What do you think about a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom to host a variety of events?

File this idea under "Insanity" and this article under "Politics". Previously printed rationale for opposition include mere description of the area: 1)a major FLOODZONE; 2) African-American historic center; 3) an area of dangerous and congested traffic patterns, including the confusing, accident-prone I95/I295 convergence; 4) a congested commercial area prone to economic failures (check out the history of Maine Street Station); 5) a crime-ridden area; 6) the existence of the Diamond-area property without most of the problems and a history of service to sports interests [tear down & rebuild!!?!!].
When combined with a small knowledge of Richmond area history, the entire issue smells. Who owns what land? Who warrants that no tax-payer money OR publically-owned land OR public-guaranteed bonds OR political kickbacks will be involved? My cynical, skeptical hair is standing on end with this one. Well-heeled investors can usually write-off losses; downtown Richmond cannot afford this probable large albatross located so close to one of its few areas of commercial, if marginal, success.
Finally, I can't believe our leadership isn't more intelligent than it appears here. One of the often-cited reasons for the inadequacy of the Diamond was the dampness of the fields. With that in mind, what part of FLOODZONE don't the city/state leaders understand? Do they actually expect profit-motivated investors to expend the enormous funds necessary to guarantee that they will be able to manage flood levels of 2004 Gastone proportions?Or do they simply say that such levels will not occur again? Or have our city engineers perhaps discovered a way for the masses to "walk on water"? It continues apparently to be easy to ignore problems and waste the resources of others!
Should our leadership attempt to ignore, brush aside, or deny all rationale for opposition to this project, perhaps they should not be our leaders. Isn't it such optimistic, blindsided, myopic, fly-in-the-face-of-reason decision-making that is a root cause of the current national economic crises? Or are we to be pied by the economic piper into constructing another Sixth Street Market or Main Street Station? History teaches that we apparently don't learn from history.

What bothers me is using up $ 60,000,000 in resources when a perfectly good facility exists on the Boulevard. If we wait for developers to come up with a plan in this recession, it might be many moons until we see professional baseball again in Richmond. The expensive new ballpark runs counter to the new age of restraint.

Why don't we put this idea on the back burner and get pro ball back onto the Boulevard...Class AA, Class A ( heck, even semi-pro ) would be a step in the right direction..let's think about our citizens and play ball again as soon as we can.

1) Not a MAJOR floodzone - New Orleans is a major floodzone. This area flooded at least 5 years ago, and has not flooded since. Not to mention, that was a hurricane, how many of those do we get and to the scale of Gaston?

2) The have plans to honor the african-american culture with a Slave Trail Museum. You can't keep an area in disrepair forever because something happened there a long time ago - there needs to be progress or it will all just fade away. Wouldn't you rather have somebody who wants to preserve it, than somebody solely interested in tearing it all down?

3) Dangerous and congested traffic? Have you been to northern Virginia?? That's a *real* rush hour. They will only be congested until we improve the infrastructure - one of the goals of the project.

4) Minor league baseball has not been attempted in this area. Please read up on the continued growth in attendance of MiLB before you compare this venture to a typical retail project.

5) The only way to reduce crime is to change the environment that enables crime. If we leave it the way it is, it will continue to foster such activities. You must rebuild an area to make it stronger. Don't give people dark corners to do dark deeds in.

6) MiLB experts, those who have been successful in the continuous growth of minor league baseball, have identified the Boulevard as an area that does not foster the success of a new stadium. Building a fancy new stadium will not change the area surrounding the stadium. The reason the Braves failed was a combination of a bad area and a worse stadium. It would need to be completely torn down, due to the conditions on the field (it FLOODED and its not even on the flood plane! - before you jump on that, the new design compensates for the area it will be constructed in) and around the park - it doesn't have half the features the new stadiums do.

The alternative placement to the Bottom is the suburbs - there is a quote somewhere that states that its a unanimous agreement that baseball will not work on the Boulevard. Its NOT an option.

They are only asking the city to put up $8 million of the $363 (2%!) to aide infrastructure improvements - something tax dollars are meant to pay for.

The developers here have made MANY compromises, both historical-based and infrastructure-based. They seek to improve the area in order to bring about an affiliated team in our area. There are *countless* benefits this would provide our area. I'll spare you all the list.

To clarify - I meant to say that minor league baseball has not been attempted in the Bottom, that only retail/bars/restaurants/complementary projects have been attempted. The baseball stadium is more self-sustainable than these other types, and unlike the 6th street market which depended on foot traffic through the area - it was never meant to be a destination.

I don't really care about whether or not there's a new baseball stadium but, assuming there is going to be one, I think the location is horrible! How in the world does anyone think it's a good idea to plunk a stadium right in the middle of a busy downtown social district? There are plenty of other places that are still in town that are less inhabited. This just seems like the dumbest idea in the world; I don't know whose great planning it was.

"How in the world does anyone think it's a good idea to plunk a stadium right in the middle of a busy downtown social district?" - posted by Allison

Allison, I think the idea is to make it a destination. People will visit the stadium for a game, or hang around the area after work, and then hang out in the same area after the game. Everything is all within walking distance. The construction will be an inconvenience for a relatively short period of time in comparison to how long we will be able to enjoy baseball (and a vibrant downtown social scene) after its completion.

If they wanted it in a "less inhabited" (abandoned) area, they would stick to the Boulevard. The point is to find an area that hasn't realized its potential, and fix it.