Sodo Residents and businesses fear new stadiums will paralyze traffic By ELLIS E. CONKLIN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Sodo's future will be shaped by the opening of the new baseball park next year and a football/soccer facility in 2002. Sculptor and goldsmith Lezlie Jane isn't alone in her concern about what it will mean to the character of -- and traffic in -- Sodo. "The traffic is already bad, and it's going to get worse. I make sure I have a lot of good reading in my car before I go anywhere." Mike Perringer heads the Sodo Business Association and advocates converting some of Sodo from manufacturing to mixed-used zones. He says at least 50 trains pass through the Sodo district each day between South Second and Third avenues, causing about three hours worth of delays for motorists trying to cross east or west. "I've had businesses call me up and say, 'Mike, I can't get my trucks in and out. I'm getting out.' " Traffic on First Avenue South is horrible and the stadiums will only worsen the vehicular nightmares. But help is on the way -- or at least on the drawing board: The state Highway 519 project will provide elevated ramps from south of the Mariners ballpark to I-90 along with some east-west overpasses. Others fear the stadiums will strip the district of its manufacturing might. Glass artist David Huchthausen, who is also a Sodo-based realtor and co-chair of the Greater Duwamish Planning Committee, foresees an inevitable influx of T-shirt shops, parking lots, hotels, small condo developments -- along with an array of sports bars and restaurants the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums will likely spawn. He says the changes will drive up the price of land and force out long-rooted companies offering family-wage jobs. The Bemis paper bag factory that once employed 200 workers left Sodo in 1993 for Vancouver, Wash., where it already had a large factory. The business couldn't expand its handsome brick building on Atlantic Street and chose not to relocate in the district because of spiraling land prices. Average land values have nearly doubled from $16 a square foot to about $30 over the past five years, says Huchthausen.		Saturday, April 11, 1998 It's gritty, blue-collar and sometimes home Residents and businesses fear new stadiums will paralyze traffic Sears' legacy, Starbucks' action and Frank Stagen's vision How to find a few frills and thrills amid the factories It's a hit when former restaurateur switches to supply side Urban art, barbeque and one huge building open to the public -- check it out By the numbers Nearby communities:     Georgetown     International District     Pioneer Square