The Braves Entertainment Village: Will You Visit? (Atlanta: crime, zoning)

[arjay57]

I have a feeling Cobb will do the necessary. Those folks up there are smart and they don't make many mistakes.

[erick295]

Also remember that the village will probably help stagger arrivals and departures a bit. Time will tell, but I don't know why people assume this will be a disaster. Engineers are aware of the situation and they'll need to keep it accessible to keep it viable, whether that means shuttles or sidewalks or more effecient roads.

[fermie125]

Originally Posted by SAAN

Major sporting teams should be located downtown.

Why? Because that's how its traditionally been done? Atlanta in the 21st century actually has several "downtown" areas, or business districts, or whatever you want to call it. The center of population in metro Atlanta is in the vicinity of the Perimeter Center area, and is steadily creeping northward every year. Someday in the not too distant future it will be in Roswell. The new Braves stadium next to Cumberland is closer to the population centroid than Turner Field. Why would they move in the opposite direction of the growth trends?

Originally Posted by SAAN

Pretty much the braves took the white flight route...

That's golden. Lets play the race card. Do you have any idea about the demographics of the Cumberland neighborhood next to the new stadium? Its majority minority and has been for some time. The same can be said of the I-75 corridor going up to Town Center. You don't start seeing a majority white population until you move further away east/west from the interstate. You want to talk about race? Lets talk about how the CoA is experiencing massive white population growth in the core. White Flight back into the city, no? The ITP superiority complex is on full display here for everyone else's entertainment.

[jsvh]

Pretty sure all these comments and more have been repeated in the circular arguments in the previous Cobb Braves thread that is now closed.

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by fermie125

That's golden. Lets play the race card. Do you have any idea about the demographics of the Cumberland neighborhood next to the new stadium? Its majority minority and has been for some time.
<snip>
You want to talk about race? Lets talk about how the CoA is experiencing massive white population growth in the core. White Flight back into the city, no? The ITP superiority complex is on full display here for everyone else's entertainment.

Yep. Some people are ignorant, and got even news stations to perpetuate that ignorance. To some, Cobb is 100% white and identical to how it was 40 years ago when it only had 200,000 people compared to 700,00+ now. The only solution to ignorance is education. Maybe the Braves stadium is an opportunity to educate people about Cobb.

I mentioned in another post that Atlanta is actually extremely segregated except in the geographical North/South center, whereas South Cobb is integrated in a healthy way. So is Marietta. And though it's mostly integrated white/black, there's also a good number of Asians, especially in Smyrna, and a good number of hispanics especially between Marietta and Smyrna.

[Gulch]

The role of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce in luring the Braves away from Atlanta - Daily Agenda - Atlanta Magazine

On May 27, John Loud watched proudly as a dozen speakers, each wearing one of the T-shirts he’d handed out, marched to the podium to urge Cobb County commissioners to bring Major League Baseball to Cobb. It was a carefully organized event; Loud corralled supporters to show up early, leaving no spots on the agenda for dissenting views. A few minutes later—and six months after Loud and friends had launched their Cobb Home of the Braves website—the commissioners agreed 5-0 on agreements to build and finance the team’s new stadium.

Loud’s work was done. After winning the vote, he could get back to his other responsibilities: running his Kennesaw security business; serving on the executive board of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce; and managing ex-Chamber official Bob Weatherford's campaign for an open seat on the county commission.

It would be difficult to overstate the role the Cobb Chamber, a 2,500-member business organization, played in bringing the Braves to Cobb, whether as public cheerleaders or private decision-makers.

"They touch everything," Larry Savage, a two-time candidate for Cobb commission chairman and critic of the county’s $314 million subsidy of the Braves stadium, said of the chamber.

[netdragon]

They whine, but if it weren't for the Cumberland CID and Cobb Chamber, everyone in Cobb would be paying much higher taxes. Cumberland alone brings 16% of Cobb's commercial tax digest, 33% of Cobb County's economy and 5% of the state's economy. Plus, it's indirectly responsible for other development in the general area, not just in Cobb, but even bleeding into Buckhead along Northside Pkwy and Sandy Springs along Power's Ferry. It has bled up I-75 as well. Then, of course, there's the other business the Chamber helped bring in, and stuff in Town Center. The SPLOST would not have the tax revenue it has without the chamber.

Sometimes, when it comes to arts and entertainment, you have to make tough decisions in the name of investment. To bring an area to the next level. Some call it business interests, and some call it jobs. It depends how you look at it. Could Cobb support the population it has with just commuting to downtown Atlanta? (really the only game in town during the time of the initial heavy Cobb growth - Perimeter Center hadn't really done much yet) I think not.

The commissioners would have voted the way they did anyway, and I think they should have bent the rules. They did let them speak the following week and I don't think it made any difference from a standpoint of what would have or wouldn't have happened. It would have just been a more politically savvy move to let them speak at the vote meeting.

A couple of the people complaining have openly said they actually are glad the stadium is coming, and their complaint is transparency. I see that more as a problem to take up with the state to again reform its laws on government transparency. Specifically, the quorum rule is too easy to get around and Cobb isn't the only one to do it.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by netdragon

They whine, but if it weren't for the Cumberland CID and Cobb Chamber, everyone in Cobb would be paying much higher taxes.

If Cobb didnt have Cumberland, it would be like Forsyth County... which tax rate is lower (64% of Cobb's)...

[magnetar]

More news:

In an interview Tuesday with Atlanta Business Chronicle, Braves officials said Atlanta-based companies Fuqua Development LLC, Pope & Land Enterprises, and Pollack Shores Real Estate Group will partner on the $400 million project.

The news doesn’t come as a huge surprise, considering the other finalist, a team including Hines and North American Properties, pulled out of consideration this spring.

Braves name development team for mixed-use project - Atlanta Business Chronicle

I can't think of a developer better-suited to this project than Jeff Fuqua. His tastes will be a perfect fit for the citizens of Cobb county and all Braves Fans -- and by Braves Fans I mean people who like baseball and don't live in Atlanta.

Don't miss the gallery of new renderings attached to the article. This one is my favorite -- such a bustling street scene!

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by magnetar

I can't think of a developer better-suited to this project than Jeff Fuqua. His tastes will be a perfect fit for the citizens of Cobb county and all Braves Fans -- and by Braves Fans I mean people who like baseball and don't live in Atlanta.

While I am not crazy about his work, he does apparently live in Morningside in CoA.