Albina Vision / Rose Quarter Redevelopment

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by eric cantona

spot on. Leonard's drama queen routine is starting to wear thin, IMO.

baseball at the MC is a non-starter for a few reasons:

1. my understanding is that it is not large enough to accommodate MLB. any site that cannot do that (including Lents) should NEVER be considered. i don't care how remote the possibility is, if there's any chance of attracting an MLB team here then it is simply good planning to be prepared for that, and not building a stadium that could be rendered useless later.
2. as a forward looking city, tearing down a usable structure for a baseball stadium is the opposite of sustainable.
3. architectural legacy is important.
4. regardless of your view of the aesthetic appeal of the MC, it remains a useful counterpoint to the larger and flashier (and uglier...) RG. yes, it can pay for the necessary upgrades if marketed properly. and no, it will not compete with the RG.

i've mentioned it before elsewhere: there is land adjacent to PIR that is owned by the City and the County, has great freeway access, a MAX stop already there, and is large enough for a MLB size stadium AND parking. on top of that parking could be shared with the racetrack. this land is currently grass, and is used for parking at larger events at the track. the Interstate Ave. URA borders it, and could possibly be enlarged to cover the site.

my guess is that there are more sites like this around the metro area, and in Portland. the City's due dilligence on the baseball portion of the whole deal is abysmal. always reactionary (see Leonard comment above) and usually wrong.

exactly, I have always found that the PPS site was the best site for a AAA park that would also have the option of becoming a MLB park in the future. If we are going to spend money on a new ballpark, wouldnt we want that money to be spent in a way that it can be used as an investment for something bigger later rather?