Amanda digging in on Paulson stadiums deal
Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz is still pretty unhappy at the galling lack of public process that preceded the recent City Council vote on the quixotic Henry Paulson stadium fiasco-in-waiting. That's good for us opponents of this foolish scheme, because there will be several more council votes on it, and we may have a new mayor by the time the last of them is taken. The pushers will be giving it their best "It's too late to turn back now," but perhaps the council members will be smart enough to see through all that, and have the personal integrity to just say no.
| Posted at 12:07 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (6)
Looks like Vancouver's the "winner" of the first franchise, putting added pressure on the concept of placing another one in the PNW. Too bad for us, right? The push-pull of regional competition both increasing interest versus diluting the fanbase... But, it won't stop us from making a bid, I guess. Seems like we'd want to get a better showing for the Timbers before we took this leap, no?
One thing I never understood - why not just build a new soccer stadium and leave PGE park as-is? Then you're only pushing one project, not two? Seems like the pro-soccer stadium would be easier to maintain a grass field if constructed from scratch, and not at the bottom of a hole. What do I know? PGE park sucks though, for any event. It should be torn down and replaced with a street-car museum and condos.
Posted by Huck | March 18, 2009 1:41 PM
I suspect that she's just getting her (token) opposition talking points submitted in time to be useful during her re-election campaign.
Hope to be proven wrong.
Posted by PanchoPDX | March 18, 2009 1:49 PM
At least how I understand the deal, the plan is to build a new baseball stadium because the baseball stadium will be smaller than a comparable MLS stadium, and therefore it will be cheaper.
I believe this is based on the fact that the Beavers already draw smaller crowds than the USL Timbers do, and it is assumed that they will draw much smaller crowds than an MLS Timbers team. Therefore, to build the smaller stadium, you build the baseball stadium.
Posted by D.J. | March 18, 2009 1:55 PM
If she's so upset about lack of public process, then why the heck did she vote for it?
That's asinine.
Posted by PortlandUberAlles | March 18, 2009 2:03 PM
Portlanduberalles:
Amanda did not vote for it. She and Fish were the two no votes.
Posted by Robert Collins | March 18, 2009 2:05 PM
Did I hear Fireman Pele correctly when he stated that he was excited that possibly " HUNDREDS" of soccer fans would travel up and down the 5 for the games ???
This gets funnier everyday....
Posted by Fonzi | March 18, 2009 2:17 PM