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I live in Augusta,Ga and the next big thing on our agenda with many is whether or not to build a downtown baseball stadium for our Greenjackets.
I know planning and finances for such projects can be a disaster for a city if not properly thought out. I was wondering if the new stadium has done what it was expected to do or not: bring many downtown spending money at shops, restaurants, small businesses, etc.
Has there been any problems or cutbacks in other areas of the city due to the funding/financial backing of the stadium?
I hope those leading Augusta can have the foresight to see this through, it's got a lot of support with a few naysayers stuck in the small-town mentality. Cal Ripken Jr. owns the Greenjackets and he's supposed to, along with another partner, pitch in a substantial portion of the bill.
The land being talked about is right in the middle of downtown and smackdab on the Savannah River/Riverwalk.
NewBridge Bank Park was privately financed. No taxpayer funds were used.
Exactly.
OP: And for an idea of what can go wrong financially research the history on the Dash stadium in Winston Salem. The city wound up financing a large chunk of it when the owners ran into money issues. The park was over half-way completed at that point.
You may want to contact Greensboro Economic Development for info or direction on who would have the kind of financial info you desire.
If private backers didn't step forward, Greensboro wouldn't have that nice downtown ballpark today. Cities can run into many problems trying to finance sports stadiums with public dollars which is not very popular in any community. But even though Greensboro's ballpark was financed with private money, there was still a big fight against it. The neighborhood where the old baseball stadium is located fought the new ballpark and they got together with other opponents and signed a petition to ban the construction of open air stadium in the central business district to prevent the new one from being built. So it was put on a referendum ballot and in the fall of 2003, voters rejected a measure to ban stadiums in the central business district. That paved the way for construction of the new ballpark which opened in April of 2005.
I think the Ballpark is attractive and my daughter wants to go. The only reason I have never taken her is I have heard so many stories about how dangerous it is with the balls hitting viewers in the head!!! Take care of that problem in the drafting of the project, and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work wonderfully. I sure wish Greensboro would at least put up some kind of guard wall, like they have in hockey, or something. But eh, it's just my .02.
Yes its can be dangerous, especially in the YMCA section near the playground. On two occasion i've seen people carried out on stretchers. Another time a ball hit a spectator in the eye permanently blinding him in that eye. Its safe behind home plate and somewhat safe near the bar.
There is a catch net, though it doesn't go as high as the one behind home plate. I wouldn't let that stop you from going to see a game. Afterall, who's to say you won't get into a wreck on the way?
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