Published November 2004

Letters to the Editor

In late September, the International Speedway Corp. chose a Snohomish County site between Marysville and Arlington for its first Pacific Northwest NASCAR racetrack. The next question is how the track will be financed, including whether the state Legislature will support the ISC’s proposed public-private financing plan that could involve bond debt for county residents. This is a sampling of some of the letters received in recent weeks about the racetrack plans.

— John Wolcott, SCBJ Editor

ISC needs to invest more
... The ISC states that it would be willing to invest $50 million into a racetrack in the Marysville area. If the figures are right (which I highly doubt), that would only be approximately 20 percent of the total required to build the facility. The taxpayers (suckers) would be stuck with the other 80 percent.

ISC could walk out at any time if the races went sour and the taxpayers (suckers) would be stuck with the bill. Just like the Mariner stadium and Seahawk stadium built in Seattle at taxpayers’ (suckers’) expense. We are still paying for the Kingdome, and it has been destroyed.

If ISC is so certain that it will be such a success, why are they not willing to invest more of their own money into the bargain? Say a 60-40 ratio — 60 percent (their money) and 40 percent (taxpayers/suckers).

Personally, I do not want any of my tax money subsidizing the ISC in any way, shape, fashion or form. This is something that most of my elected officials that represent me do not understand. Thank God that Senator Haugen and Representative Pearson have the insight to see that it is not in the interest of the taxpayer to finance such a facility.

Joseph A. Patton, Arlington

Officials need to put community first
What is best?

I was dismayed and disgusted to see that NASCAR will be coming to Marysville. The problems are being glossed over and the anticipated revenues exaggerated ... if you think the traffic on I-5 is a bear on Friday nights, just wait until you have 80,000 fans trying to get to the NASCAR parking lot. The gridlock will be beyond belief.

While the concerns of the community and the local airport in Arlington are being minimized, officials seem to be falling all over themselves and counting their anticipated money. Two or three races will not be enough to entice the type of growth that everyone thinks will happen.

What I don’t understand is why the county and the city won’t look at what is best for the community and the county in the long run. If city officials had put even half of the energy they have expended on NASCAR into encouraging new business, we’d have a world-class business park and true stable economic growth. With biotechnology and bio-engineering identified as growth industries, we could have worked with local WorksSource centers and the chamber of commerce to woo in the types of businesses that pay well year-round, encourage growth and development of the community without necessarily taxing our natural resources or infrastructure.

If city and county officials think that NASCAR is the answer to economic stability to offset the Boeing layoffs, I’d like to hear exactly how many year-round jobs will be created at a living wage for a business that may only be here two times a year. It would be poor business judgment to go to the expense of developing new businesses that may or may not see the economic windfalls that are predicted. Two weeks of activity does not sustain a company over the remaining 50 weeks of the year unless there is a draw from other resources.

While the county is fawning all over NASCAR and talking economic incentives, how exactly are homeowners going to be compensated for the noise, the pollution, for the loss of privacy and enjoyment of our homes and community? Our legitimate concerns are being ignored while we will be taxed into having something we never wanted in the first place. ...

I’m making my list and checking it twice to make sure that the elected officials who support NASCAR over their neighbors never get a vote from me.

Laura Lakings-Becvar, Marysville

Track doesn’t belong in residential area
We are opposed to the NASCAR racetrack in Marysville. We live where they plan to build the track. Not across the street or two or three miles away. Our home and acreage will be stolen from us. We have owned this land for about 25 years. We built our house 21 years ago. We moved to Marysville so we could be away from all the noise and traffic of the city. We worked full time and went to school full/part time while raising five children so we could own some acreage along with a nice house away from the city.

We live on the northwest corner of 152nd Street and 51st. When we moved here, there was very little traffic. Now we have a hard time getting out of our driveway. The traffic is horrendous, especially when a soccer match or tournament gets over. A racetrack would just add to this problem. Since our property would be taken from us, we wouldn’t have to endure the noise, but we would have a hard time finding anything comparable to what we have anywhere else with what we would be getting in compensation. We like this area and would hate to be forced out.

We are both retired and planned on spending our retirement years here. Our land is zoned agriculture. We have raised many animals here.

We aren’t opposed to NASCAR. We are opposed to a NASCAR track in a residential neighborhood.

Bill and Lynda Craft, Marysville

This is not the right place for NASCAR
The more information that comes to light, the more I am convinced that this is not the right place for a NASCAR racetrack in the Northwest. ... There are too many homes in the immediate vicinity of the proposed racetrack site in north Marysville (and) the profitable operation of the Arlington airport would be threatened by the nearby location of a racetrack.

It is not right for a racetrack to be built among more than 6,000 homes within a two-mile radius of the proposed site (and more than 500 homes within a quarter mile). The negative impact on the house prices within the immediate vicinity of the racetrack is reason enough not to place a racetrack here, let alone the noise, traffic and other environmental impacts.

ISC needs to look for a more open area within either Washington or Oregon states for locating a NASCAR racetrack.

Heinz Lycklama, Arlington

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