Triple A Baseball Coming to El Paso! (amusement park, luxury)

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by yomero

Nope dont agree with our city manager and the city council on this one,I see this as a waste of taxpayer money, If its such a great Idea Let the foster-Hunt people spend their own money to put it all up.

Some things are deserving of community support, and the baseball team is. If you were given a choice to pay your share of taxes to build and maintain roads, you might be inclined to say no. Afterall, who would want to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per year if given a choice. But you benefit, and use those roads; they could not be built without your help (taxes). You drive on them, it is only fair that you pay for it too.

The baseball team is sort of like that; it is not mandatory of course, but if you want to improve the quality of life in El Paso, you need to support these endeavors. You may not see tangibles in supporting the team, but it helps in ways you may not be aware of. When you support efforts like this, the whole El Paso benefits; maybe not right away, but in the long run it does, and you have to start somewhere.

Start with the basics, it will employ hundreds of people to build the venue; it gives work to people who not only construct the building, but people who install AC systems, windows, locksmiths, plumbers, etc. These people then have more money to spend, so they buy things. The people who sell them goods then have more money beacause of sales, and so they will also spend more.

Once the venue is up and running, you have vendors who support the events, and on and on. With the success of the team comes national attention, and possibly major sports coverage. If you get enough sports in the area, you may get a permanent media presence and studios. Houston and Dallas have such studios, FOX SPORTS for example. Houston is getting yet another studio, COMCAST SPORTS.

Of course, this is pie in the sky right now, but you must start somewhere, why not give the baseball team a chance and support it? Before you learn to walk, you must take baby steps.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by yomero

Nope dont agree with our city manager and the city council on this one,I see this as a waste of taxpayer money, If its such a great Idea Let the foster-Hunt people spend their own money to put it all up.

Did you notice how quick John Cook called into Buzz's KLAQ morning show when they were discussing how much money the city was going to pay Foster for a building that was appraised very low for taxes? Sure doesn't pass the smell test.

[Chuco]

Originally Posted by yomero

Nope dont agree with our city manager and the city council on this one,I see this as a waste of taxpayer money, If its such a great Idea Let the foster-Hunt people spend their own money to put it all up.

Most naysayers see it your way too. I'd rather that we (El Paso) own our stadium downtown, that way it can be used for other events if the city wants to. There are other events planned for the stadium too, not just baseball. Hopefully we can have our stadium all done by Spring 2014, can't wait to have triple A ball in El Paso.. finally.

[mistabinks]

Neither building is owned by Foster or Hunt.

[SA2EP?]

Originally Posted by yomero

Nope dont agree with our city manager and the city council on this one,I see this as a waste of taxpayer money, If its such a great Idea Let the foster-Hunt people spend their own money to put it all up.

You don't understand the way this works...worldwide...cities usually pay to build the stadiums. For example, Baylor University is building a brand new $225 million dollar football stadium off of I-35. Baylor..., doesn't want to foot the full bill, they can't...so they went to the city of Waco and showed them how great a boon it will be for their redevelopment and got the city...of 150,000 people to put up the largest tif money ever...$35 million dollars...they are excited because they see the benefit. Baylor still has to take out around $100 million in g.o.b's but they got help from the city and donors for the other $125 million...in the end, the students will have to pay for the stadium in rising tuition but in the grand scheme...they get a lot of enjoyment in having a high class facility that they can be proud of and show off to family and friends and also enjoy the other development that happens around the stadium as a result.


Foster/Hunt are putting up the money for the team...if you vote to raise the hotel/motel tax...visitors to our city will help pay for ours...yes, we, the taxpayer will still have to foot the bill for other areas...but that city hall project was more than likely going to happen anyway.

Time to step up to the plate! (pun intended)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDFuNMVKHGo

[mistabinks]

Exactly. Great post.

Even if some ankle biter stops the stadium, which they won't, City Hall will be moving eventually.

[katzpaw]

Waco put up the $35 million as 'Tax Increment Financing Zone funds'. Under this program Texas cities are repaid by 'Tax Increment Financing' - property taxes on the increased value of the improved property receiving the funds. This is not the case in El Paso.

I love (LOVE!) baseball but the El Paso deal is a bad and mysterious one with only partial info being released.
- the city owns the property and so gets no tax revenue (vs Waco)
- the city is responsible for building and maintaining the stadium
- the city will enter a 25 year contract with no inflation or cost of living increase
- the city will receive only $50,000 per year plus 10 cents per sold seat (max about $40,000) year
- other cites get better deals and better revenue streams
- the city will also get $150,000/year which must be set aside for stadium upgrades and maintenance
- city hall will be relocated to an old industrial building (1/4 basement) in an industrial area (yea civic pride!)
- the combined new city hall space (El Paso Times building & 801 Texas building) will have 1/2 the space of the existing city hall
- the stadium will not fit on the old City Hall site (according to submitted drawings & pdf) and will require taking over adjacent streets or land to the north
- nobody is talking about Phase 2 - relocating the convention center and Chavez theater and replacing them with a soccer stadium (we are just being fed what we 'need to know' to get Phase 1 approved)
- the $228 bond issue is detailed on (example) $10,000 for this library and $20,00 for that pool but has a $180 million line item that is not broken out for "Multipurpose Cultural and Performing Arts Facilities" . My councilor who will be voting for this can't give me any information on what this is. I suspect it's Phase 2.
- relocating city hall should be a major decision looking at better alternatives not a rushed decision to meet a sports promoter's deadlines

[SA2EP?]

TIF funds are great, I"m glad Waco used them...they can only cover 15% of project I believe...El Paso decided that a raise in the hotel/motel tax was the way to go...the timelines this project were/currently under are a unique situation. Time will tell if this project was a good move... I believe it will be.

The city will eventually build a new building for city hall...at some point down the line. Everyone keeps talking about how the new ballpark will not fit on the proposed site...but I haven't seen anything to back this up other than somebody using google maps and the image that was in the El Paso Times.

I know for sure that they want to expand/upgrade the convention center...it really is pretty awful...and the chavez theatre seems to have run its course. Yes, they do want to build a multi pupose events center a.k.a arena....that depends on the voters in Nov...if they want to see something like that. There are some other great projects that got lumped into the same question as the center and might have the unfortunate end of not happening if that part of the ballot gets voted down.

I always enjoy a healthy/active discussion here on city forums...we need to get more people on here!

[Ms Kitty 98]

One year from now city hall will be razed to the ground and bulldozers will be excavating the proximity that was once city hall;
Things will be moving at a fast pace and before long a brand new triple AAA stadium will rise from ground up.
Prior to all this, the city will be drawing up new street modifications such as the elimination of the Durango Street overpass, the closer of West Missouri Street between the stadium and the Scottish Rite Temple.

The city will be negotiating with the railroad companies to acquire building permission to cover and build over the Bataan Memorial Train Way, and the city will also be working on converting Santa Fe Avenue into a two lane street going in either direction North and South.

I can't wait for all this to happen and I also want to be one of the first attendee's at the new stadium when it's built and the first pitch is thrown; Not every so often does a great opportunity come along for a triple AAA baseball team to be put on the market. And it's great the Paul Foster and Woody Hunt went out of their way to bat for El Paso considering the nice things they have already done for our community.

I even get a for futuristic feeling that when El Paso's baseball team becomes a reality, even the Padres over in San Diego will start winning World Series, and I'm a vivid SF Giants Fan; I made up my mind, I'm thinking positive from now on.

[katzpaw]

If the city buys the the Times and 801 Texas buildings then we are stuck there for the long term. I'd rather a short term lease somewhere until a better long term solution is found. We a have an opportunity to do something great with city hall. I'd like to see city hall offices in the old downtown (south of the plaza) on the upper floors of older buildings. It would bring office workers downtown and stimulate shops and restaurants on the ground floors. Use the upper floors of the Popular and other buildings and/or redevelop a city block or block frontage - keep the streetscape of individual buildings but rebuild everything behind into 1 large modern office complex.