Poll: Rays' stadium financing plan

Paying for a new stadium
Putting aside your other questions, how would you rate the Rays' financing plan?
Swing-and-a-miss (No chance)
Single (Problems apparent)
Double (Not quite convinced)
Triple (Almost there)
Home run (Build the ballpark)

Comments

[Richard Partson]

Ever been in a city with its priorities backwards? It didn't bother me verymuch when they built Tropicana Field
and screwed the taxpapers on that worthless, chemically contaminated, Gas Plant ground.
Now I live in St Pete and I am tired of this mayor and city council. We have problems with the homeless, transportation, etc. and this cit y doe not tend to the major problems first. If any of the city council members ever got on the streets they might see a police problem...........those assholes bullying homeless people and th e city destroying their living quarters. For shame. And you ask the tax payers to fund most of this. What are you going to do for parking??? You will have to shuttle fans from remote sites................who pays for the drivers, buses and fuel????
I say stupidity is this cities first priority. Let the Rays win a World series first and then bring u p the proposition of a new field. Where will they move to? No city has the money to build new stadiums now? Any stadiums being built were signed and done many months ago. If people can't afford gas for their vehicles how can the aford Rays tickets.
Dropping "Devil" from the Rays...................well this city council and Mayor have been offending God for a long time. I saw the name change as a long belated afterthought.
It still won't get them out of Purgatory.

[Pete]

I've had it with the Rays brass and the Political Machine. I don't care if the Rays brass doesn't like the Trop. I don't like the idea, just because you don't like it, you get your way at the expense of taxpayers. Sorry pal, life doesn't work that way. Maybe you've been spoiled in life, but most of us hard working taxpayers haven't. There are more important things for this community that the Political Machine should be worried about. Lack of decent jobs, cutting back of services, high cost of living, etc....

[Ace]

An open-air stadium for baseball ? In Florida ? Get real. These designers/developers must be from up north where they have never experienced one of our humid & rainy summer afternoons ! Let alone a whole baseball season ! I break out in a sweat just thinking about sitting out in the heat.

We ought to invite these yo-yos down here for a summer and have them sit outside ALL afternoon and see how much they enjoy it. I think they'll be singing a different song after 30 minutes !

[TechRider]

The Trop is terrible. That is a given. The team will move to a new stadium within 5 years. The only question is where, waterfront, dog track, toy town, or out of town.

[Dave]

To those complaining about open air stadiums for baseball in Florida I say:

Have you actually been to New York or Washington D.C. in the middle of summer? Guess what? It's HOT and it's HUMID. Almost as hot and humid as it is in St Pete. And yet they have open stadiums.

Have you been to Texas for a ballgame at the Ballaprk in Arlington in the middle of summer? Not as humid, but it's hotter than hell.

[Greg]

1. Rays financing doesn't add up. Since when if your leasing(the Rays), are you allowed to use the owners money that would be made through the sale and redevelopment of the land? That land is owned by the County and City. Thats taxpayers money not Rays money. Enough of the handouts.
2. Yes, I've been in NY & Wash in the summer, and I wouldn't go to the games if it's hot and humid. Thats the whole idea of why the Trop was built in the first place.
3. There isn't enough parking downtown, who's going to walk a mile to park on a city street in a questionable neighborhood? Not me!
4. In these tough economic times, of cut this and cut that, I think we need to really get our priorities in order.
5. What difference is it going to make if we spend all this money on a new stadium when you and I both know, the attendance will be the same as the Trop. The economic climate of Pinellas County and the City of St. Pete cannot support a major league team like other cities can.

[Jerry Snider]

Myself and a friend went to one of the Red Sox games and could not get neer the parking lot. I am disabled and have a plate on my vehicle but that didn't matter. We walked several blocks and by the time I got in the building I couldn't hardly breath. With parking problems luming as well as using redevlopment money that does not belong to the Rays I say forget it and if they don't like it move
Jerry Snider
St. Petersburg

[Tough Luck]

hey Jerry ... sorry about the "luming" stadium situation --- it's probably "neer" and dear to your heart ... that heart that can't take a 2 block walk

don't worry Jerry!
the stadium will only be about 35,000 at the most ... so you can stay home and watch on tv

[Mark]

Jerry,

Don't worry you won't be alive in 5 years when the new stadium opens. Same with the rest of you cotton tops. Oooops maybe I went to far

[Jon McPhee]

You've got to wonder if the last two posters (Tough Luck and Mark) are mainstream Build-er Boosters, or just the kind of people who grew up pulling the wings off flies, turpentining dogs' butts, and tying the tails of a couple of cats together and hanging them over a clothes line. The kind who grew up to be Ted Bundy and Jeff Dahmer.

Hope yer mommas are proud of yez.

[Jon McPhee]

Hey, if you are taking part in this "poll" Aaron is taking on the financing plan, please note that the Chicago rule of election victory apparently applies -- "Vote Early, And Vote Often." This poll, unlike the first two, apparently makes no effort to filter out multiple votes by interested parties.

[Jack]

Tough Luck, and Mark sound like a typical childs response. Too bad for anyone else, I am the center of attention. Thats the trouble with society, too many people with the me first and who cares about you attitude. What a shame. Evidently those two get there jollies out of picking on seniors and people with disablilities. Well you youngsters, if it wasn't for us older folks, you youngsters who do not know respect wouldn't be here to watch your precious baseball.

[Cindy]

You two...(Tough Luck & Mark) must be real die hard Rays fans. You love the Rays so much that it's obvious from the time posted that you two were too busy on the computer posting your nonsense, than watching the Rays/Cards game on tv.

[Chip McMahan]

Tough Luck whose family calls him Stupid for short and Mark whose full name is Mark The Idiot are not helping their cause. They make fun of someone who seems to be a baseball fan.They are either too lazy to try and win Jerry over, not smart enough to come up with real facts or they know "The Cause is Flawed".
If the Rays paid off their debt at the Trop, asked the city of St. Petersburg to buy Al Lang and the land under it (at fair market value) and paid to build there own stadium, and get the zoning and environmental permits, they might have a chance.
This stadium thing is not going to be won by a bunch of bullys and Bigots. The money involved is too much. And filling in the bay? Come on. Also look what happened at Albert Whitted Airport. That was some vote. Remember that? They haven't forgotten either.
People think the owners might leave town if they don't get their way. Think again. Baseball has there (beloved) antitrust exemption. Ever heard the word lawsuits. I can't wait.
I hope this comes down to a fight. The politicians in our city should have gotten the message before now. Apparently not, and that is a shame. An awful lot of red signs are popping up around town. There beginning to look like a red storm. POWW did a great job on picking out the color. Hard to miss, huh?
Keep up the good work.

[Brett]

As leaders of POWW kick their feet up on the coffee table and look out the window of their downtown waterfront condo (chuckling that retiree recruits are busy sticking mad red yard signs in yards across the city), many of us are busy working and hoping that we might find a way for our kids to enjoy baseball on the waterfront in St Petersburg just like our grandparents did eighty years ago. Unfortunately many of you moved here and still wear the hat of the team you saw as a child.

[Peggy]

Just because I don't like my home, can I get the County/City taxpayers to help fund me to buy or build a new one? No, of course not. Then we shouldn't help with the Rays welfare to build a new home either.

[Brett]

Peggy, that's a ridiculous comparison unless you plan to host professional baseball in your living room. And where would we park?

I'm sorry that you don't like your house, though. Perhaps you should move away.

[Brett]

If you're on the fence on this issue, let me tell you how the POWW group works. As quickly as "Let's Build the Ballpark" or "Let Us Vote" signs are going up in yards, they're being stolen. One neighbor has replaced their yard sign 5 times, only to have it stolen every day. Often the thieves not only steal the signs, but they replace them with POWW signs. Nice.
Basically they're afraid that the citizens will vote for the stadium if given the opportunity. POWW figures that one way to win is to give the City Council the perception that the citizens are generally against this stadium, regardless of what tactics must be used to accomplish the task.

[get-smart]

Brett: We already voted last November and this issues was not debated. Gee, I wonder why. Since you know so much please tell me WHY!

[Peggy]

Brett...."if I don't like my house I should move away". Lets take your own reasoning and use it towards the Rays!!

[lb]

Funny, my pretty red POWW sign, and that of my neighbor, have been stolen for the second time. And, given that I pay for them (no Rays organization giving them away for free), I must continue to shell out $$ to express my opinion. Don't blame the scarcity of pro-stadium signs on theft. There just isn't the support.

[Brett R.]

The plan for the park makes all the sense in the world for St. Pete. Though the cost may be a concern, the Rays have come up with one of the most public friendly deals in the modern era of ballparks. In the long run I think the new park and the area which will take over the Trop's space will not only boost the economy and bring in more tourists, it will give St. Pete a new image of being a modern city on the rise, not Tampa's little brother.
If you wanna complain about the cost, fine, although down the road I think it will be more than worth it. I just can't accept arguments about the park being bad for the environment, they need to fill 0.4 acres of the bay.... but having an outdoor park compared to a dome reduces the carbon footprint by 70%! I'm not concerned about the heat either, the sun will be kept away with the 'roof' and breezes from the bay will be pleasant. Miami seems to be fine with building the Marlins a new outdoor stadium.