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Facilities Venues

MARINERS MAKE IT OFFICIAL IN ASKING FOR HELP ON OVERRUNS

          The Mariners "launched an offensive aimed at wresting"
     $60M in public money to help cover the $100M in cost
     overruns at Safeco Field, according to Alan Snel of the
     SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER.  In announcing the "unpopular
     move, team officials set into motion what may become a
     marathon legal battle over unanticipated ballpark tax
     money."  To settle the issue, the Mariners and the Public
     Facilities District will jointly hire a mediator within 30
     days.  The team says the stadium-building PFD "must tell
     King County to sell more bonds and use the surplus tax money
     to help pay for costs exceeding" the $417M construction
     budget set in '97.  Mariners Chair John Ellis maintained
     that the WA state law "backs the team's request for public
     money."  Ellis acknowledged that last year the team was
     committed to paying cost overruns: "Our promise was to make
     up the difference, if any, after all other available funds
     had been spent."  But the team now claims they've found
     "unspent funds: the tax surplus fueled by a hot local
     economy."  Ellis also said there was never any public "cap"
     on the project: "We did not talk about a (public) cap, and
     there was never talk about a cap."  But PFD Exec Dir Ken
     Johnsen said, "We believe our agreements with the Mariners
     are clear: They are responsible for all costs above the
     approved $417 million budget" (SEATTLE P-I, 6/23).
          OWNERSHIP CRITICIZED: In Seattle, Art Thiel writes that
     yesterday's action will leave the Mariners ownership branded
     as "liars, betrayers and symbols of corporate America's
     reckless indifference."  In the "court of public opinion,
     the owners have already violated the spirit of the
     legislation and the public will" (SEATTLE P-I, 6/23).

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