It's the King County Food and Beverage Tax, not the Seattle Food and Beverage Tax

SEATTLE - Reported today in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was a statement by the Washington Restaurant Association in support of extending the King County Food and Beverage Tax to supply $60 million for a new Sonics arena.

"We would love to see the Sonics stay, and we think there is a funding package out there that will allow them to do so," Trent House, the association's government affairs director, told the Seattle P-I. "We are more than willing to help the new owners."

A representative for Hertz and Avis also told the P-I the rental car giants are open to keeping a 1 percent rental car tax in place to help fund a new Sonics arena.

The tax was created by the state for the county, according to the Washington Restaurant Association, to fund the professional baseball stadium in Seattle. This tax was NOT created by the state for the city of Seattle's exclusive use. The county is the taxing authority, responsible party, for this tax. It is NOT solely up to Seattle how and where this tax is collected or spent. This simple fact has been lost on people like Seattle City Council President Nick Licata, and political troll Chris Van Dyk.

Ballot Initiative 91 (I-91) was not a State Initiative.
Ballot Initiative 91 (I-91) was not a County Initiative.
Ballot Initiative 91 (I-91) was a City of Seattle Initiative.
Please read the lead paragraph from the Initiative:

AN ORDINANCE to Prohibit the City of Seattle from Providing or Leasing Facilities or other Goods, Services, or Real Property to Professional Sports Organizations at Below Fair Value, and Providing A Method to Enforce this Restriction.

What the result of the vote (74.05%. 103371 votes) means is that the city is not allowed to participate in funding a sports arena unless they make a "rate of return on a U.S. Treasury Bond of thirty years".

Seattle City owned Key Arena is not a site that can be used unless the "rate of return" stuff above.

With the support of the Sonics new arena from the Washington Restaurant Association and Hertz and Avis rental car companies endorsing the extension of King County Food and Beverage Tax to support the new Sonics arena the 22 million dollar debt still owed in Key Arena will not likely get resolved through refinance of the reconstruction using the King County Food and Beverage Tax.

Not only did the City of Seattle reject the Sonics, they rejected support for the intent of the tax source. The city is now on the hook for that $22 million = dumb.

Still, it is possible for the Sonics to stay in Seattle using the King County Food and Beverage Tax. What!!!

That's right, the Sonics and some oother partner could build a new arena on King County owned property, or on private property, in the city of Seattle tomorrow and there isn't much the City of Seattle could do to stop it using I-91. Why do you think the King Dome was named the King Dome and not the Seattle Dome? I-91 doesn't give the City of Seattle the authority to stop the collection of the county tax in all of King County, including Seattle, or the spending of that tax money on an arena in King County, including in the city of Seattle as long as they don't use city owned property. King County is the taxing authority granted by the State of Washington.

The City of Seattle is out of the sports arena business. I live in North Seattle, if my back yard was large enough I could give it to the Sonics for a new arena, the county could fund the construction with the King County Food and Beverage Tax and I-91 couldn't stop it. The City doesn't own every plot of land in the city.
The City is out but the city isn't, get it?

As a side note: Why would you partner with somebody that owes $22 million on a proposed property anyway? It isn't as if the collecting and spending of the tax is up to them. That includes using the tax to cover the $22 million dollar Seattle debt and Nick Licata's dream for a new wine and cheese tasting palace at Seattle Center.

King County Food and Beverage Tax could be spent on a new arrena in Renton, Bellevue, Fall City, Tukwilla, Shoreline or Duval (well, maybe not Duval) and that would be up to King County Executive Ron Sims, the King County Council, the Washington State Legislature and the Governor of the State of Washington, Chistine Gregiore.

Notice how I didn't say Nick Licata, or Greg Nichols, Chris Van Dyk, or I-91. Know why? Because they do not have the authority to decide anything beyond Seattle owned property using I-91. They said what they had to say through I-91 limited to the City of Seattle owned property, that's the limit of there authority. Now they may argue their point of view at another level of government, but it is above their level.
They are not the "deciders" for the rest of us.

2 Down, 80 to Go

SEATTLE - The Seattle Sonics have given up 110 points to Portland last Wednesday at home and 118 on the road in LA against the Lakers on Friday. In the loss against the Lakers Luke Ridnour fouled out of the game, the Sonics committed 30 fouls, Lakers 16. The Lakers shot 48 freethrow attemps to Seattle's 16. It's pretty simple really.

As I wrote, in part, in a prior post on October 28th:

Ridnour: He's going to have a hard time adjusting to not knowing if the center behind him will actually be there in position. Luke has to make contact with his man early in the dribble to apply pressure without getting called for shooting fouls. Look at how the Sun's pressure the ball and sometimes foul, but they don't send people to the FT line. The Suns get the and-1, they don't give it, that's how they win. Pressure early Luke.

You, Luke Ridnour, must apply pressure to the player while the ball is on the floor. It is possible to have 4 team fouls a quarter, 20 in each game an NEVER send the other team to the freethrow line. That is in fact a perfect game to me. Having applied good defense to the point of fouling once in a while and yet not fouling in a way that gives up a single point. I have no doubt that if a team were to It is possible to have 30 fouls and only send the other team to the line 6 times for 12 points, unlikely, but possible. In order to send a team to the line for 48 attempts you have to hack at guys while they are in the act, a lot.

Not having the rotation set before the first game, due to Robert Swift's injury, has impacted the rotations on defense.
I think they will figure this out very quickly. Sene looks like a quick study.

Stop sending the other team to the freethrow line, move your feet, stop grabbing, play ball.

Let the Basketball Games Begin, Please.

SEATTLE - Now that the meaningless preseason is over and the roster is as set (give or take a 15th player that isn't in the rotation) let's take a look at this year's Sonics.

Here is my rotation... but first.

Curse of the shaggy red hair!

Robert Swift: I don't know if we will really understand what a major blow to the season an injury to Robert really is.


Robert Swift, NBA.com image.

Big Rob suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament on 10/26/06, in a preseason game against some meaningless team. He's done for the year.

What does it mean?
Well my starting rotation of Swift, Wilcox, Lewis, Allen and Ridnour works because there is a shot blocking, rebounding, center playing big and tall behind a back court. The back court isn't very good at stopping anybody but they are not too bad at directing players in to double teams and dead end drives. The dead end is the chest and raised arms of Robert Swift. This really throws the team and the court out of balance.

My guess is that the Sonics will be in a cycle of trying to compensate for having to play smaller by playing a better defending PG more at the expense of the productivity of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. They will be playing swingmen in combinations to limit the lack of short blocking in the front court. How do I know this? Just look at the Sonics when they didn't have a shot blocking center prior to Robert Swift. The 15 glorious minutes Jerome James provided count but the Sonics, and now the Knicks, couldn't count on JJ to be in the game, every game. What I saw in the preseason from Robert was somebody working very hard at being an anchor on defense, at being in the game and influencing the way the other team plays.

There is an outside chance that Mo Sene can provide 5 quick minutes of shot blocking, but you are asking a lot. I expect Johan Petro to figure a few things out and the Sonics to help him figure out. until he does you are going to find a variety of guys playing center. This will have a ripple effect through the line-ups (see above). I don't expect Bob Hill to pull a Nate McMillan and play a different starting line-up every 3 games.

So, here it is, for the first few games.

Sene: He will start as often as the Sonics play a team with an actual center. Portland has two, neither of them stars, but effective. I expect Petro to back him up and start more games by the end of the season.

Wilcox: He's having to learn how to play the game. Between he and Sene we will see the need for Collison and Fortson to come in early and often.

Lewis: This year Rashard shows a better handle on the ball and that doesn't mean he's taking too many guys to the rim, but it does mean that he can get a few dribbles down to add movement to his mid-range short. Covering a guy that is 6-10 that can't dribble too well can be done with a smaller player on the wing. Defending a guy closer to the basket that doesn't dribble too well can be done with a bigger player. But defending a guy that can get a few dribbles down and then shoot that's 6-10 presents some problems for quite a few teams. He could end up in the allstar game. Wilkins will back-up Lewis.

Ray Allen: He's usually the best player on the floor. Here we are going to see, sooner or later (I bet you think I might say Kareem Rush, and you'd be wrong) Mickael Gelabale. Gelabale is more dynamic than Rush, he can put pressure on teams in more ways in the half court. I wouldn't be to shocked to see Gelabale on the floor with Allen in the middle of games against teams that don't have a dominating PG.

Ridnour: He's going to have a hard time adjusting to not knowing if the center behind him will actually be there in position. Luke has to make contact with his man early in the dribble to apply pressure without getting called for shooting fouls. Look at how the Sun's pressure the ball and sometimes foul, but they don't send people to the FT line. The Suns get the and-1, they don't give it, that's how they win. Pressure early Luke. Ridnour likes to pass the ball, Allen and Lewis like to shoot it. What Allen and Lewis think is the important part here, and why he starts. Watson get's a lot of PT backing up Luke and some time next to both Gelabale and Allen.

A combination coming off the bench of Petro and Collison early to spell Sene, followed by Watson, will make for some defensive stops and wide open 3's in transition for Ray Allen and rashard Lewis. Gelabale and or Wilkins comes in for Allen and the focus shifts to Watson. Wilkins (or Gelabale) comes in for Lewis and Watson and Wilkins get to pressure the other team by being physical. Wilkins and Watson should get to the freethrow line a bunch this year.

In the end, I predict the Sonics finsh the year on another up note after a start and winter not nearly as horrible as last season: 43-39, second in the NW Division, 7th seed in the west.
With Robert Swift I think they would have won 48 games, 1st in the NW Division, into the second round.
The leadership of Ray Allen will carry this team to a better record than maybe they should really have without Robert Swift in the line-up.

Go Sonics!

As a side note, Steve Kelley wishes Wally Walker "Good riddance". I tend to agree that it's good that Walker will not be part of the Sonics future. They need a new leader for the new ownership to make a big push for an arena in Bellevue. Now, if only Steve Kelley would resign we would really have something.