Council pushes staff to zone Al Lang as parkland

By a 7-1 vote, the City Council asked staff to look into rezoning Al Lang Field as a downtown park.

Council member Jeff Danner initiated the mostly symbolic effort during Thursday's council meeting. The council has been debating the park designation since August.

But even if the council does eventually designate Al Lang a downtown park, the Tampa Bay Rays could still build their stadium there. All it would take is a voter referendum.

Also, city staff made it clear today that the city can build whatever it wants on Al Lang, regardless of how it’s zoned. Only commercial development along the waterfront needs voter approval.

Council Member Wengay Newton cast the only vote against the park designation. The city should leave its options open, he said.

"Designating anything or taking anything off the table I think would be unfair," he said prior to the vote.

Comments

[get-smart]

- I will Survive -

As sung by m&m (Mikey & Matt);
featuring: R.Baker,vocal,lead guitar & Stu on drums
-------------------------------------------

First I was afraid
I was petrified
But lying got much easier
with you by my side
I spent so many nights
thinking how much money I will score
I grew fat
and my bank account soared

and so you're back
from New New York
I just walked in to find the new lie
that I've been looking for
with that gay look on your face
and the stadium in place
I should have known
they would be coming after me

Go on now go
walk out the door
you got your freakin' stadium
and it's no secret anymore
weren't you the one who said to me
you would tell the council about all my lies
you think I'd be impeached
you think I'd resign
Oh no, not I

I will survive
as long as i know how to lie
I know I will stay the mayor till 2010
I've got all my secret lies
I've got all my alibis
and I'll survive, I will survive

[John]

Wasn't it Rick K who said City Council would NEVER ignore Baker & staff's "suggestion" that Council hold off on this symbolic vote until AFTER the Rays task force completed its work??

WRONG AGAIN, Rrrrrrrick!!

Come to think of it, Rick K is batting .0000

Not a SINGLE thing he's said has come true.

Wrong on City Council
Wrong on the reach and influence of POWW
Wrong on the referendum
Wrong on judging the voters reaction
Wrong on the TDC's position
Wrong on the BOCC' position
Wrong on the financing package
Wrong on the "Paired Redevelopment Proposals"
Wrong on the sailboat
Wrong on Al Lang's future

Shocker.

Rick flew to the Cayman Islands with Sternberg and Wingay Newton for a drink~~~~

[Clear Direction]

All,

A small first step. Thank you to the council members for recognizing the input they have received from the citizens throughout the vision 20/20, LDR process.

I say "Let Us Vote" on a referendum to amend the city charter to Limit the Al Lang site's intensity of use to it's current level or less.

Now THAT would give the city a Clear Direction!

[Mama T]

Mama T says Wengay Newton's political career is over at the end of his term.

This man is out of touch.

Less Disco
More Maudlin
Joni,Mikey,Ricky sing along

The Same Situation

Again and again
the same situation
For so many months

Thethered to a losing proposition
In a county full of sneers...

Still we send up our prayer
Wondering where we have to go .
While the thousands of our lost and lonley fans call out and clamor to be subsidized.
Caught in our struggle for location
and a name that sticks around.

[since1962]

Love
Mama T

[get-smart]

Poster @ 6:31

I don't know dude. Joni is breaking up the band.

[since1962]

Once Al Lang is offically designated DCP it would REQUIRE 6 AFFIRMATIVE COUNCIL VOTES TO CHANGE AGAIN
AND
a referendum to commit anything commercial over 5 years lease as I understand the process.

Council Chair Bennet said they were sending a message to the COMMUNITY AND future COUNCILS that they RESPECT the HISTORIC accumulation of waterfront land and intend to honor that commitment.

A little late but...

[get-smart]

Yes - Protect the waterfront

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO1p2IxZA0U&feature=related

[Get down]

All right, now we can pave the way for lawn bowling at Al Lang, that will bring in the people, huh guys, yeah thats the ticket.

[since1962]

"DOWNER"
If you think its silly now imagine Straub trying to sell the idea BEFORE all these people arrived!

Its called rational
CITY PLANNING

Central Park?

Weedon Island Preserve?
Caladesi Island?
Fort De Soto?
pinellas trail...
(an admittedly overpriced,high maintenence example far ahead of its time)

[Don Mott]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowls It just might attract some foreign tourists. Good idea!

[John]

1962 you forgot a few...

24 miles of free beaches
July 4th downtown
First Friday
Sat Morn Market
Blues Fest
Warped Tour
Mainsail
Shakespeare in the park
Grand Prix
SAIL expo
St. Pete Boat Show
SPIFFS
Taste of Pinellas
First Night
Carribean Carnival
Earth Day Marathon Swim
Airfest
St Pete Sailing Center
Albert Whitted Airport
Most parks per capita of any comparable U.S. city
North Shore Park
Al Lang (PAST)home of Spring Training/FSL)
Vinoy Park
Straub Park
Demens Landing
Pioneer Park
The Pier
Dali
Mahaffey
SPC
The Port
Lassing Park
Tropicana Field
Campbell Park
Williams Park
Mirror Lake Park

Our forefathers had the right idea. It's just our current leadership is mostly incompetent.

[Jon McPhee]

How quaint that W. Newton would think to use the word "unfair" in the context of his efforts to date to turn this community into a debtor realm by secret deals for the benefit only of the few.

[gwo]

How could the Times 'miss' this story in today's print editions but the Tampa Trib carry it? Gosh, with all the ink used covering everything Rays, one would think something would have been printed in the local paper.

Watched the council online yesterday...Newton should have to watch the video replay. What a joke!! Does he understand anything about being a council person? Not just on the rezoning vote but any part of the process. Very sad.

[Pella]

The City Council will learn at least one governmental process real soon. Stay tuned.

NO Downtown Waterfront Stadium - ever!

Go POWW.

[Rick K]

Most of us who have studied the accomplishments and philosophy of Straub, Snell, and other city planners would probably be in favor of the Rays plan to put a stadium at Al Lang field.

[guy]

Rick K, and Wingay Newton Have what is called,
"City Staff Inflection"

[Clear Direction]

Dear Rick K,

I doubt that either Snell or Straub would have fancied themselves City Planners.

Straub was a newspaper man and Snell a developer.

However, our early city leaders did have the forsight to engage renowned City Planner John Nolan to map out the city.

I am aware that you have expierence in the subject of city planning,fortunately, the citizens of St. Pete will ultimately have the opportunity to decide if they favor a Major League Stadium at the Al Lang site.

I am sure that even you would agree, is how it should be.

Sincerest regards,

the few the transient....

defeat after utter defeat...

compromise as alien...

you ARE be a rays fan Rrricky!

enjoy while it lasts!

[Don Mott]

Hey RRRick are you trying to convince yourself or the multitude of followers that you DON'T have? Folks who believed in you have disappeared like lemmings into the sea, poof, gone. I wonder why?

[Rick K]

Clear Direction, while I realize you cannot tell from internet postings like this thread. In this case, I meant to use the lower case "city planner" to differentiate from City Planners.

I think Straud and Snell were both interested in, and playing an active role in helping to plan what the City would become.

And I do welcome votes.

[Don Mott]

RRRick can you explain what the difference is between lower and upper case letters regarding CITY PLANNER? Does one mean something different than the other?

[Rick K]

I was attempting to different between two categories of people.

One, the City Planners, being those who have highly specialized expertise in the field of City Planning and who work or have worked in applying that expertise. These people would include those with graduate degrees in City Planning, and folks who work for government agencies, on a daily basis, tackling the many issues which City Planners deal with.

The other group (my lower case) is the more informal one. It includes those people who are not professional City Planners. People who do not work for government and are not engaged daily in all the details which occupy professionals in city Planning departments. People who contribute in fields outside of government service, but who have an interest in, and play an active role in shaping the arguments, decisions, and outcomes of the processes which lead to decisions about what is and isn't built in the City.

I was sorta going for the distinction between brides and grooms and parents who plan their own weddings, and professionals who plan many weddings over many years, for others, for a fee.

Snell and Straub were active particpants, in their day, in shaping what St. Pete has become.

[since1962]

Are you "sorta going for..."

POWW members,CONA and the other energised activists emailing Council, TDC,BOCC who "play an active role in what is and isn't built in the city?
U/C , l/c ,"professional" or merely grassroots; results do matter. Y'all

[mrclean]

A City Planner makes $18,500 more per year than a city planner and that's a fact y'all!

[Don Mott]

So a city planner would be sorta like all of those folks who do not want to give millions of dollars of city and county funds to very wealthy millionaires to build a new stadium that would add many more millions to their portfolio? Is that right RRRick?

[guy]

Don Mott~ Stop picking on
Poor rrickk.

[since1962]

If Rrrrrick was or is a Rays transient "practicing" economist/city p-L-a-N-n-E-r he will be poor indeed.

Rays are "in the entertainment business not stadium builders" according to M Kalt

[St petes finest]

John, Dont forget that St Pete Pride packs us in. We love packing it in.

ouch?

clever banter but the Mayor and his cronies leave council chambers each year during pride proclamation lest they acknowledge economic impact or get proclamation paper cut,
If the Mayor doesn't proclaim it doesn't exist!

poofster poof if you will...
let us pray

[Fan of Newt]

WENGAY NEWTON FOR MAYOR!

He's the only one in City Council who has his pulse on the city. The other members are a bunch of quacks.

Baker lost credibility for being so tight-lipped about the waterfront ballpark that would be an incredible addition to St Pete.

The stadium belongs on the waterfront and until there is a final decision, nothing should be done to Al Lang.

Rrrrrrrricky sheds his skin and makes love to fellow newt!

"bunch of quacks"

"Baker lost credibility"

"there IS a final decision"

so true if read outside the circle...jerk

[Walt]

I am confused? Wouldn't the DC-P zoning parameters apply, if the Al Lang/Mahaffey/Dali site is re-zoned to DC-P?

That would mean 50' (75' with public hearing) height limits...in other words, nothing taller than the current Al Lang Field.

If the City re-zoned the site as DC-P, and then allowed variances from the zoning limitations to permit the Rays' MONSTER (200'-325' high) stadium to be built, wouldn't that show how deceitful the City staff really is?

Am I wrong?

[get-smart]

Fan of Newt
That is why Nurse was selected. The council didn't want to contend with two buffoons.

[Rick K]

Yes, Walt, you are wrong.

Nothing deceitful about the City Council doing whatever it is permitted to do, by law. It's called doing their jobs. That some wish to confuse the normal exercise of duties with something sinister reveals much about the accuser, but little important about the Council.

[Jon McPhee]

Just so someone besides RRRi-icky gets the current last word. Yes, RRRi-icky, your POWW masters have set it up so you will always be wrong.

[Mike]

You idiots are still lobbing Internet insults at one another over the stadium? For a bunch of bloviating, self-important windbags, you sure do have a lot of time on your hands. Why don't you push away from the computer for a little bit and get involved with a campaign that is actually going on? Prez? County commishes?

Get a life.

[since1962]

Multi "bloviating" made possible by the Times myriad options.
And aren't those ads attractive!

Yes do obsess upon the many other niches! Knowledge is power:

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE GOVERNOR BOUGHT ENGAGEMENT RING AT...

everglades land purchase...