Seattle Ignores Private Offer to Finance 100% of an NHL/NBA Arena

One of the late Bill Speidel's best-selling books is Sons of the Profits.

It details the real history of Seattle's origins.

Seems that the Emerald City was built on the foundations of greed, swindling and prostitution.

But enough about its attractions.

With such a streetwise background, how do Seattle's luminaries keep coming off looking like rubes?

• Starbuck's kajillionaire Howard Schulz gets okie-doked by Darth Bennett, and the Sonics get whisked away;
• The mayor at the time rolled over for a heavy-handed demand by David Stern to not fight the whisking;
• Alleged NBA savior Chris Hansen gets caught trying to derail Sac-Town's attempt to keep its own circus in the Cali capital; and
• The NHL has all but grabbed Seattle by the throat and tried to cram an expansion franchise down it.

But yes, again.

A real estate development group took note of a city-commissioned study concluding that little ol' Key Arena could indeed be renovated to meet NHL and NBA standards for the tidy sum of $285million and volunteered to fund it.

But they were rejected.

Mayor Ed Murray -- who took office after the Sonics left town -- wants to honor the deal with Hanson without even considering a re-negotiation.

Local taxpayers must love that:

• Hansen's arena deal calls for $200million in public funds, part of a downtown street to be eliminated, and adjustments with the break-in-transportation schedules, ie- ships to trucks and trains.
• The Key Arena refurbishment proposal calls for keeping the gift horse's lips sealed.

Yeah, right

There's a cushy, decked out office in the heart of Manhattan where a little man with a big job surely has a patch of wall dedicated to Seattle. Hopefully, he wears a helmet when he's near it. The NHL's concussion protocol is quite strict.