Fort Wayne is getting a -- baseball stadium?!
They just announced that Fort Wayne will be getting a new baseball stadium -- right in the middle of downtown. They've been talking about it for months, but I thought there were also considering other ideas, any of which would probably be better than this.
We already have a baseball stadium next to the Coliseum. Is it reaching full attendance? I doubt it. How many baseball teams do we have? One minor league team. Do we really have that many residents screaming for a new baseball stadium?
Does the committee not know what the weather is like around here? Most of the year is cold and wet from either rain or snow. The ideal thing to do is build some sort of indoor entertainment that won't be affected by the weather. Something we can use year-round.
What else can you do with a baseball stadium other than play baseball? I'm sure you can get creative with its uses, but other options are much more adaptable.
They are also planning a new hotel to go with the new stadium, but from what I hear, the existing hotel downtown is never at full capacity. The new hotel is supposed to be twice the size.
They did plan for a parking garage. The newspaper said it will hold 900 cars. If you figure an average of 4 people per car, that's parking for 3600 people. How many people will the new stadium seat? I'd guess more than 3600. Where will everyone else park? It's not like there's a lot of room downtown.
And let's talk about traffic. Most of the roads are small two-lane streets. How is all of this traffic going to get around?
I don't understand. I'd really, *really*, like to see the numbers on this and compare it to their other options.
How about an indoor water park? Or an indoor sports complex? Or an indoor theater complex? Or an indoor shopping center? (Are you notcing the trend yet?)
I hope they know what they're doing. Most people I've talked to think this is a horrible idea. Is there anyway we can get it postponed so more people can look at the plans?
-- C.
We already have a baseball stadium next to the Coliseum. Is it reaching full attendance? I doubt it. How many baseball teams do we have? One minor league team. Do we really have that many residents screaming for a new baseball stadium?
Does the committee not know what the weather is like around here? Most of the year is cold and wet from either rain or snow. The ideal thing to do is build some sort of indoor entertainment that won't be affected by the weather. Something we can use year-round.
What else can you do with a baseball stadium other than play baseball? I'm sure you can get creative with its uses, but other options are much more adaptable.
They are also planning a new hotel to go with the new stadium, but from what I hear, the existing hotel downtown is never at full capacity. The new hotel is supposed to be twice the size.
They did plan for a parking garage. The newspaper said it will hold 900 cars. If you figure an average of 4 people per car, that's parking for 3600 people. How many people will the new stadium seat? I'd guess more than 3600. Where will everyone else park? It's not like there's a lot of room downtown.
And let's talk about traffic. Most of the roads are small two-lane streets. How is all of this traffic going to get around?
I don't understand. I'd really, *really*, like to see the numbers on this and compare it to their other options.
How about an indoor water park? Or an indoor sports complex? Or an indoor theater complex? Or an indoor shopping center? (Are you notcing the trend yet?)
I hope they know what they're doing. Most people I've talked to think this is a horrible idea. Is there anyway we can get it postponed so more people can look at the plans?
-- C.
posted by Cerpicio at 10:05 AM
5 Comments:
Right now downtown has nothing, so I guess anything is an improvement. The urban development people have been trying to stimulate the downtown area for years. Something like an indoor water park would bring in a steady stream of people, but maybe they want to be able to control the influx of people to the downtown area and coordinate other downtown businesses with the event, i.e. - free drink at Club Soda after the game. And maybe they were thinking they have something down there for the winter time, the skating rink, so they wanted to balance it with something for the summer. Baseball doesn't have a real good track record, though, I hope they're also prepared to put some money into good players, this puts a lot of weight on the Wizards to make money, if the team sucks, attendence will drop. Hmm...come to think of it, they could have outdoor concerts there, if it's big enough, THAT would be cool, and depending on where they build it, not many neighbors to complain about the noise.
Baseball downtown -- bad investment. I think something could go downtown, just not a baseball stadium. The planners apparently have never tried to park downtown. It's bad now.
I usually end up at that parking lot near Coney Island (works out real nice for me) sometimes I have to pay, sometimes I don't (weekends). I was just down to the Botanical Gardens last week and cruised right into that parking garage on Calhoun and Washington, they validated my parking (as they do for everyone) so it was a very convenient trip. I expected more hassle.
You know, I don't really mind the idea of a stadium downtown, I JUST DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR IT WITH MY TAXES. No we really don't need it and I do think it's a totally stupid idea that will fail like most of the ideas in this town. And you know the $125 million budgeted for the project is such an underestimate. I guarantee it will be at least $350 million with us paying for it until my kids are adults, with more and more money going into the project every year. I agree it should be a multi-use facility. It sucks that we had abslutly no input from the masses if we WANTED this since we are paying for it, and it doesn't matter to the politicians since by the time for re-election it will already be around so they don't care. Just like when the mayor anexed all of those areas around town, by the time he was elected out of office there was no way of stopping the annexation.
Why do you hate baseball, Jeff? If you hate baseball, you hate Amurrica. Do you hate Amurrica, Jeff? WHY DON'T YOU MOVE TO CANADA, JEFF?!? I hear they hate baseball and puppies up there, and they have socialized medicine, you commie.
For what it's worth, Rochester built a baseball stadium downtown a couple years before we moved here. It's right across the street from where I work. It's used for baseball, soccer, and concerts, and is always packed. Last year they built a soccer stadium about a half mile away....also always packed. Soccer and baseball are huge here, however.
Then, the population of the Rochester metro area is at least twice that of Fort Wayne. But the point is trying to get people to go downtown and revitalize that area and attract other business. Lots of cities have been doing it recently; some more successfully than others. I don't know if it works or not, but I suppose I have to give credit to the city planners for at least trying. Fort Wayne never had much more to offer downtown than the Three Rivers Festival. Rochester has mediocre downtown activity, but they've been trying to pump it up in the years we've been here. Then there's the question of practical use of tax dollars, on which everyone has an opinion....spend money to make money vs. spend money to keep the f'in potholes filled.
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