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It looks like supporters of a NASCAR track in Kitsap County made some progress this week after selling state Reps Adam Smith and Norm Dicks on the whole thing. This News Tribune article makes it seem like those two are chugging the Kool Aid:
Smith said the proposal from International Speedway Corp. could finally provide the region with a major sports tourism draw somewhere other than King County.And more importantly, he said, it would generate more out-of-state tourism dollars than Safeco Field, Qwest Field or any other sports venue in the state.
“It could really help us grow in the South Sound region,” Smith said during a meeting with legislators at the Port of Seattle headquarters.
As Eric de Place points out, the citizen's campaign against a racetrack in Kitsap would be severely crippled if Initiative 933 were to pass:
But in a recent public hearing, county commissioners threw up their hands up at the mention of Initiative 933. If 933 passes, they admitted, land-use changes to accommodate the racetrack would be a fait accompli. Neighbors couldn't do a thing about it.
Kitsap residents still have the opportunity to rise up via this Citizen Survey on the Kitsapgov.com site. Questions 54-65 beginning with, "Based on your OWN opinion, rather than what you may have read or heard, do you believe there to be a benefit to having a NASCAR racetrack in Kitsap County?"
And check out the local business that's been getting cozier with NASCAR lately.
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Reps Adam Smith and Norm Dicks went against the Washington State Democratic Party 2006 resolutions when they vocally supported the pork for NASCAR deal. The same goes for Lt. Governor Owen but this issue is far from over. Rep Prentice is still aginst the deal and 100% of the elected officials from Kitsap County are against the deal. There are still no elected officals in the Washington state house or Senate that support the Pork for Nascar deal.
I can't wait to go over Norm Dicks campaign contributions reports and see if NASCAR greased his wheels.
NASCAR corporation put on a big show but I doubt that it will go anywhere.
Jacob Metcalf
President
Young Democrats of Kitsap County
I don't know. I'm less sure then I used to be that NASCAR will never happen over there. With the Sonics at least temporarily off the table there's a big window of opportunity for other sports to make a case for themselves and if NASCAR can make it seem like they're more relevant to the future of sports than basketball I think lawmakers will start listening more and more.
http://www.opensecrets.org/races/contrib.asp?ID=WA06&cycle=2006&special=N
It looks like International Speedway Corp bought Norm Dicks support for ownly $8,000 bucks. I am going to raise hell about this at the next Kitsap county Democrats meeting.
Funny I'm a young Democrat and I've never known of any "Young Democrats" group in Washington State other than the children of radical party loyalists. Good thing we still have leaders who want to create jobs and economic growth in Kitsap County otherwise we'd be just an extension of Olympic National Park. I don't know about Jacob but I'd like to see more activity out here and more opportunity. If you look at every other community that has a NASCAR track they all love them and make lots of money off them. Even the ones that recieved public money to build.
I just looked up the corporate contributions for Norm Dicks posted above and it looks like he's also in the pocet of Boeing, Shipping and the Labor union's pockets! This is shocking, just shocking that a Democrat would support industrial jobs and those who work in them.
David do you want the rest of the county to look like the Silverdale Mall parking lot? I sure as hell don't. Did you know that there will be less that 50 full time jobs created by a track after it is built?
Well David we have the second largest chapter of Young Democrats of America here in Washington State the Washington State Young Democrats. I am also the Technology Director there.
I personally would rather see our tax money invested in education and transpiration rather than a corporate welfare pork check for a multi-billion dollar corporation from Florida.
Unless the NASCAR beer vendors are unionized I doubt there will be any benefits to the unions.