The Times Dispatch headline for last night’s City Council meeting was pretty triumphant, “Shockoe baseball stadium plan wins initial backing 6-3”, which may not be that surprising given the newspaper’s ties to the proponents of the controversial Shockoe Bottom stadium proposal.
But the opposition is not giving up. From the Facebook announcement:
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES! The Defenders will be hosting a second Activists Meeting this Thursday, Feb. 27, 6:30 pm, at the William Byrd Community House, 224 So. Cherry St., RVA 23220. This will be a opportunity to network and share ideas on how to strengthen the movement against a Shockoe Bottom stadium and for a real Historic District. The Defenders will be promoting a more organized community petitioning campaign as a way to reach out to those not yet involved and encourage them to join this important struggle. Hope to see you there!
Also, the editor of this community news site has started a boycott petition, which may take on increasing importance if political options continue to fade. The boycott was also reluctantly announced at last week’s City Council Land Use and Financial Committee meetings. I say ‘reluctantly’ because the boycott was started due to failing local politics. It is open to non City residents as well.
“We, the undersigned, stand in opposition to the Mayor’s Shockoe stadium proposal. There are many reasons to oppose a stadium in Shockoe Bottom: the questionable finances of the developers’ plan, parking, traffic, leaving the best and most accessible site for baseball in the city and disrespecting the incredible history of what once was the largest slave-trading district north of New Orleans. Some of us are county residents who do not want to travel into the Bottom for a baseball game.
As long as the Shockoe stadium proposal is still a threat, from this point forward we promise to boycott the Flying Squirrels’ baseball games and other supporting businesses. This is not something we take lightly- many of us like the Flying Squirrels and recognize the harmful economic effect that this boycott will have. However, with the Mayor and proponents not allowing a referendum or citizens’ vote on the Shockoe stadium proposal, and in effect muting our political voice, we have decided it is time to exercise our economic voice.”
How many subscriptions and sales can the Flying Squirrels afford to lose before they recognize that this stadium proposal is not viable for lack of public support?
Why is this on the OregonHill.net site? It is clear that the administrator (Scott Burger) and owner of this site has a vitriol hatred towards the Shockoe/Boulevard developments. The petition he references was started by him and the picture in the post was in front of his house. Shouldn’t this be a blog post on his own personal website? His views do not reflect those of all Oregon Hill homeowners and he makes no attempt to write a balanced and fair post to a community site. It should be removed or the post should be retitled to “Scott Burger (the site administrator of OH.net) does not want a stadium in the bottom and here’s his personal opinion”.
Already marked as editorial, Josh.
And if the RIchmond Times Disgrace can write a pro-editorial, then I can certainly write an editorial in opposition.
As for representing the neighborhood, did you attend last night’s Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting?
Maybe you should put Editorial before your title so it would read “Editorial: The Shockoe Stadium Struggle Continues…”. It’s buried at the bottom of the post and when a conglemorate site picks it up nobody knows that it is an editorial. No, I didn’t make the meeting last night. However, I attended the Overlook board meeting on Monday and walked the Overlook property today to identify bushes and trees that need to replaced or pruning. Did OHNA talk about all the litter in the neighborhood, broken sidewalks, left out garbage/recycling cans, graffiti on every sign? One would think these would be the priorities for the neighborhood to resolve.
Maybe, but I kind of like it as it is.
Maybe Venture Richmond, a 501c3, should not be lobbying and placing ads in City publications either. Maybe proponents’ petitions should mention on them that they are about the stadium proposal. But you don’t seem to have a problem with those things….
Actually, we did talk about some of the problems the neighborhood is experiencing. We actually spoke with the police who attended the meeting. Too bad you were not there, but then you don’t live here anymore. We talked about some other things too, which you may hear about later.
Thanks for reading this community news site.