Atlanta Braves moving? (Washington: golf, cities, location)

[Cameron H]

Good piece.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Only 6000 parking spots??

That is NOT what I read on the Braves site that described the project. It said 30K parking spots, with a stadium capacity of around 40K.

[arjay57]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Braves do something similar to The Banks development around the baseball stadium in Cincinnati.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by afonega1

1)"A concious decision was made not to add a MARTA stop at the stadium".True.
Yet where they are now Cobb is doing the same thing by ruling out ANY type of rail.So how is it not an issue now as it was then?

2)"The fans are in the suburbs."
Last I checked ,their are 28 counties or so that are suburban Atlanta.Not just Cobb.Again how does this differ from where it is now?In ONE suburb that all the suburbs around the city will have to get too versus going to the city?Sure its closer to a higher concentration of fans,but its even further from some other fans in the Southern and Eastern suburbs.

#)" The city and "community" have had 50 years to make the area near the Braves' stadium nicer and more amenable to the suburban customers who come to see games.

This is just NOT true at all!I am so sick of hearing people say this as of it is true.Its just not,
Why am I the only one who remembers how Summerhill looked and how it looks now?Sure there is still some rough areas behind Turner Field ,but by an large the area has gotten better than it was for sure.

Summerhill, Atlanta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.thesndc.org/index2.html

Let not forget about Mechanicsville.It also has gotten better.
The city put all that money in streetcape improvements and sidewalks during the months before the Olympics.

The Braves took the City of Atlanta for granted.Trust me Cobb will get used too.The Braves will take more of what it needs becauses it is a business.

Personally I really do hope for the best.Its in the regions best interest.I just don't see how a stadium will make the area better.I don't think I know of any areas in the U.S. where the stadium has improved the area.I could be wrong.

I never said that all the fans are in Cobb, did I?

As for transit, sure...to get downtown that may come in handy. I ride MARTA to get the GA Dome when I attend Falcons games, but primarily because there is no easy way to get in and out of there and parking is a royal pain in the ass. If parking was plentiful and organized, with more organization getting in and out of the stadium and onto the highway (as planned for the new Braves complex), then I would make a bold assumption that most fans prefer to drive and will drive.

Also, are you going to build transit from around the suburbs to the stadium (note that I've been advocating for inter-suburban transit on this board for years), or are you advocating for the tired old transit to/from downtown that will not benefit Braves fans? Do you really think a family of 4 coming to a game from Buford is going to drive to MARTA in the as now fictional station by Gwinnett Place, ride downtown to Arts Center, and then change for the as now fictional LRT to the Braves stadium in Cobb? Or do you think they will get in the car and drive? I'll assume that parking and gas is as much as (or more than) the fares they would pay.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by afonega1

1) I don't think I know of any areas in the U.S. where the stadium has improved the area.I could be wrong.

You're joking...right? Denver, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle, Cincinnati...and on and on.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by BackInATL2011

On AJC I read they plan on only building 6000 parking spots (2000 under the stadium and a parking garage for the other 4000). They hope patrons will park elsewhere around the site and walk or use the pedestrian bridge and train/tram/shuttle or whatever they are thinking of. This seems like a bad situation even worse because they can't even accommodate all drivers. Seems like at least for the first year it'd be a learning curve while everyone tries to park in the limited parking that is built then has to turn around and go to park a nearby office complex.

Seriously. I keep seeing the quote "We were underserved by about 5,000 parking spots at Turner Field". If the new spot better serves with 6,000 spots, then that would mean Turner Field had a maximum of 1,000 spots. Yet, the gold and orange lots alone have over 2,000 spaces based on my count.

If you're going to expect everyone to arrive by car, you should at least plan for it and not count on the lots of the mall, CEPAC, and office parks, which very well could already be full with office dwellers or other events.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Nanosolar

NYT essentially endorses the move:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/us...pagewanted=all

Very interesting and dispassionate piece that accurately describes the landscape here. My favorite quote was:

"The Cobb County site is actually more in line with a new ethos of urbanism that rewards smaller, walkable communities, said Chris Leinberger, a professor at the George Washington University School of Business. This year, he released a study of new urban development patterns in the Atlanta metro area as part of his work for the Brookings Institution. In it, many parts of suburban Atlanta had a more urban feel than the city itself. “The whole concept of city versus suburb is a really obsolete concept, and moving the baseball stadium reflects that,” he said."

[gerrythesnake]

Originally Posted by neil0311

You're joking...right? Denver, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle, Cincinnati...and on and on.

DC (Nationals)

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by neil0311

I never said that all the fans are in Cobb, did I?

As for transit, sure...to get downtown that may come in handy. I ride MARTA to get the GA Dome when I attend Falcons games, but primarily because there is no easy way to get in and out of there and parking is a royal pain in the ass. If parking was plentiful and organized, with more organization getting in and out of the stadium and onto the highway (as planned for the new Braves complex), then I would make a bold assumption that most fans prefer to drive and will drive.

Also, are you going to build transit from around the suburbs to the stadium (note that I've been advocating for inter-suburban transit on this board for years), or are you advocating for the tired old transit to/from downtown that will not benefit Braves fans? Do you really think a family of 4 coming to a game from Buford is going to drive to MARTA in the as now fictional station by Gwinnett Place, ride downtown to Arts Center, and then change for the as now fictional LRT to the Braves stadium in Cobb? Or do you think they will get in the car and drive? I'll assume that parking and gas is as much as (or more than) the fares they would pay.

When you say things like are people going to drive from Buford,that shows how the rest of the Metro is just left out.Its all North centered.

What about people from Fayette,Henry,Douglasville,Conyers etc?They can park at Marta stations and ride the train to Arts Center.

The Braves get a lot of out of town visitors also.What about the convention traffic that comes to Atlanta for a weekend?Would not Cobb benefit from those tourist dollars?

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by neil0311

You're joking...right? Denver, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle, Cincinnati...and on and on.

I said I could be wrong.Funny how all of those you mentioned are actually in the city.