Silverman: Trop attendance 'disheartening'

Rays president Matt Silverman had some interesting comments in Thursday's paper, as reported by sports columnist John Romano.

You should read the column here. But I wanted to point out this paragraph in particular:

• Already, there are people in the organization who are suggesting it was a blessing in disguise for the waterfront stadium proposal to fall through. Already, there is talk that downtown St. Petersburg is hopeless as a major-league market and that a location in Hillsborough County might be the answer.

Heatcheck: Week 15

Week 15 of Heatcheck Wednesday, a permanent feature here at Ballpark Frankness (that everyone likes to criticize). The idea behind this post is to track the past week's Rays home games and wonder how tolerable they would have been, had they been played outdoors.

Three home games since last Wednesday. Fay kept it cool. And Fay didn't bring us any rain.

Here are our up to date standings after 65 homes games, 80 percent of the home schedule:

How you feeling? Hot. Hot. Hot. ---- 5

Hot, but nothing a cold beverage couldn't cure. ---- 13

Take me out the ball game. ---- 47

Rain delay (Rain plays a minor factor) ---- 3

Rain out (Rain plays a major factor) ---- 1

*

Just wanted to let you all know we're still here

As you know, there hasn't been a lot happening on the stadium front, so nothing really to post here at Ballpark Frankness. I owe you all a heat check, but I'm going to wait until after tonight's game.

I can tell you we're working on something quite indepth related to the stadium pursuit. Hopefully I can share more soon... say maybe a week. Until then.

Parking options to increase for Rays fans

Read more about here.

Some more on the ABC coalition

Just got off the phone with coalition spokesperson Melissa Seixas. She says more than 300 people have applied for one of eight slots on Jeff Lyash's coalition. We're still waiting, however, to see if those names will be released.

Heathcheck Wednesday: Week 14

Week 14 of Heatcheck Wednesday, a permanent feature here at Ballpark Frankness (that everyone likes to criticize). The idea behind this post is to track the past week's Rays home games and wonder how tolerable they would have been, had they been played outdoors.

Six home games since last Wednesday (I'm counting today's ongoing matinee as well). Some pretty hot days this week.

Here are our up to date standings after 62 homes games, 76 percent of the home schedule:

How you feeling? Hot. Hot. Hot. ---- 5

Hot, but nothing a cold beverage couldn't cure. ---- 13

Take me out the ball game. ---- 44

Rain delay (Rain plays a minor factor) ---- 2

Rain out (Rain plays a major factor) ---- 1

Al Lang off limits?

The City Council has been talking about rezoning Al Lang Field as a protected waterfront park for about a year.

Now Council member Karl Nurse is raising the stakes, suggesting the council reduce the height limit of what can be built at Al Lang. And it seems his colleagues are on board.

At least five council members said they would seriously consider the proposal this week.

"There is obviously a portion of the community that is very avid in wanting it to be parkland and as least developed as possible," said Council member Jim Kennedy.

Only Council member Bill Dudley wants to leave Al Lang as is. The other two council members, Wengay Newton and Herb Polson, could not immediately be reached for comment.

This latest turn of events could be the final death sentence to the Rays' waterfront stadium plan. By approving the measure, the council would be sending a message that Al Lang is off limits to major development.

"This is our unique waterfront," said Council member Jeff Danner, who supports reducing the height limit of about 300 feet to less than 70 feet.

City officials had previously said they would hold off on making any changes to Al Lang until the Rays' plans were more concrete.

On the other hand, no matter what, the Rays could get their waterfront stadium if it is approved in a voter referendum.

And the council won't be making a decision on the height limit any time soon, so waterfront stadium fans have reason to keep hope alive.

The council is set to discuss Al Lang's future Thursday, and will most likely refer the matter to committee without taking any action.

Future commissioners weigh in on bed tax

It's not known whether the county bed tax will play a role in a future Rays stadium deal. But at a recent NAACP candidate forum, contenders for two open County Commission seats were asked whether they would have voted to approve an extension of the tax for the now on-hold waterfront park proposal in St. Petersburg.

The candidates didn't offer yes or no responses, but County Commission District 3 candidates Darden Rice and Nancy Bostock both said they were not comfortable using the tax for a ball park. The other District 3 contender, Rene Flowers, said she's interested in exploring a new park as part of the Tropicana Field redevelopment.

In the District 1 race, Neil Brickfield said there was "no way in the world" he would support using the tax for a ball park. His primary opponent, Jane Gallucci, said she needed more information to make a decision.

Will Van Sant, Times staff writer

Coalition nominations due Monday -- who applied?

Well, we don't know. The nominations for Jeff Lyash's coalition were due yesterday at midnight, but we haven't heard yet who has sought one of the seven eight open board slots. We've left a message with our friends at Progress Energy, but are still waiting for a return call. If I find something out tonight, I'll post it here.

What lies beneath the Trop

So many of you probably have seen our story from the weekend about the environmental conditions at Tropicana Field. If you haven't, you can read it here. We started working on the story before the Rays' announced plans to put off a stadium referendum, but decided to publish the story anyway since the redevelopment of Tropicana Field will no doubt be key.

The big take away from our reporting is that most experts -- even the environmental lawyer working with people opposed to the Rays' waterfront plans -- agree that the environmental situation isn't a deal breaker. It will just take time and some smart people.

What do you think?