A Look at the Petco Park Battle, Part I
This is the first post in a series that will take a look around the country to see what development efforts have taken place in other cities with new ballparks. I’ll do my best to find out what exactly was done in each instance and how things are working out in each of these cities today.
Petco Park and its Surroundings
The first stadium I want to examine is Petco Park, the still-relatively-new home of the San Diego Padres. In this particular instance, the main difference with the current situation in Queens is that the Padres needed a new stadium as well as a new location. Unlike the Mets, they did not build the new park on land they already occupied.
Some of the early history of Petco Park and the redevelopment of the East Village neighborhood of San Diego can be found at signonsandiego.com. I’ll denote in boldface some of the similarities to Willets Point.
City of San Diego officials entertained a Padres overture to be a partner [in building the new stadium]. The clincher was the opportunity for a ballpark to serve as a catalyst for downtown redevelopment.
Although it was not his first choice, Moores agreed to a site along L Street in the blighted East Village, a historic warehouse and industrial district…
That November, nearly 60 percent of San Diego voters approved Proposition C, giving the city and the Padres permission to redevelop 26 blocks in the East Village with hotels, apartments, condominiums, retail space and offices, with a ballpark at the center.
Sounds pretty similar so far. I’ll continue a series about Petco Park, its surroundings, and the before and after effects of the development that went hand-in-hand with the construction of the new baseball stadium.
5 Comments to A Look at the Petco Park Battle, Part I
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Welcome to Develop Willets Point
why doesn’t the city do the same and put on the ballot for the voters? lets see if they like the eminent domain part of it and the way it was set up from years of neglect dating back to 1980. i think new yorkers will vote like the rest of the country 90-95% against eminent domain and the way it was set up . then put on the ballot if the people want to allocate 300 million dollars for streets and sewers and services which the city already got paid for and lets see which one wins . propose that chris before you sidekick smalls writes all his mumbo jumbo about black helicopters and why this plan makes sence to him and his co- workers at the edc. call the mayor and tell him to put it on the ballot (or just push it thru like term limits ) and see how far you get. about as far as the business owners have gotten in 28 years!! nowhere!!
actually not a bad idea.
Show the public what exists there now and provide the alternative side by side.
Do an analysis of
1. the incremental tax revenue created by hotels, shopping, convention space and office space
2. the added housing both affordable and market rate compared to the ONE person who lives there now. Lets show pictures of the conditions under which he lives
3. Lets put on public display the environmental situation that currently exists in the iron triangle and the long term issues with having a contaminated pit/ Lets put on display the Flushing River and the effects of toxic runoff.
4. Let the public know how many high quality jobs will be created in the new Willets Point versus the current working conditions of the largely immigrant workforce there now.
I think the public would roundly approve the redevelopment with out question. A few commercials with photos taken of the current conditions would make the vote a cinch.
wait ! you stopped your list before it was done 5) repay all the land owners back all tax $$ collect for 30 years for non service 6)answer why when you were complained to about the situation at willets point you never fixed it 7) if you knew about all these so called violators that were dumping oil why were they not aressted? i know of 1 sting a couple of years ago done by the state nothing by the city
why did claire shulman state i have better plans for willets point in 1991 than not give a dime to fix it even thou her own study said to do it? 9)why hasn’t the city announced the wilpons plan to build a soccer stadium where shea is and how would that now change peoples view of this project 10)subpena all e-mails FROM CITY OFFICALS SHOWING THE OUTRIGHT BALLS they had in ordering them to neglect willets point ( they exisit and are in our hands for the court case ) then show the people what willets point could have become and why it didn’t become a better place than it is now and i think the verdict would be guilty as charged and to now give the willets point businsess the services & infrastructure they need to turn willets point into a real industrial park. even thou this mayor would rather turn all industrial parks into condos and lofts and screw everyone else. hows that biggie now go back to your desk with your edc buddies and come up with another reason why you still support whats something thats morally wrong and just plain wrong . are you rally biggie or is your name chris mcshane?
An industrial park in that location makes no sense economically. Look at what happened in San Diego in FOUR short years. A previously blighted neighborhood is now a model for urban design and mixed use.
By WPIRA’s own plans this “industrial park” will only create a few hundred more jobs and a few million more in tax revenu OVER 30 YEARS.
For the location of Willets Point it needs and should be something better that serves and enhances the lives of ALL Citizens of the city.
Unfortunately I dont think propositions on developments are part of the ULURP otherwise I would think the PUBLIC AT LARGE would resoundingly support the cleaning up and revitalization of Willets POint into a mixed use area that creates THOUSANDS of jobs and BILLIONS in Tax revenue/.
ok chris i understand