I miss the empty polluted lots that used to be where the ballpark is. Oh, and the homeless camp full of discarded needles and human excrement was just what this city needed.
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There is no doubt that the ball park looks better than the pavement which was there but that is part of the story.
First, dropping a ball park on an area that was used for parking for a developing Canal District without a parking plan disrupted an up and coming area of the City needlessly.
Second, the ball park was sold as not costing the taxpayers anything which was contrary to what all the economists stated.
I initially gave the project the benefit of the doubt which I am currently second guessing. Next it has been reported that the WooSox will eventually be sold, something I never thought about previously. If the ballpark does not pay for itself and the team is sold for a profit it will change my view as nuetral to against the ball park.
Finally, I just received my tax bill while simultaneously learning the WooSox do not pay taxes. The WooSox bringing 300,000 fans to the City most certainly costs the City more in services than my family driving back and forth to work and I can't rationalize how I pay more in taxes than the WooSox
If they legally do not have to pay taxes they should at least pay what the Mass College of Pharmacy pays. If this comes across as a rant I apologize but this is more than it looks better than what was there previously, especially after you consider all the costs.
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The WooSox owners bent the city over the negotiating table.
They had a long term plan to have a city monetize their investment with taxpayer money, which they will use to make a huge financial return for themselves. (Providence and Pawtucket saw through this and passed, Worcester officials were too inexperienced to even think that this is how business works.
It really is brilliant. Use someone else,s $175,000,000 to extract many billions for yourself and ride into the sunset and leave the financial wreckage for someone else to suffer through.
No cash needed to be spent and no risk taken FTW. The city put up all the money and took all of the risk. When are they going to admit that this is exactly what happened? Let me guess, not before the next election and inevitable yearly tax increase
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Your describing what Union Station was 25 years ago. Obviously the ballpark is better than what was there. The argument that some of us are making is if the City could have worked out a deal that wasn't as team friendly?
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I don't know how bad it was before the ballpark or if the description was blown out of proportion but I would ask what was the City doing before to address this problem.
Was the only solution to the problem that may have existed to build a ball park on a problem site.
My next question is I don't think the underlying problem was solved with a new ball park. Did the City just move the problem somewhere else?
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