A New Tri-Cities Coliseum On the Way?

Mar 26, 2008 Kennewick News

Replacing old stadiums and arenas with shiny, new facilities has long been a trend in big cities across the U.S. And wow … it seems like that trend may be hitting Kennewick soon.

According to today’s Tri-City Herald, the Kennewick city council is likely going to spend $250,000 to study expanding or replacing the Tri-Cities Coliseum (which is currently known as the Toyota Center thanks to advertising rights). And it’s not just a study that’s in the works. Mayor Jim Beaver and a couple council members already know what they want to do, and are talking like it could be a done deal:

“The answer is we’re going to spend $250,000. And I think we should build a new building on the north side of the area,” said Mayor Jim Beaver.

Councilmen Paul Parish and Jim Hempstead said they agree.

But the council’s formal decision won’t come until April 15 at a regular meeting when votes can be taken, said Bob Hammond, city manager.

Isn’t that interesting? The Tri-Cities Coliseum is an adequate building for basic purposes, but it’s nothing special — certainly not an attraction in any way.

In big cities, whenever talk of new arenas or stadiums comes up, it almost always involves big sums of public or tax monies. And that always leads to a vocal backlash against the plan. I notice this article makes no mention of who would pay for a new arena in Kennewick, and if it involves public dollars, I wonder if the backlash locally will be as loud as it is in bigger cities.

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