SDCAL |
Mar 12, 2016 9:32 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtell04
(Post 7368803)
I agree with your assessment. When I say "out of touch with reality" I think that they don't consider how stubborn San Diego can be. In the meeting they used Amazon's influence in Seattle as well as San Francisco State (? - don't remember the university) redeveloping areas in those cities similar to the bus yard. Both had tremendous success. Can it happen here? Sure, but not without the bus yard being available and a serious investor. Marty Block is also pushing the SDSU expansion to the Q, which could use lots of state funding. It would be hard to turn that down, and I doubt he could get that funding pushed to downtown. The bus yard is still technically not available. The convadium team is pushing people around taking a risk trying all this. That's the main difference in all this. The convadium team is going to push until someone or something stops them.
Maybe the best way to stop this would be to make the bus yard available for development. That still doesn't solve the fact there are surrounding parcels privately owned. Hell, the tailgate lot is owned by JMI and he is a major driver in all this. See the picture below. They really are great ideas, but without a competitor they are essentially useless.
I'm not trying to be a downer about all this but it just doesn't seem likely.
http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/...sypprzvsv.jpeg
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Dtell, you make some great points. I really think it's hard to envision what will happen in EV or MV until later this year after we see what passes and what doesn't. We have Brigg's initiative and then I thought the mayor was going to put a vote for a contiguous convention center expansion on the ballot, not sure if that will still happen. All this will be playing out in a pretty heated political race, not just for president, but there is a big city council race I've been reading about that could swing the city council from Democrat to Reoublican depending on what happens. I agree with you that right now, any talk of alternate plans like they had at that meeting will be drowned out with Chargers and politics sucking up all the attention. With that said, I think it's good they are having these discussions, because when the dust settles and if the Chargers leave, people might actually start taking a serious interest in development of that rail yard site. I'm cautiously optimistic that this whole convadium thing COULD actually be GOOD for EV IF it fails, because it will have at least brought high profile attention to that area and could expedite development. If it does indeed fail, I think people might start looking at some of these things Quigley and others are suggesting and, who knows, maybe some of the players in favor of the convadium like JMI and people with other visions like Quigley could actually come together and make something else happen. It's a long-shot, but who knows?
One other point I was thinking about regarding the convadium: I'm reading there is a debate going on over whether or not it would be considered a "special tax." This is significant because a special tax requires a 2/3 majority vote whereas a general tax requires a simple majority. From what I'm hearing, legal experts are conflicted on this and it sounds like even if the Briggs measure and/or any measure the Chargers decide to put on the ballot pass, they will almost certainly end up in court. I believe the Chargers have only until early 2017 to decide about LA. If the Chargers do win and the people vote yes on a Chargers stadium/Convadium and it then goes into litigation during the time Spanos needs to decide on LA, what will happen? Will he gamble and turn LA down while the SD plan is pending in court? Will he say screw it, LA is the safest option? Is there any way he could get an extension from the NFL to decide on LA? (I'm guessing this would be hard because the Raiders were promised they could have the option if Spanos turns it down)
Anyway, just food for thought. Regardless of which side one is on we can't deny it's going to be an interesting year! :)
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