Triple A Baseball Coming to El Paso! (Spring: how much, houses)

[Ms Kitty 98]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

Yeah, I had a hunch it was something similar to that.

I don't take offense to the comments at the end of the video. Take a look at the other Triple A markets - specifically those in the PCL. El Paso is definitely a smaller market. We have a lot to prove. I can't wait for the opportunity.

The concern about violence no longer phases me. The women's bowling championship had concerns. The CUSA basketball tournaments had concerns. Wash Rinse Repeat.

Heck, even I would believe El Paso was a war zone if all I had to go on was national articles. According to the Washington Post, helicopters were circling the Sun Bowl last Saturday in anticipation of drug cartel violence. Obviously that was a big fat lie. It is all a big "meh" to me at this point.

Not to make this a political post, but only to point out if El Paso was to loose out on this baseball deal, then we already know who laid out the ground work to give us a bad reputation. The cartel war in Juarez has not helped our image, even though that war has been confined to South of the border.

Why do they (the media) have to blast El Paso with such false negative propaganda, I can never understand such persistent rhetoric coming from misinformed liars. Remember Texas Governor Rick Perry started this none sense with his remark about car bombs exploding all over El Paso last year.

El Paso is the first, second or third safest city in the United States annually, based on it's population, and last year it was voted an All American City, so these critics that don't like us need to back off, even if they are picking on El Paso for their own political misinterpretation.

As for this stadium to be built at the city hall location, I really don't care where they built it as long as they built it in downtown. And securing the funding to enable El Paso to proceed forward with bringing this AAA baseball franchise here to our city.

I want real baseball to come to El Paso, a team that is affiliated with the major leagues, a team that can expose us and represent us in all positive ways

[katzpaw]

A baseball stadium will not fit on the Insights/City hall parcel.

Compare the image below -downtown vs Cohen stadium - a small 9,700 seat stadium that is not up to AAA standards. It won't fit - and this is the stadium size only and not including parking.

[mistabinks]

2014/2015 is a long way off. The plans have not even been developed much less shown publicly. To be honest, I can't say I have 100% faith in our City Government to do this correctly. I do have a lot of faith in Foster & Hunt. They are not going to spend millions of their own money if the infrastructure isn't addressed.

[Chuco]

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

Not to make this a political post, but only to point out if El Paso was to loose out on this baseball deal, then we already know who laid out the ground work to give us a bad reputation. The cartel war in Juarez has not helped our image, even though that war has been confined to South of the border.

Why do they (the media) have to blast El Paso with such false negative propaganda, I can never understand such persistent rhetoric coming from misinformed liars. Remember Texas Governor Rick Perry started this none sense with his remark about car bombs exploding all over El Paso last year.

El Paso is the first, second or third safest city in the United States annually, based on it's population, and last year it was voted an All American City, so these critics that don't like us need to back off, even if they are picking on El Paso for their own political misinterpretation.

As for this stadium to be built at the city hall location, I really don't care where they built it as long as they built it in downtown. And securing the funding to enable El Paso to proceed forward with bringing this AAA baseball franchise here to our city.

I want real baseball to come to El Paso, a team that is affiliated with the major leagues, a team that can expose us and represent us in all positive ways

Great post, I agree with everything you say here.

Originally Posted by mistabinks

2014/2015 is a long way off. The plans have not even been developed much less shown publicly. To be honest, I can't say I have 100% faith in our City Government to do this correctly. I do have a lot of faith in Foster & Hunt. They are not going to spend millions of their own money if the infrastructure isn't addressed.

Right on, these families aren't going to invest in this team if they don't have faith in this project. So I have a good feeling about everything, with Foster and Hunt backing this project up, it will be in good hands.

[Ms Kitty 98]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

2014/2015 is a long way off. The plans have not even been developed much less shown publicly. To be honest, I can't say I have 100% faith in our City Government to do this correctly. I do have a lot of faith in Foster & Hunt. They are not going to spend millions of their own money if the infrastructure isn't addressed.

I agree with you about not having faith in our city government to do anything correctly and that includes the county along the way. As in the past the city dropped the ball with Cohen Stadium and the county with the Aquatics park and Western Playland.
And today I read in the El Paso Times that they are also thinking of knocking down the Abraham Chavez Theater at the convention center to build the arena on top of that space. The whole idea from my own perspective is that if they are going to build a public structure, they need to do it right and first they must do their homework before getting started.
I happen to be a high rise enthusiast, I love architecture and I have followed El Paso's building projects since I was a child. Sorry to say that it has been a long wait and painstaking experience by the time they put something up in the cities skyline. Then to see our city council to act quick to bring in the wrecking ball to knock down ultra modern buildings to replace them with something that will eventually be built to small or become outdated in half a dozen years is a total waste.
If you think about it, a 7,000 to 9,000 baseball stadium is awfully small for a triple AAA team, and the arena is something like 10,000 to 15,000 seating capacity which will turn out to be another blunder project.
El Paso is suppose to be Texas and El Paso should build Texas size or maybe just big enough the first time so they don't have to go back and correct the goof or build a replacement.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

And today I read in the El Paso Times that they are also thinking of knocking down the Abraham Chavez Theater at the convention center to build the arena on top of that space. The whole idea from my own perspective is that if they are going to build a public structure, they need to do it right and first they must do their homework before getting started.

Obviously I don't believe in knocking down perfectly good buildings. That being said, the Chavez Theater is borderline obsolete. It is a similar size to the Plaza Theater and they both attract similar events. Most mid-major and major cities have to go through this. Public funded buildings don't last forever. We have gotten good use out of the Chavez Theater. I don't have a problem with plans to build a multi-purpose arena in that location.

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

If you think about it, a 7,000 to 9,000 baseball stadium is awfully small for a triple AAA team, and the arena is something like 10,000 to 15,000 seating capacity which will turn out to be another blunder project.

The average attendance for Triple A ball is 6,600. Though a big part of that average comes from 4th of July type events where 11,000+ people show up. 6,600 people don't attend every single game. So you do need that upper limit to be a little higher on those special event days. In my opinion only, I think 10 to 12 thousand is better than 7 to 9 thousand.

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

El Paso is suppose to be Texas and El Paso should build Texas size or maybe just big enough the first time so they don't have to go back and correct the goof or build a replacement.

The Plaza can support 2,000 seat events.

The Coliseum can support 7,000 seat events.

The Don Haskins Center can support 12,000 seat events.

The new multi-purpose arena really needs to be in the 16,000+ range.

[TexasCCW]

I agree that bringing in a AAA baseball team is a boost for El Paso. The one thing I am not sure of is the location. Why did they choose that location? I am sure they have a team of people scouting out best options. Why in an area that is already occupied? We aren't lacking any wide open spaces here in El Paso. It's just something that stuck out to me.

[mistabinks]

Foster & Hunt want a downtown stadium.

The City wants to relocate City Hall.

This is pretty much killing two birds with one stone.

[Ms Kitty 98]

Originally Posted by TexasCCW

I agree that bringing in a AAA baseball team is a boost for El Paso. The one thing I am not sure of is the location. Why did they choose that location? I am sure they have a team of people scouting out best options. Why in an area that is already occupied? We aren't lacking any wide open spaces here in El Paso. It's just something that stuck out to me.

Our city leaders don't have much common sense or vision, maybe after some stray bullets from Juarez hit the upper floor windows of city hall last year. They figure it's time to move somewhere else, Northeast city rep. Robinson has some good points about the city moving out of a perfectly functional building.
There are other downtown locations to build this stadium but it seems they are bent stubborn stuck on this one location because they own the property.
The city will have to lease office space in several downtown buildings, it's like going back to the days of the old city county building and that is going to be expensive,the city needs to talk to the railroad company's and negotiate.
Tearing down the Abraham Chavez Theater to build a cracker jack box size Arena is another dumb idea, when they start messing up like this, it confuses voters such as myself. I surely will not vote for some stupid dumb idea because votes is what they are going to need to get the arena built.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

Our city leaders don't have much common sense or vision, maybe after some stray bullets from Juarez hit the upper floor windows of city hall last year. They figure it's time to move somewhere else,

It is highly unlikely the stray bullets had anything to do with the desire to move City Hall. The violence in Juarez has been going on for how long now and this is the height of the spillover violence. You take that incident, the bullet that hit a lady in the leg, the "alleged" bullet at UTEP at that still wouldn't match a typical weekend of violence in Dallas, San Antonio, or Houston.

Plans to move City Hall have been on the drawing board for many years. This article is from 2010 and addresses the issue

City Hall to get new building or renovation - El Paso Times

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

Northeast city rep. Robinson has some good points about the city moving out of a perfectly functional building.

But are these buildings perfectly functional?

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

There are other downtown locations to build this stadium but it seems they are bent stubborn stuck on this one location because they own the property.

We don't know that for sure. It is likely but we don't know that for sure - yet. We should at least let official information become available.

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

The city will have to lease office space in several downtown buildings, it's like going back to the days of the old city county building and that is going to be expensive,the city needs to talk to the railroad company's and negotiate.

Maybe the have?

Originally Posted by Ms Kitty 98

Tearing down the Abraham Chavez Theater to build a cracker jack box size Arena is another dumb idea, when they start messing up like this, it confuses voters such as myself. I surely will not vote for some stupid dumb idea because votes is what they are going to need to get the arena built.

It seems like you have caught a case of City Data Chicken Little syndrome. Details on the multi-purpose arena are farther away than details on the baseball stadium. While there have been a few quotes lately about a smaller arena, most of the discussion has put it in the 16,000 seat range.