As the Sonics leave town, it may help the arts

In all the reporting about the Sonics decision, we tend to overlook the intense clamoring over a taxing source, the so-called "stadium taxes," that bedevils the politics. A lot of groups want to lay claim to those taxes, which are supposed to go away after the Kingdome, Safeco Field, and Qwest Field are paid off, but are really catnip to politicians for their pet causes. The taxes have two attractions: they are not really an "increase" if you just extend their life, and they fall mostly on visitors, who don't vote locally.

One of the main supplicants is the arts. Thereby hangs an interesting story.

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The newcomer name game

The Chinese have a saying: "One move is like two house fires." It's very disorienting to be in a new place, even if you moved within the U.S. and can therefore depend on the cultural differences between your previous burg and Seattle to be, relatively speaking, minimal. I've lived in the Northwest for nearly six years and Seattle for almost three, and I'm still doing double-takes over little things, such as proper nouns.

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Does Clay Bennett's 'sweet flip' exonerate him?

Here's an interesting mind game. What if the Oklahoma City owners of the Sonics have been behaving honorably all along? News today of an email that envisioned a "sweet flip" of the team, keeping it in Seattle, makes such a theory somewhat plausible. Suspend your media-whipped anger at the Oklahomans for a few minutes, and follow me on a shrewd tale of modern capitalism.

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Why the Sonics should go away

Brave is the mortal who takes on Art Thiel, the Post-Intelligencer's ace sports columnist. Advocates for a Legislative fix for Husky stadium still think Thiel's withering column about that request sank the idea in a day. (Thiel dislikes the commercialization of college sports and has become the scourge of Huskies.) And now, he's arguing to defy the Oklahoma Sonics group until the last lawsuit dies. "Just say no," contends Big Art.

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Steve Ballmer: still in the basketball game?

The on-again, off-again saga of saving the Sonics and KeyArena has taken another turn. Apparently the drop-dead date of April 10 for having a deal for the Steve Ballmer ownership group is really just a coma-threat. The group of heavy-hitter owners-in-waiting will simply go into hibernation once the Sonics decamp to Oklahoma City.

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Will they ever finish Seattle Center?

Years of planning and public relations work fail to hold the Center's place in the queue for capital improvements. Will two more years of waiting make things worse?

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Sonics: time to wave good bye?

A wave of the pom-poms to Seattle Post-Intelligencer for its consistently incisive reporting on the Sonics' story, with today's analysis by Greg Johns another fine example. He notes that the votes were just not there in the Legislature (haven't been for four sessions), and that the bid by the Huskies for stadium money complicated the situation, since legislators (including Speaker Frank Chopp) would not have wanted to snub the UW while rewarding the BasketBallmers.

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A game plan for the Sonics, as time runs out

It began with a conversation last summer between former Sen. Slade Gorton and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. What emerges is a story of civic altruism and shrewd politics. Even so, after all the delays, the local team is playing a very weak hand.

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Saving the Sonics: How not to do urban planning

When it comes to superheated potatoes, such as sports arenas and stadiums, our local politicians have learned to do their deals very quietly. And so, with a solution for the Sonics starting to come together, mum's the word as the dealmakers quietly work Olympia and the mayor's office puts Humpty Dumpty together. So, we scribes have to interpret hints and auguries. The appearance of developer Matt Griffin as a dealmaker, for instance, is a sign of seriousness. Griffin is a master of these complicated arrangements, combining private parties with government actors, as he did with Pacific Place and the downtown SAM-Wamu deal. Further, Griffin will give the Sonics-saviors better diplomatic relations with the Governor and the Legislature than Mayor Nickels would have.

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Mayor Nickels, the unlikely new captain of the save-the-Sonics team

The politicians keep changing the lineup and throwing elbows. Here's a look at the newest team and its prospects for keeping pro basketball at KeyArena.

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Is it okay now to even talk about saving the Sonics?

Politicians are poking their heads up from the foxholes a little bit, when it comes to keeping the Sonics in the region. King County Councilman Pete Von Reichbauer, who often plays honest broker in these sports deals, is slightly encouraged. "Nothing indicates any change," he says of recent (non)developments, "but change could happen." Rather zen comment, but also true.

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Full text: Statement on moving the Sonics

In a stunning turn of events, the Oklahoma ownership of the Seattle SuperSonics announced today that it intends to move the NBA team to — Oklahoma City. Notably, it sounds as if the WNBA Seattle Storm could remain here. Here's the entire statement issued by lead owner Clay Bennett:

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It's all a plot: The Sonics and Storm will stay in Seattle

The worse things look, the better the chances of a hairbreadth rescue for the team. Here's how the play is diagrammed.

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All things are still possible at Seattle sports venues

The Mariners haven't been eliminated, the Storm and Sounders are headed for the playoffs, football season hasn't begun. Time to put your money down.

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