Baseball and Sarasota - As anyone who reads the paper or watches the news on TV knows, we have been working with the Cincinnati Reds to devise a plan whereby we would develop a new baseball facility in exchange for what has become a 30-year commitment from the Reds to keep Sarasota as their spring training home. Soaring construction costs have caught up to this project just as they have many others, so in spite of a state legislative appropriation we are eligible to apply for the local share is considerable. Most of those details have been well reported in the local media, and we continue to explore ways to minimize the impacts of any potential project on city tax payers.
As for public opinion, at one end of a spectrum are the die-hard loyalists who would see spring training and minor league baseball preserved at nearly any price. At the other end are those who don't feel one dime of public subsidy for such an activity is appropriate, regardless of economic impact. In the middle are the majority of people, with all sorts of opinions both on the overall value to the community of such a facility and the validity of economic impact numbers. What do you think about the project, its impacts, or baseball's place in Sarasota? If you're not sure what to think, what questions would you like to see answered?
As for public opinion, at one end of a spectrum are the die-hard loyalists who would see spring training and minor league baseball preserved at nearly any price. At the other end are those who don't feel one dime of public subsidy for such an activity is appropriate, regardless of economic impact. In the middle are the majority of people, with all sorts of opinions both on the overall value to the community of such a facility and the validity of economic impact numbers. What do you think about the project, its impacts, or baseball's place in Sarasota? If you're not sure what to think, what questions would you like to see answered?
posted by Michael McNees at 5:15 PM
9 Comments:
Back on the baseball stadium topic. I would like to see Ed Smith upgraded rather than build an entirely new stadium. Obviously, the actual baseball surface is fine, so we're just talking about the stands and adjacent clubhouse facilities. What exactly is it about the stadium that needs replacement? The seating and lines of sight are fine. Do we need more seats? Can't the stands be rebuilt to accommodate that? Do we need better press facilities? Hearing the music playing after a game, the acoustics are great and the sound system is excellent, so that's not the issue. If a new stadium is built, why does the entire facility(ies) need to be devoted to baseball? Is there a way that tennis can be incorporated? I believe that Sarasota could attract a fairly large national tennis tournament if we had the facilities for it. Also, keep in mind the year-round benefits of baseball. Go over to the east coast where the Yankees used to have spring training and look at Tampa now. I bet you will find a lot more vacation travel from New York is coming to this coast now as well as people from NY moving here just as there are lots of folks from Boston living and buying property in the Ft. Myers area. Go to the sports bars there and announce you're a Yankee fan. Watch out! As far as the claims that money not spent on spring training will just be spent elsewhere; When I don't go to a spring training game, I will likely go to the beach. I am not spending the same amount of money, if any, at the concessions at the beach by a long shot. I bring my own cans of Bud to the beach. The CVB will certainly give anyone who asks the figures on vacation travel for spring training. The majority of the people I have met at the games are from out of town and many are here on vacation specifically because of spring training.
Gulfer:
Unfortunately it's the nature of a blog that it's not built for new topics as it's not an ongoing discussion, but seperate discussions. Once Mike makes a new post, you will see that all reading and posting to older topics comes to a halt. Notice the older "You choose the topic" post. Obviously nobody would see any new posts there. If this were a message board instead of a blog, there would be more ongoing discussions more organized by topic. Blogs are not really meant for this type of use.
Cyclist:
What do you mean "we"? Is that the royal we? What is confusing about including affordable housing in the development plans for the Fairgrounds? Besides which I now gather that is a dead issue as the incompetents who are running the Fairgrounds refuse to cooperate or step aside.
I think the spray fields came into the discussion as cheap land on which to build the stadium complex when the Fairgrounds property was out of the equation. Master plan? Is that like a codeword for conspiracy? So, your family and friends don't go to spring training or minor league games. What do you like? Maybe I and my friends don't want to pay taxes to support that. Spring training and baseball brings in millions of dollars to Sarasota's economy every year. Just ask the hotels and restaurants that are collecting millions in sales and bed taxes from visitors coming here for it. Those same bed taxes that pay for the beaches you probably enjoy. Well, maybe you don't like the beaches either. Visitors who are here now for a national AAU baseball tournament that wouldn't be here and spending money supporting Sarasota if we didn't have facilities like Ed Smith. Kudos to Pat Calhoon and his crew out there for bringing a national tournament to Sarasota.
This has been an interesting discussion, I thought I'd get on over the weekend and answer some of the questions posed of me but never got there - all in all probably better for me to have the weekend away from the work!
Some brief answers first -
Gulfer - I hear you, I asked many of those same questions when I reviewed those same budgets. There are answers to all of those questions, this just isn't a very good forum to have a detailed, technical discussion of those issues unless I want to spend the rest of the night writing them. As I believe I answered to you before, I have been looking at all of the org chart and am certain to have some tweaks before the Commission adopts the budget formally in September.
Cyclist - before I answer you question (which I will) I have to say that my personal likes or hobbies really don't have any relevance in the discussion. It's my job to represent the city professionally and accomplish the things the City Commission sets out to accomplish. In this case it's to bring home the best possible deal that would allow spring training and minor league baseball to remain in Sarasota in the form of what is now a potential thirty-year commitment from the Reds. The commissioners will then decide whether that deal works for them based on what they believe is right for their constituents and the community, which is where this conversation comes in.
Now for your question - this year so far I've attended 6 or 8 baseball games, the last being a Reds/Lakeland Tigers game about 10 days ago.
As for how spray fields, housing, etc. became a part of the conversation, as we and county staffers looked at potential land for new or relocated facilities, the Aqua Source (sp?) site that has long been coveted came into the conversation. With the potential for additional land, the idea of looking at bringing housing into the conversation was a natural. Nobody has said there's any direct connection or dependent relationship between the two.
Jeff LaHurd has some excellent comments pertaining to the baseball issue in Sarasota, in today's SHT he writes:
"...just as baseball has changed over the years, favoring the manicured look, everything antiseptically neat and tidy and just so, so too has Sarasota changed. We are no longer unknown, and while we want spring training here, we don't need it. Although it is part of our tradition, we will do quite nicely without it. And for their part, if the Reds decide they cannot toss in more chips to make their new stadium a reality, they, too, will do just fine elsewhere."
I have always been a baseball fan and have attended Spring Training games here in Sarasota going back to the White Sox days at Payne Park. I would agree with Jeff's statements - baseball is nice to have but not required.
I would also ask why the baseball stadium question seems to be bundled with affordable housing. These are separate issues and need to be evaluated separately.
As a business owner in Sarasota a favor the decision by the commission to try to find the best solution to keep the Reds here in our town. Many cities are building new stadiums for teams they have, it is not a request of this one team with our one city. The economy the games bring and the excitement of seeing the players around is wonderful and adds and always has added to the things that make our area enjoyable to be a part of. I dislike how people act as if it is a nice thing but not necessary. If we take this additude about the things that have always made Sarasota great and toss them around like they are not a big deal, then I think we are being very closed minded. Everything grows up and at one time they played on a field not as nice as the one today. Except that baseball is growing again and I hope we all figure out a way to encourage this wonderful pastime to stay and be a part of our future.
attitude
Gulfer - I can't help thinking you're not reading my responses very closely, because I think there are answers in there for you.
SOS1 - as I said above nobody from staff has been bundling the stadium and housing issues, except where land is in play that might allow for housing also.
Post a Comment
<< Home