The long heralded downtown baseball-stadium plan is finally here, and it's a doozy. We should probably call it the stadium-plus plan, since it also includes a hotel, condos, shopping and a little bit of everything else. There's so much to say about the proposal that we'll all undoubtedly be writing back and forth about it for months, but just a few obvious points right off, er, the bat:
1. There had better be very open and very thorough discussions about this at every step of the process. If a monster project such as this is to succeed, public support is essential. If it gets pushed through over the objections of a majority of the citizenry, it will fail. There's nothing Fort Wayne and Allen County taxpayers hate more than feeling like something is a done deal they have no say on.
2. It will be a tough sell. Everything proposed for Harrison Square, we already have. There's a stadium people already go to. People are now quite happy to shop at Glenbrook and Jefferson Pointe. There are plenty of hotel rooms and places to live in other parts of town. Why is it so important to have all that stuff in one particular place? The case can't be made with facts and figures -- the opponents will have plenty of those, too, and everybody will be able to point to similar projects in other cities that succeeded or failed, and nobody can really predict how this one might work out. The city has to sell a dream -- why downtown is important and why this will revive it.
3. This project is so big that it will suck all the air out of any other downtown plans for a long time. So this had better be the right idea. It would be better for it to not get off the ground than for it to get done and not make it.
4. I'm a big believer in downtowns in general and have a lot of fond memories of ours in particular, so I really would like to see it come back. I'm not sure this is the best idea. It's a self-contained complex. Even if it does well, how will it spur development elsewhere, especially on what will become the dead zone on the north side of the Grand Wayne Center? Why should I care if this particular corner of downtown does well for the people who set up businesses there?
5. But I'm still only skeptical, not cynically pessimistic.
Our editorial board will be meeting with the mayor at 3 o'clock this afternoon. If's there's something you'd like to know about the proposal, put it in a comment, and I'll ask him. Nothing snarky or sarcastic, please. Serious questions about a major project that could be good or bad for downtown. I'll write about his answers in a future post.
Comments
That's fine Leo...you can be skeptical...I'll be cynically pessimistic FOR you, OK?
;)
B.G.
My serious, honest question for the mayor would be -
what role should the citizenry have in big decisions like this one?
Underpinning this question is the direct, long lasting effect this will have on the city (for better or worse), and the direct, long lasting effect this will have on tax rates and so on.
Since the citizenry will be financially invested in this, and culturally invested in this - we should certainly foster a sense of ownership in this, yes? The goal should be emotional, visceral support, and not detachment or alienation.
The mayor's innovative serial approach to State of the City addresses would also work well for major initiatives like this one, yes?
I understand that dynamic, forward leaning 'Leadership' sometimes means boldly going forward and expecting the public to follow.
I just think that the process by which this plan was developed would have been vastly improved if they had come up with 3 or 4 serious proposals - all at roughly the same dollar value - and then held public hearings on them.
And then, a county-wide vote on them wouldn't have killed anyone, right?
What's the saying about people not living long enough to learn from history?
You'd think our city leaders would have learned from their mistakes of twenty years ago. Lincoln National stepped in and played good citizen, bailing the city out on the dismal failure that was and still is the downtown Sheraton. Today its occupancy rates are better but still in the toilet. And yet the mayor and city council think if you build a new hotel, people will come. This time just anchor it with a ballpark instead of a meeting hall.
Maybe they'll get lucky again and some large corporate benefactor will come to the rescue and subsidize them after they've lost their ass. But I wouldn't count on it.
What might actually draw people downtown is parkland. Instead of trying to build pie-in-the-sky projects that no investor in his right mind wants to be a part of, turn over these undesirable paved-over parcels to trees and trails and tennis courts. It would make our downtown unique and different. And useful.
What kinds of shops/restaurants are there going to be? Kohl's, Wal-mart, Casa's, Bandido's? Most people in Ft Wayne are middle income and if they don't open stores like these popular ones, it will tank. I think we need a rail system through town as well as a train that connects to Chicago. This would attract more business and out of towners. Big downtowns need to have something that draws visitors. It has to have unique attributes. How about free parking in the parking garage after 5 and on weekends? How about a big tower so you can look out over Ft Wayne? An indoor waterpark, tennis courts, basketball courts,think creative. They need to have more things to attract single people too. There are already enough things for people with families to do.
I would like to ask the mayor why the entire baseballPLUS report was based on a flawed question:
"Can the development of a new minor league baseball stadium serve as an effective and efficient catalyst for economic development in downtown Fort Wayne?"
A more relevant question is:
"Is it the most efficient and cost-effective way to revitalize the downtown area?"
It seems like there should be multiple proposals that do and do not include a stadium. From there a debate should be held about the merits of each...
Does the city have the budget and the will to clean the streets nightly after every stadium event and before the morning rush hour?
Is there NEW parking for 100% of the seats inside?
Will those who live in the area find their lives disrupted (a potential Broadripple-style struggle comes to mind)?
What other kinds of events, perhaps less tame than baseball, will be permitted in the stadium -- Rock concerts? Monster trucks?
Will the city have the last word in major disagreements with private interests?
Do plans for downtown's future still have the goal of renewing it as a primary metro area, aka, a real downtown, or does this stadium idea mean we're discarding that hope?
I still can't figure out why nobody could come up with one single other idea than a ballpark.
This is the best our city brain trusts can manage? One option?
No wonder it has a slight odor about it. Besides, Gov. Daniels already used the "once in a lifetime" thing. Now the phrase looks like a calculated copy.
I think this is a great idea!
Steve, the ballpark is only ONE SMALL PART of the overall plan. But since you bring it up- what do you suggest?
> the ballpark is only ONE SMALL PART of
>the overall plan.
Kevin, I don't see how you can say the stadium is a small part of the plan at this point. The ballpark is the political football and the jewel in the crown of the current proposal.
If you look at the list: stadium, stores, eateries -- it may sound like a nice mixture, but if you look at the map and listen to the conversation, the ballpark is where the time, effort and money is going. The other elements have popped up at the last minute, and feels like a bone thrown to the ballpark's many critics as an attempt to sell the deal.
If I'm wrong about the balance of the assets, fine, but this plan has only just begun the process of fair public scrutiny.
>But since you bring it up- what do you
>suggest?
I've been talking about this for a long time, and I think that part of the antidote to the local brain drain is to create a regional environment that attracts "careers" with nationally competitive salaries rather than "jobs" (since careers are what most graduates leave town for).
That goal, brain gain, goes hand in glove with a metropolitan white-collar downtown that offers the resources, services and amenities that managers, executives and professionals expect as S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) in any thriving metro area where they may choose to live and work.
There is a significant separation of logic in talking about a city that will hold and attract people whose daily affairs consist of executive activities in national and international commerce on the one hand, and then on the other hand spending our first multi-millions of metropolitan renewal money on a sports destination -- smack in the middle of the land which might be purposed to serve and enhance some aspect of a renewed white collar professional city center.
There's a lot more to be said about matters along these lines.
I think the most disturbing thing about the proposal is the Parking Garage. Fort Wayne wants to spend 10 million dollars and build a new parking garage. They want to operate it themselves. They have agreed to let Lincoln use 500 spaces each day of the work week for free...
The current parking garage next to the City - County building is located in a great location downtown. The county operates that parking garage. The county lost almost a million dollars operating that parking garage from 2002 - 2005...
I can promise you that the City will lose a lot more then a million dollars every four years operating a parking garage that:
1. Costs the taxpayers 10 million dollars up front.
2. Is in a worse location then the parking garage the County is already losing money on.
3. Has to let Lincoln use 500 spaces for free every work day.
The parking garage will be a money pit for the taxpayers...
We will be pouring money into that parking garage...
Mike Sylvester
Many haven't stopped to realize that the $125 MILLION for the downtown plan is but PHASE ONE of the entire enchilada.....I expect the total cost for everything to exceed $200....(wait and see if it doesn't).
And as a homeowner in a "distressed" part of the city (by "hizzoner's" own words), I can't see myself clear of believing my house will be worth over $100K in the near future. Hell, I can't sell it for the current "appraised" value of $77K...
The people aren't being told the WHOLE story (again)...and to have this "plan" shoved down our throats will only serve to further polarize the constituency city (and county) wide.
But if THAT is what "they" want...they'll most likely see it come to pass. THEY just need to carefully weigh what it is they wish for....because they might just get it.
And then they'll be sorry..(again) at OUR expense.
B.G.
Maybe the real problem for Fort Wayne's renewal is best capsulized in the old truism that "Good Enough is the enemy of The Best." And how.
Quote:
"The current parking garage next to the City - County building is located in a great location downtown. The county operates that parking garage. The county lost almost a million dollars operating that parking garage from 2002 - 2005."
My only response to this news is "Holy Crap!" A loss of $250,000 a year on the current closed parking is hardly a sign that we know how to manage these garages well. There are times when downtown parking is very desirable, but it seems to be overpriced as a rule. I'd lower the fee and make my money on volume year-round, rather than hoping to scalp the attendees of periodic special events.
>Mark Stouder wrote:
>My serious, honest question for the mayor
>would be - what role should the citizenry
>have in big decisions like this one?
I can't for the life of me imagine why elected officials with the formal job description of Public Servant should hold themselves out of his or her constituents' reach.
We have had more idiocy enacted into law on the utterly false rationalization that some politician is "Doing the right thing" than I can possibly gag down.
And finally this comment:
The mayor's press conference was notable for its pep-talk nature rather than its detailed justifications. We are supposed to be grateful for this rare opportunity to fund downtown renewal without dipping into the general property tax fund. But why, exactly? I've never heard of a wrong move that benefited from a tax break.
Graham is going to have to invest the time to detail the advantages he has enumerated in this plan in a way that enables us all to agree with him.
If this ball stadium is really an indisputably rare and rich opportunity for a metro downtown environment, it should be easy for the mayor to explain the persuasive and indisputable benefits of the plan in a half-hour chalk talk on one of the local stations.
Of course, if this is not the shoo-in Mayor Graham assures us it is, a simple explanation of the reasons for city-wide celebration will not be forthcoming.
And that blatant error of omission is when even the most conservative folks in Fort Wayne should start to be suspicious.
If they can't tell you why they believe it's such a once-in-a-lifetime deal, reject it as a once-in-a-lifetime debacle.
Anyway, that's my best late-night commentary on these matters. I reserve the right to modify or focus any intemperate remarks tomorrow, which is after all, as Scarlett said, another day.
But don't count on a significant shift in my overarching sentiments. I'm not that tired this evening.
http://downtownfortwaynebaseball.blogspot.com/
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