No NASCAR For Marysville

Have I mentioned how much I love the Government in the VERY "blue" state of Washington? Let's see, build a NASCAR track, bring money & jobs into the economy, create a sense of excitement in the community, attract other businesses associated with NASCAR, build MUC NEEDED soccer fields and recreation areas on the grass where the Parking would be & include a road project that will alleviate traffic situations for all but two or three weekends a year -OR- dump the whole idea and let Costco, Wal-Mart & other big box stores pave over the entire area to have massive parking lots and have traffic congestion every day of the year?

In one of the worst arguements I've ever heard, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen D-Camano Island, said she's happy that the idea has been dropped. Haugen said it's absurd to be talking about spending millions on a racetrack with the state facing a $1 billion budget shortfall. "I'm certainly glad that they're not wasting any more money" studying this, Haugen said.

I wonder if she's ever hear the saying "insanity means doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Let's see, we are running at budget shortfall every year...year after year...how can we fix that? Maybe bring in some tourism/TAX dollars, fill up those hotel rooms & restaurants, maybe attract some out-of-staters to move into the area. Nah...that would bring in to much money and we like our billion dollar shortfall...we need to protect it.

For Snohomish County and Marysville, the deal fell apart because International Speedway Corp., or ISC, would not sweeten its end of the bargain. They tried to get ISC to either pony up more than its initial $50 million offer or provide some kind of guarantee that NASCAR's most-popular racing series, the Nextel Cup, would come to Marysville. That's against NASCAR policy.
For ISC, the overall $250 million price tag was at least $100 million more than other tracks it has built in recent years - even much bigger ones.
Lt. Gov. Brad Owen said he thinks Snohomish County and Marysville may have come to a decision too quickly, saying they should have taken time "to have some Thanksgiving dinner."
"I'm disappointed that they made that decision now," he said. "It just seems to me a little quick to pull the plug. To me it's never over until you're absolutely certain there is no way to make it happen."