My colleagues and I put out the idea of making the Globe an official landmark many months ago, before we knew how much work really goes into both a landmarks nomination and planning for the long-term life of an object like 19-ton globe topped by an 18-foot eagle. We were moved to save the Globe when it seemed Hearst might leave town completely and as we all realized that the Globe represents important Seattle and journalism history – and it looks cool. If you missed the television coverage of the announcement, you missed Councilmember Godden speaking eloquently and from the heart about what it meant to work at the P-I with luminaries of journalism and literature.

In the past many months we’ve worked with the great Mimi Sheridan to build the landmark nomination, and hatched (and re-hatched) plans with Leonard and representatives of Hearst and the P-I Globe Building to make sure we not only make the Globe a landmark, but that it survives as a well-cared-for icon. I thought the landmark nomination packet was difficult to build, but it was nothing compared to discussions about intellectual property, contract provisions, logistics and costs for transport and storage, memorandums of understanding, public benefits, endowments, property access privileges, historic preservation grant opportunities, and certificates of approval.

Currently the Globe sits atop the PI Globe Building on Elliott by Myrtle Edwards Park (having moved there in 1986 from its home at 6^th and Wall in the Regrade). The Post-Intelligencer ceased print operations 2009 becoming seattlepi.com. Recently the remaining staff moved out of the building. It’s likely that before the end of the year the current owner of the building will ask that the Globe find a new home. At that point MOHAI and the City will determine a temporary home for the Globe where restoration work can happen. There’s no City money going into the project, but we may be able to provide storage and restoration space in a former military hangar at Magnuson Park. Finding a permanent home for the Globe will be a little tougher. We’ll need help vetting ideas and you’ll see opportunities to suggest and work through possibilities when we get to that point.

For now, people can share their ideas (and support) with the MOHAI via MOHAI’s website, Facebook page and Twitter account. They’ve even created a #lightuptheglobe hashtag for the project. Hmmmm. Maybe the Globe needs its own twitter account…

Hearing Chris Hansen describe how he felt when the Sonics won the title in ’79 took me back to staying up too late for the broadcasts, crouching on my knees in front of the television with the volume down far enough my sister and parents wouldn’t hear it. I don’t remember specific plays from the championship games, but I do remember the celebration on the court afterwards. I remember Dave Twardzik saying something about how unbelievable winning was, how he thought he’d by then he’d be taking a lunchbox to work and punching a clock.

Some are immune, but the drama and elation of sports are powerful for most of us. Some of us have rules about which sports we’ll follow. Our dog walker, for instance, banished the NFL from her television after Michael Vick’s conviction. My eighth-grade teacher said she followed only collegiate basketball. The pro’s didn’t demonstrate enough good decision-making or gratitude by her measure.  Plenty of my circle say, “But we already have a pro basketball team.”

The idea of a new basketball and hockey arena in Seattle won’t be embraced by all.  I’ve heard from more than a few people strongly in favor of a new arena and I’ve heard from a few raising concerns.  Whether you love the idea or think we need another sports venue like a hole in the head, I hope you want Councilmembers to give the proposal released last Friday a fair shake. It’s what I intend to do.

The basics: Mr. Hansen (with the help of so-far-unnamed allies) has purchased the SODO Stadium District land necessary and would buy an NBA team when one becomes available (another group would need to purchase and move in a hockey team). Mr. Hansen would chip in $290 million and the City and County would under-write arena construction with a total of $200 million via councilmanic bonds. That debt would be paid back over time via rent payments and taxes and fees “captured” from the site and arena operations (city property taxes, city business and occupation taxes, city lease excise taxes, city sales tax, and city admissions tax). The team owners would operate the new arena and enjoy profits off the activities inside. The NBA team would have a no-relocate requirement for the 30-year term of the bonds. If revenues in any month don’t meet the debt payment amount, the owners would write a check for the difference. At the end of the 30 years, the city and county would own the land and the arena.

Since we (the people of Seattle) are being asked to go in on building the new arena to the tune of $150 million, we (the people jilted by a pro basketball team once before) need to be cautious and do our homework. The proposal released last Friday took more than seven months to build.  We’ll need a little time to unpack it and ensure it’s not just feasible, but a good step for the city.  How long we have to do that fair review depends on what happens elsewhere in the NBA. I take Mr. Hansen at his word when he says his motivation is not to “take” another city’s team, rather his goal is to return an NBA team to Seattle. That means he has to be opportunistic, prepared and patient.

I’ll have many questions, among them:

• How will the City of Seattle avoid a replay of the Sonics’ painful, expensive exit?

OK, maybe that’s too broad. Breaking that down a bit:

• How will we ensure that the city’s General Fund is shielded from responsibility for the arena debt?
• Can the NBA truly guarantee a no-relocate clause?
• How do we measure the economic impact of a new arena? How many permanent new jobs will be created and at what wage levels? How many new “heads in beds” for the hotels?
• How will the addition of a third venue in the Stadium District impact traffic? Specifically, what might a third venue mean for Port-related and other industrial traffic?
• How would use of our debt capacity for a new arena affect our debt limit? How might using City-issued debt for the arena affect our ability to debt-finance other major projects?
• How do we account for impacts to Key Arena operations?
• Are we a big enough market to support two more major teams? How does the size of our market affect projections for corporate suite sales, advertising and sponsorships?  All of these affect team business success and the ability of team ownership to fulfill debt payment back-up obligations.

Watch for review of the proposal to get under way in the Council’s Government Performance and Finance Committee in the near future.

This past Tuesday afternoon it was film’s turn and the guest curator was from the University of Washington Special Collections archive. She explained that in Victor Steinbrueck’s papers researchers found a short film with the note “Herbie Mann Comin’ Home Baby 24 frames per sec.”  Researchers found the film was silent, but have since made a copy with the soundtrack. It’s a great “day in the life of the city” piece showing greater downtown Seattle from different angles sometime in 1968.  Much of the footage is while driving through and around the edges of downtown. The skyline struck me as the most impressive part of the film. Seattle’s skyscrapers at the time were the Smith Tower, what I think is the Seattle First National building (though that building wasn’t officially dedicated until 1969) and the then six-year-old Space Needle.

Watch it here

Maybe someone right now is making the “day in the life of the city” people will find 40-some years from now.  What would you capture to show people 40 years from now?

Go see a movie in a real theater this weekend. Sit in a dark space, in a moderately comfortable seat in the Seven Gables, the Columbia City, the Majestic Bay, the Varsity, the Egyptian, the Harvard Exit, the Admiral, the Crest, even Pacific Place, the Metro or the Oak Tree. Sit in a room with people you don’t know, listen to and see a story.

Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw, Nick Licata and I toured the Western with WSDOT staff last Friday afternoon. We wanted to see up close why the building can’t handle the tunnel project and quiz WSDOT about alternatives to bringing the building down and kicking the artists out.

Note the 2.5-inch-wide vertical crack to my right. This is in a hallway in the Western Building. (click to enlarge)

The Western and Polson Buildings sit at the south end of the tunnel alignment where the tunnel is still relatively shallow. It will be 70 feet to the top of the tunnel. That sounds like a lot to me, but then we talked about the fact that the soil in this area of Downtown is loose fill. The tunnel boring machine will pass under the western half of the Western and settlement due to the digging or to vibrations could cause part of the building to sink an inch or more. That becomes a big deal since the building is already cracked in places and because the Western’s attachment to Polson means the sinking walls and floors would pull on the Polson. That’s not good.

The alternative to demo would be strengthening the building to withstand the tunneling without sinking, but that would require such major work on each floor – WSDOT estimates $30 million – that the artists would be moved out anyway. The building owners are local and have said they’ve enjoyed seeing the artist community develop in the Western, but who knows whether they’d invite the artists back or look for higher return from high-end rents.

I’ll keep pressing WSDOT whether they really have to take the building, but I have started to think about focusing more on how to support the artists. WSDOT has pledged to find as much space as possible in Pioneer Square for relocation and the artists will have their relocation costs covered. Unfortunately, you can’t cover the cost of a lost community of collaborators and friends.

Most of the stuff you and I see around town is unwanted and poorly executed. Sometimes the swirl of letters is a message intended for a certain group. Sometimes the damage is cleaned away with a rag, but more often the property owner pays out of his or her pocket for a professional team to clean, repaint or replace (in the case of etched or scratched windows).

Every once in a while, though, a piece appears that makes me hope the cleaners don’t come too soon.  The piece that’s been up a few weeks now on the empty building at 2nd Ave. S. and S. Main mixes a 20th century masterpiece with urban neon shapes. Is it one artist?  Two?  Who’s idea was it to recreate Picasso’s Guernica?  Why?  Is it a statement on the current wars?  Is it no statement at all, merely striking in its sharp agony? Did the artist recreate all of Guernica before the neon overlay?

I know I should maintain a uniformly dim view of graffiti, but I look forward to seeing this wall every day.

(click to enlarge)