Here’s what we’re told:
The process to award a contract for a $30 million renovation of Cheney Stadium was fair, even if it was done in secret.
The configuration of the new ballpark is the best that could be accomplished and afforded.
The Tacoma City Council can approve the deal tonight, but it can’t change it.
If the council rejects the contract with the winning bidder, it puts the entire project at risk and exposes the city to up to $500,000 in lost rent.
Now if I were a City Council member (which I’m not), and if I had to face voters who care about the stadium and the money being spent (which I don’t) and if I were told I didn’t have much say in the result, I’d be unhappy.
This might be an emotion felt especially among the five new council members who have to vote on the contract but didn’t get a say in the lease that requires the project be finished by next March.
Did it have to be this way? Not at all. The process was secretive, for example, because city staff decided it would be, not because the law requires it. And two missing features for regular fans are affordable, because both were included in the losing bids.
Had the voters, fans and taxpayers been allowed to look at the finalists before a decision was made – as was done with the original Tacoma Dome – they might have pointed out concerns. For instance, they might have said that they wanted many more of the seats under cover, like in the current ballpark. They also might have said they fancied a festive fan concourse that provides a view of the game, similar to the Safeco Field experience in Seattle.
Both of those features were asked for by the city but aren’t provided in the winning bid put forth by Mortenson Construction and architecture firms Populous and Belay. Only those inside the suites and in the outside seats that are part of some suites are protected from the rain. The concourses are far out of sight of the field.
Three primary sources of money will pay for improvements – rent payments by the team, a donation by the Cheney Foundation to keep the family name on the stadium, and higher ticket taxes and events fees charged to fans. If that isn’t enough, taxpayers pick up the slack.
Both Brad Cheney and the Rainiers got a vote. But the public didn’t get to play. And now their representatives don’t get to try to make the project better.
Short of rejecting the contract and risking financial penalties, the council could still act like, well, a council. Members could ask the design team to tweak the plans to provide all the money-making features the Rainiers want and still make the ballpark more friendly to regular fans.
They could start by insisting that team offices don’t need the best views of the field. Moving the offices beneath the seating bowl – as was called for in the city’s project summary – would open up some prime space. Use it for a general admission fan concourse with some concession areas and restrooms and a big problem is solved.
During a presentation to the council last week, architect David Bower of Populous said that uncovered seating would be OK because during rain delays fans could retreat to the concourse underneath the stadium.
But we don’t always stop playing when the inevitable drizzle begins. Telling fans they can go downstairs and watch on TV is not a good answer, not in the Puget Sound region, not in a ballpark that claims to invoke Northwest design and sensibilities.
Populous is one of the best stadium designers in the world. Belay is a top-notch Tacoma architecture firm. Mortenson is a global construction giant. They are up to the task if only the council would insist the stadium be as useful to general fans as it will be to those up in the suites.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657
peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
MEETING TONIGHT
The Tacoma City Council is set to consider a contract award to Mortenson Construction for the Cheney Stadium project at its meeting at 5 p.m. on the first floor of the Municipal Building, 747 Market St., Tacoma.
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