The Cobb County Braves

[Channing]

The city determined that it could not put that amount of public funds into the project, given the state economy and the football stadium that is already committed. It is not a matter of desire on the part of the city, or even getting closer to the fans -- it is a matter of the owners trying to secure the biggest government tax subsidy they can find. Which is fine, but I do not see a reason to celebrate it. Or pretend that it is being done to benefit the fans.

The argument that it is moving to accommodate more fans is malarkey. They are reducing the number of seats for criminy's sake.

And as you apparently know, "downtown" business is at Five Points and Midtown (and on up to Buckhead) -- not East of the Capitol. If you think traffic is bad now, try heading up I-75 on a game night once this is built at the corner of the perimeter. Let alone trying to get across spaghetti junction from Gwinnett, Athens, Conyers, etc. the idea that this is better for the general traveling public is beyond me.

As far as transportation, etc. -- MARTA does not run to the suburbs because the suburbs will not allow it. If they cannot get to the stadium, it's their own damn fault. I respectfully suggest that you point your comments about race-baiting to the voters there, not me. (Sorry for the rant, but yeah I do not take that lightly).

you made the overly broad statement that Cobb County will not do anything to make the stadium more accessible to Fulton residents (even though the stadium is virtually straddling the Fulton/Cobb line, and is much closer to many Fulton residents than Cobb residents). Such a statement has no factual support and appears to imply that Cobb (presumably a largely "white" county) will try and keep Fulton residents (which houses the city of Atlanta, which I presume you are saying is primarily AfAm) from the games. That is the definition of race bating. If I misunderstood your post I apologize.

Re making the stadium more accessible to fans ... I am not sure how moving smack dab into the center of your season ticket pool is not an effort to make it more accessible to those fans. They are reducing seats, but the Braves routinely draw in the 20,000s during the week and are routinely at the bottom of the league in attendance. I'd rather see a full 35-40,000 person stadium than a half empty 50,000 person stadium.

[Atlanta Duke]

It is a smart deal for the Braves - Cobb County is going to give the Braves financial support the City of Atlanta would or could not after the Falcons cut a deal for their new stadium first - Braves are in a tough competitive spot since they have a bad local TV deal compared to the Dodgers and Yankees of the world and apparently hope to generate revenue by getting control of development around the new ball park

http://www.ajc.com/news/business/atl...nt-dist/nbyxr/

Since I live in DeKalb County I have no dog in the fight other than wondering how many hours I will need to allow for negotiating the top end Perimeter to get to a game (I am within 1 mile of a MARTA rail station and do not deal with the nightmare of driving on the I-75/85 Connector when going to Falcons or Braves games).

But the method of clearing the way for the deal has some questioning whether this is in tension with what Commissioner Lee describes as 'the Cobb Way.'

1. Continue The Cobb Way of decision-making.

a. Find a way to make important decisions that are based on consensus and partnership, with deliberate outreach to the citizens of Cobb County.

b. Continue open dialogue, cooperation and support of the cities of Cobb County.

2. Conduct government business in a transparent manner and with a commitment to excellence.

http://leeforcobb.com/vision_for_cobb.aspx

With regard to a public debate, this from Commissioner Tim Lee

“We’ve made a decision we’re not going to do that. I don’t know that having a public hearing would add to the objective of getting more input since we’ve got a lot of input to date.”

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...ballpark-vote/


If you’re planning to tell Cobb County’s top elected officials what you think about their plans to help build a new stadium for the Braves at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners’ meeting, you better get there early.

Officials are going to allow six residents to speak for up to five minutes each before the commission votes on whether to approve the Memorandum of Understanding between the county and the Braves.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/tuesday...imited-/nbzsN/

[Duvall]

Wait, what?

The Washington Nationals want to put a roof over the team’s stadium and they want taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Multiple sources tell WNEW Senior Correspondent Mark Segraves that team executives have approached several District officials, including those in the mayor’s office, to propose the addition to Nationals Park.

While the discussions are in the very preliminary stages, diagrams of what the proposed roof would look like have been presented to the Mayor’s office.

The project would cost roughly $300 million to complete.

District taxpayers put up about $700 million to build the ball park which opened in 2008.

First of all, no.

Second, how would this even work? If it's a retractable roof, where's the room to install it? If it's not a retractable roof, who the heck builds a permanent roof in 2013?

[Dev11]

Wait, what?



First of all, no.

Second, how would this even work? If it's a retractable roof, where's the room to install it? If it's not a retractable roof, who the heck builds a permanent roof in 2013?

As a Nats fan but not as a DC taxpayer, I can't believe the city would go for it and I also hope it doesn't happen. Has DC even made back the money from the initial stadium investment? It was a hefty sum, and the commercialization of the neighborhood has been slow.

[Duvall]

Washington Post reports: "One person who saw the Nats Park retractable roof plans called them, 'butt ugly.'"

[-jk]

As a Nats fan but not as a DC taxpayer, I can't believe the city would go for it and I also hope it doesn't happen. Has DC even made back the money from the initial stadium investment? It was a hefty sum, and the commercialization of the neighborhood has been slow.

I'm sure they haven't paid the stadium off, but it's definitely driving development.

-jk

[JasonEvans]

I wasn't aware that weather was a major issue for the Nats? It would seem to be in a climactic region that would not be susceptible to problematic weather during April to Septmber.

-Jason

[Atlanta Duke]

I wasn't aware that weather was a major issue for the Nats? It would seem to be in a climactic region that would not be susceptible to problematic weather during April to Septmber.

-Jason

Maybe Washington wants to bid to hold a Final Four and needs a domed stadium?

[Dev11]

Maybe Washington wants to bid to hold a Final Four and needs a domed stadium?

One bit of speculation I saw alluded to an Olympic bid, actually.

It doesn't make sense. Yes, DC is hot in the summer, but not any more than Atlanta or Dallas, which seem to survive without roofed stadiums (Phoenix, Houston, Tampa, and Miami would beg to differ).

[Duvall]

I'm sure they haven't paid the stadium off, but it's definitely driving development.

-jk

Is it? There's been development in that area, but it seems like the kind of development that's been happening all over the city. We haven't seen the kind of entertainment district growth that could easily be tied to the ballpark.

[throatybeard]

I wasn't aware that weather was a major issue for the Nats? It would seem to be in a climactic region that would not be susceptible to problematic weather during April to Septmber.

-Jason

Summer is putrid in DC. Not Texas putrid or Arizona putrid, but "butt ugly," to use a phrase from this thread.

[JBDuke]

FWIW, apparently DC mayor Vincent Gray laughed at Ted Lerner when Lerner suggested that the city pony up the $300M for the improvements. I think it's idiotic. DC weather in summer ain't fun, but it's not Houston or Miami. We're not substantially worse off in July and August than Baltimore, Philly, Atlanta, or New York.

[OldPhiKap]

FWIW, apparently DC mayor Vincent Gray laughed at Ted Lerner when Lerner suggested that the city pony up the $300M for the improvements. I think it's idiotic. DC weather in summer ain't fun, but it's not Houston or Miami. We're not substantially worse off in July and August than Baltimore, Philly, Atlanta, or New York.

Not sure how the District is funded, but if this would mean the Feds kicking money in -- ain't gonna happen.

And not sure if a revenue bond would cut it, either.

I do not see the residents of DC voting for this, when compared to more basic needed services.

Maybe they'll become the Alexandria Nationals or the Chevy Chase Nationals!


(Absurdity knows no human bounds)

[throatybeard]

Maybe they'll become the Alexandria Nationals or the Chevy Chase Nationals!


(Absurdity knows no human bounds)

I, for one, welcome our new Occupied Virginia Overlords.

[OldPhiKap]

I, for one, welcome our new Occupied Virginia Overlords.

Can you say that in Mandarin?

[OldPhiKap]

The internal Cobb County battle rears its head:

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/t/story...6form%3DAPIPA1

[freedevil]

you made the overly broad statement that Cobb County will not do anything to make the stadium more accessible to Fulton residents (even though the stadium is virtually straddling the Fulton/Cobb line, and is much closer to many Fulton residents than Cobb residents). Such a statement has no factual support and appears to imply that Cobb (presumably a largely "white" county) will try and keep Fulton residents (which houses the city of Atlanta, which I presume you are saying is primarily AfAm) from the games. That is the definition of race bating. If I misunderstood your post I apologize.

I do not mean to start a fight, or get into an argument over how Georgians access the new Braves stadium, but this quote from the chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party does lend factual support to the argument that Cobb County would like to limit Atlanta residents' access to the stadium (at least by rail). Whether you find such a statement to be "race-baiting" is up to you, but plenty of level-headed folks have determined the quote is directed at "those" people (minorities).

It is absolutely necessary the (transportation) solution is all about moving cars in and around Cobb and surrounding counties from our north and east where most Braves fans travel from, and not moving people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta.

Link to that quote here here.

Putting the highly sensitive subject of race aside, a good article explaining the views of those saddened by the Braves' decision to move to Cobb County can be found at Maria Saporta's blog here.

[TruBlu]

So far, it seems that the expected massive traffic problem is going to be eased by widening Cobb Parkway by two lanes (one in each direction, I assume), improving sidewalks, more buses, maybe a trolley, and building a pedestrian bridge over I-285.

Yep, that will work.

I will be telling my customers on that side of town to not expect me on game days.

[throatybeard]

I can't find the link, but at least in our print edition of the Post-Dispatch, there was an article about the unlikely alliance of Tea Party folks (no public money for anything ever) with liberals, the few that exist in Cobb.

The perspective of the Tea crowd was that the powers that be in Cobb (establishment Rs, from the Tea perspective) run everything and are willing to waste public money on the new stadium. Obviously, the liberals would like the team to stay in the City and be somewhere near transit.

I think that it's important to realize that, irrespective of your position on Keynes and Hayek, it has been repeatedly demonstrated by economists on both the right and the left that public financing of half-billion and billion-dollar stadia don't work out for the public financiers. The reason cited from the left is that the Keynesian "bounce" gets pocketed by special business interests. The reason from the right is that they don't think any Keynesian bounce exists. Another idea is that people have a certain amount of disposable, and they'll spend that, but no more. Take my town, or PGH, and put an NBA team there. Does it make more business, or just steal from the other three teams?

Whatever the case--I'm trying to be politically neutral here--I think it's very interesting that Tea Partiers and Liberals are one the same side of this stadium move, if for very different reasons.

I'm not neutral at all about the following: sprawl is detrimental and traditional neighborhood design is beneficial. A real neighborhood built around Turner would be great. We know that won't happen, though.

[wilson]

File this under "Stuff that should surprise absolutely noone."
Bully for those small government types up in Cobb.

https://deadspin.com/cobb-county-pro...cis-1822781704