:15 PM

so is there an EIS report for the port of seattle on increasing their TEU throughput by 50 percent, and the increase in traffic congestion that will create?

Posted by fucksteiny on August 7, 2012 at 2:46 PM