Seattle: If This is a Bust, What Will a Boom Look Like?

By Knute Berger, Crosscut

February 21, 2012

In announcing the proposal for a new “self-funding” SuperSonics arena in SoDo last week, Mayor Mike McGinn and King county Executive Dow Constantine were careful to couch it in recession terms: this project could bring thousands of good-paying jobs to Seattle, helping to lift us out of the worst economic times since the Great Depression. Seattle is no stranger to boom and bust cycles; from timber to the Klondike to Boeing’s ups and downs to the dot-com bubble, we’ve been riding rainy roller coasters for decades. We’re also familiar with slow recoveries and malaise. In the late 1950s when the Logan and Norton buildings were erected they were the first major private downtown office buildings built since the Depression. The World’s Fair was an attempt to boost the growth rocket after 20 years in the doldrums. More …