July 22, 2002

1:18 AM

Seahawks Stadium was open to the public for the first time this past weekend, with activities on the field for kids, concession stands open with video menus advertising $3.25 hot dogs, and tours of the private box seats and the media room. It's a large stadium with fantastic views of downtown Seattle from some seats and views overlooking Elliot Bay from the western railings, the best hundreds of millions of tax-payer dollars can buy.

On Saturday, the first day of the public open house, a man jumped to his death from a northwest ramp of the stadium.
posted by dan_of_brainlog (15 comments total)

That's a spicy meatball.
posted by donkeyschlong at 3:18 AM on July 22, 2002

God. And on a sunny day too.
posted by crasspastor at 3:26 AM on July 22, 2002

More info on the project here

I'll 'fess up to being the Art Editor for the magazine I linked to. When we were going over the pix for the magazine feature our sub-editor (not a sports fan by any means) pointed to the stand behind the north endzone & said 'That looks dangerous. What's to stop people falling off?' I pointed out a rather large white fence.

From the news link if seems as if this man jumped from the end of the mainstand which only has a small fence. Ouch.

The First & Goal website has more details on the stadium.

The first ticketed event will be a proper football [soccer ;-) ] match this coming Sunday...
posted by i_cola at 4:20 AM on July 22, 2002

Ugh. As documented here, this project is a long and ugly tale of how corruptible government can get.

Basically, Paul Allen made getting a new stadium a condition of his buying the Seahawks. When he started to get resistance, he decided to muscle his way to getting a referendum (which you can apparently do these days if you're willing to finance it yourself). Oh, and the referendum was conveniently scheduled during the summer, for optimally low-turnout. The measure barely passed.

I'm sure the good people of Seattle must be thrilled to know that they've been conned into ponying up their tax dollars for the privilege of buying overpriced wieners.
posted by mkultra at 6:36 AM on July 22, 2002

I guess he didn't like the chances for the Seahawks this season...

mkultra, that is, sadly, happening everywhere nowadays. Here in Florida, they are trying to get us to pay several hundred $million for a new baseball stadium for the Marlins, just a couple of years after we've paid for a new Hockey stadium and a new Basketball stadium. Apparently, every single sport needs its own stadium.

Meanwhile, though, the public school system had to withhold a day's pay from the teachers because they couldn't afford to make payroll. Some priorities, eh?
posted by eas98 at 6:46 AM on July 22, 2002

If one is considering suicide, then one should equally consider the effect that viewing one's death might have on the general public, as well as the incidence that someone may have to clean up what might be quite a mess. He could just have easily done himself in in a remote, wooded location, the ocean, or some other place where his death would have gone unseen and the services of a local specialty cleaning service gone unneeded.

Even in death, narcissism knows no limit.
posted by UncleFes at 7:26 AM on July 22, 2002

Meanwhile, here in Messachusetts, we're opening up the first and only NFL stadium built with no public funding whatsover. You'd think we have lots of tax money left over to spread around for worthwhile projects, then. Naaaa.
posted by yhbc at 7:59 AM on July 22, 2002

I'm sure the good people of Seattle must be thrilled to know that they've been conned into ponying up their tax dollars for the privilege of buying overpriced wieners.

Sad thing, nobody was conned. Seattle willingly bent over.
posted by Ty Webb at 9:04 AM on July 22, 2002

Even in death, narcissism knows no limit.

Such compassion astounds me.
posted by mrhappy at 10:10 AM on July 22, 2002

Sad thing, nobody was conned. Seattle willingly bent over.

I think that's debatable. You can't prove it, but I think there's an argument to be made that scheduling a referendum during the summer guarantees a low turnout, which means you can more effectively "sway" the outcome by mobilizing small groups of voters.

Also, when the person footing the bill for the referendum is the guy who most wants to see it passed, it's hard to see how information is going to be impartial.

The WA state government (elected by the people to represent them and make informed decisions on their behalf, the way a representative democracy should work) had a plan for a referendum on the stadium that was shelved, largely because of a failed 1995 referendum to put tax funds towards a new stadium for the Mariners. It wasn't until Paul Allen stepped in with his checkbook that they decided it would be a good idea, after all.
posted by mkultra at 10:15 AM on July 22, 2002

I'm sure the good people of Seattle must be thrilled to know that they've been conned into ponying up their tax dollars for the privilege of buying overpriced wieners.

All Washingtonians are paying for this stadium, not just those in Seattle.
posted by rotifer at 10:50 AM on July 22, 2002

Well, pretty much every season, all Seahawks fans contemplate leaping off of tall buildings. I'm surprised the figures are still anecdotal.
posted by Skot at 10:57 AM on July 22, 2002

all those bridges in seatle, you think he coulda just jumped off one and politely drowned.
posted by tsarfan at 11:05 AM on July 22, 2002

mkultra, I agree that the entire process surrounding the voting/financing of the Sehawks Stadium was shady and shameful, but it's simply denial to claim that anybody was "conned". For months leading up to the referendum vote there were publications, advertisements, and TV commercials both for and against. No doubt the "for" side had a large monetary advantage, but the information "against" was certainly available.
posted by Ty Webb at 11:16 AM on July 22, 2002

OK, "conned" is a loaded word, but my point is that there never should have been a referendum in the first place. Elected officials are supposed to be the antitode to the general stupidity of the common people.
posted by mkultra at 12:55 PM on July 22, 2002