No Christmas Carousel This Year at Seattle Center?

We get a lot of hyperbolic "WAR ON CHRISTMAS" ALERTS! in our email inbox this time of year, but this time it's personal. Apparently, the Fun Forest, having been given an unceremonious boot by the cash-strapped Seattle Center, was also the operator of the Christmas Carousel. As they have been asked to be out by January 2--about a month's notice--there was no time to set up the carousel this year. 

Adding insult to public-spirited injury, the Center refused an offer to take ownership of the carousel, Fun Forest manager Beth McNelley told Goldy on the Slog. Admittedly, the gift was tied to a lease extension to 2012, but it seems odd that the Seattle Center, which is owed some $1.1 million in back rent by a variety of tenants, would be turning down the Fun Forest's offer of $250,000. 

As of 2007, the Fun Forest themselves owed the Center over $750,000, but they negotiated a lower rent in return for a shortened lease. The Center believes it can get $350,000 per year from a new Chihuly glass exhibit, created by the owners of the Space Needle--an amount that would bump to $500,000 a year after five years. But that amount is theoretical if and until the exhibit is built and opens. The Center needs money now. 

Center officials seem intent on digging their money pit even deeper, though: Despite the fact that Center House concessionaires Center House Bistro & Bar and the Bubbles Inc. candy store owe $46,865 and $28,503 (respectively, per Crosscut), the word is that they are being asked to make way for Food Court construction beginning in July, their high season.