A 'flood' at Safeco Field

TOS's Vincent Koskela contended "the recent rain storm caused severe flooding at 'Safeco Field.' The lower bowl, Clubhouse and Dugout flooded. Four feet of water shot up in the Clubhouse. Conduits carrying TV Cables were full of water," Koskela wrote.

Wrong on all counts, counters M's spokeswoman Rebecca Hale, who also saw the e-mail. Koskela claimed his info came from disclosures made at a Public Facilities District maintenance and operations committee meeting on Dec. 10.

Actually, Hale admitted that his account initially didn't seem so unlikely, given the volume of rainfall and the fact that Safeco has been limping along with what both she and PFD executive director Kevin Callan acknowledge is an inadequate drainage system for the ballpark's interior. But amazingly, "there was no damage" from the historical pounding the region took, said Hale, who didn't attend the PFD meeting but did tour the ballpark.

Fortunately, the roof was closed, and the drainage system for the roof handled the storm fine, she said. Still, it was fair enough for Koskela to draw attention to upcoming work to fix the system that drains the field bowl. Hale said it's not yet clear if the problem traces to faulty design. Preliminary estimates for an improvement project are $200,000 to $250,000 – but not "$250,000 to $500,000 on up," as Koskela reported.

The PFD board approved the project at its Dec. 10 meeting, said Callan, who was there. The M's will front the cost and then get reimbursed, with interest, from an "excess revenue fund" funded by a 5 percent admission tax created primarily to pay off stadium bonds.

Koskela isn't backing off. "I reported exactly what was disclosed," he contended. Minutes of the meeting won't be available for several weeks, Callan said. Of Koskela, he said, "With Vince, the sky is always falling."