Everett Mayor Declares Support for Comcast Arena but Says Investments Must Show Returns

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson today attended the monthly meeting of the Everett Public Facilities District. It’s the first PFD board meeting he’s been to in some time and he told the board he wanted to express his support and gratitude for the job they were doing. He also outlined what he believes the events center needs to do to stay out of the financial trouble that facilities like the one in Wenatchee have faced. “We need to have as few “dark” nights as possible,” said Stephanson. “We need to get down in the trenches, go after business, pull out every attraction, we could even accommodate another pro sports team.” Stephanson acknowledged that in addition to increased competition by other venues, a major challenge for Comcast Arena at Everett was a lack of dedicated parking. “We are working on that as part of Act 2 for the events center,” said Stephanson. “The investments we make will have to be well thought out and pencil a return on investment.”

The Mayor went on to say that Everett was in a much better position than many other cities across the country and even in the state but the economics of Everett are at a new base line. Where several years ago city revenues were at 120 – 125 million, Everett’s revenue is now running between 110 – 111 million. The mayor concluded his comments by noting that Comcast Arena at Everett and other venues in downtown were all helping to build job retention, attract new companies and support of all of them is in the City of Everett’s economic self-interest.