Can't make it to Thursday's meeting?

St. Petersburg City Council holds its fifth public meeting on the Rays plans for a waterfront stadium at 6 p.m. Thursday. Supporters and opponents will get a chance to present their views.

If you have an opinion about the Rays' plans but can't make it to the meeting, state your case on It's Your Times, the St. Petersburg Times' community journalism site. It's Your Times editors will be sure City Council gets a copy of all the statements.

Comments

[Thomas]

Aaron,

I wonder if anyone will raise the point that the lease terms for the new stadium are also an important part of the plan and should be fully disclosed prior to agreeing to any plan.

Will the city get a part of the naming rights for the stadium, revenues from suites, advertising, etc.

[Pete]

Like it or not, this plan is the only way that the Rays will stay in St. Pete. That's not a threat, that's reality.

The Trop is a pit, by baseball standards, not a crown jewel of downtown.

I think the Rays have done a very good job of keeping the impact to the residents a minimum. They are:

Asking to extend an existing tax set to expire (when has a city ever expired a tax? They're going to extend it anyway If they Rays leave, what is going to replace the money they generate?)

Asking to extend a hotel tax. (What do residents care, we don't stay in hotels. And people who visit here don't care either. Do people NOT go to NY because of the hotel tax? Of course not. They go and expect to pay the hotel tax, whatever it is. Same thing here).

Using existing baseball field. (The city is now supporting two fields, they want to change that to one. Sure, there are some modifications, but the impact is minimal. We're not giving up wetlands or parkland... we're converting a baseball field to a baseball field.)

Offering $150 million of their own cash.

Want to use the money of the sale of the Trop to build the new stadium (makes sense).

Parking revenue. (This could be a sticking point, yes, but, again, what tax implications are there if the Rays are playing in Tampa or Orlando or Nevada?)

[Ray F]

Better to have the Rays supporting redevelopement of the Trop site while playing in a new downtown St Pete park, than to have an 85 acre empty lot with a dome that's not being used and the Rays sitting pretty in another city.

Everyone complained when the dome was empty and we were waiting for our team. Imagine how angry they will be when we're stuck with the empty lot, no major league baseball, no minor league baseball (at least we had the St Pete Cardinals before the Rays), and no spring training.

Baseball made this city. What did we have before baseball??? Nobody can answer that because baseball was here before everyone else.

[Thank you to the Ron and Ian Show for the forum]

Wow, I thought poww was making their group look bad on these blogs with their baseless arguments, slanderous accusations and false propaganda. After listening to their spokesperson, Hamilton, on WDAE620 the Sports Animal, they have taken their position to an all new low. Poww's positions and arguments were picked apart point by point, not only by the Ron and Ian, but also the public.

Great job Kenny. You continue to stay professional and only give the facts that have been presented to you. You and the supporters of the redevelopment of the Trop site and new ballpark show vision for our community. Continue to stay positive in your campaign.

Kenny please see if you can get a podcast put on the www.fansforwaterfrontstadium.com website. For those who missed the live broadcast you must listen to it.

I'm looking forward to the City Council meeting tonight.

[Chuck]

Damn! I had to go into work but I heard them mention the forum this morning on my way. How did it go? What happened? Did POWW start whining about manatees and Ian Beckles cut them to shreds?

DETAILS!

[Thank you to the Ron and Ian Show for the forum]

Hamilton flip-flopped his position a few times, but did not whine. I do not agree with his groups arguments, but he spoke well. He also made the point known that he knew that he was in the "lions den."

It was a clean debate and the public sentiment was definitely in favor of building the waterfront ballpark and redeveloping the Trop site.

[Chuck]

Sounds pretty standard. I don't think you can take much away from the listener base calling in to support the stadium - it is a sports radio station after all.

[Aaron Sharockman]

Thomas,
You asked about the lease.

According to the city's schedule, the city and Rays would have to agree to a lease with the Rays on Aug. 7. That's also the last of three votes to put the item on the ballot. So they will happen together, if we get that far.

Also on Aug. 7, the city and the developer of the trop would in theory have a development agreement for the trop site. And the city and the Rays would have an agreement on the financing plan.

[Thomas]

Thanks.

I appreciate the info and your blog very much.

It will be interesting to see if all of these pieces are in place - or if they're not and the plan is allowed to go forward anyway.

[Jon McPhee]

That's right, like the White House people, always stay on message. As Thank you says above, "Great job Kenny. You continue to stay professional and only give the facts that have been presented to you." Which are a carefully selected "not many."

[Kevin]

I can't WAIT to buy my brand new $300,000 "Tropicana" townhome, next to a bad neighborhood, with a view of 2 interstate highways and the noise that go along with it. Just think of strolling down 3rd Ave S from my front door to watch a ballgame on the waterfront, if I don't get soaked by a thunderstorm, hit by lightning, accosted by bums or flat out mugged. Oh, and the thought of my children playing in contaminated soil, frollicking next to busy 1st Ave S just gives me tingles. I also can't wait to take my kids to their yearly camp at the St. Pete sailing center, where they can board their Lasers and sit motionless in the "dead calm" marina waters, in the shadow of a giant, concrete wall of a super-walmart-sized building with it's even larger sail blocking the afternoon westerly seabreezes from people trying to sail or just plain enjoy a stroll along the waterfront...I'm getting moist just thinking about it. The evening Shakespear performances on Demens Landing will be so much more enjoyable trying to hear them over the din of 34,000 screaming baseball fans, and an even louder P.A. system. But once those old farts in Bayfront Tower sue the city for ruining their peacefull enjoyment of their homes, the Rays will be forced to construct a wall all the way around the outfield to contain the noise prohibited by law. Just ask the owner's of Frescos about making noise next to Bayfront Tower, they'll tell you!! And then we'll be basicly back to a domed (or is it doomed) stadium that we already have in the first place, that doesn't piss its neighbors off and that baseball fans can acually access without disturbing the lives of the majority of the rest of us, those being non-baseball fans/residents and voters of this little city we call home.

[Rick K]

Kevin, someone may have missed that big block of paranoia you keep posting over and over and over.

Maybe you want to make sure the Tribune website has it, too.