Braves ditching The Ted for suburbs

The thinking goes: Improved transit = improved mobility for the poor = improved access to suburbia for the riff-raff who hang in the projects.

If some dealer wants to tap into the burbs, he will -- probably using some 16-year-old kid wearing his hat backward as a front. The argument is a faulty one, but has been used time and again. Gee's example of Arlington, Mass., is spot on.

 

Yep, they got have a Waffle House, a Chic-Fil-A and a Piggly Wiggly in the neighborhood.

 

He's absolutely right. I've made the drive from west to east several times to attend hockey games in Gwinnett County. It's absolutely horrendous. I can't imagine what it will be like coming from east to west for a 7:10 start on a Friday night.

 

Getting downtown isn't easy, but at least you have multiple options depending on direction (I-20 for east-west, 75/85 for north-south). The new location forces everyone onto 75 or 285, the latter of which is essentially a parking lot at rush hour anywhere east of the new stadium site. Also, you completely remove any sort of rail option (at least with Turner Field, you have the opportunity to do the train-bus combination, if you so desire).

 

35 years too late for Pascual Perez.

 

Reading some of the coverage on this, I am struck by what appears to be a contradiction.

On one hand, club officials seem concerned that they don't draw more. On the other hand, some express concern about traffic and parking issues near Turner Field. Well, what's it gonna be? If attendance increases, so will traffic and parking issues. But that's not unique to Atlanta, that's everywhere.

As has been discussed on other threads, traffic and parking at some NFL stadiums is a nightmare. Bigger stadiums, more people, more traffic.

I suppose one option would be getting more people to use public transit, but outside of the northeast that seems to be a tough sell. Even so, you'd still have to build mega parking lots somewhere at a transit center for all those people to park. True, they could be further from the stadium but you have to build them somewhere.

 

Traffic is a red herring. Cobb County is shelling out the dollars (without even taking it to a public vote!) and Atlanta isn't.

Case closed.

 

I don't think it's a bad idea. We are Braves fans and attend regularly, but thanks to geography, it's doable and we prefer going to watch them play in Cincinnati. There is a lot going on around GABP and a fun time after the game. In Atlanta, we don't hang around the stadium. There's no reason to hang around for one, and the neighborhood is another reason.

Putting the stadium on the north side of the city will actually make it a closer drive.

 

Fulton County and the City of Atlanta should organize a teabagger riot to storm the Georgia legislature with flaming torches and Molotov cocktails to demand that not one goddamn shiny dime of tax money IN ANY FORM be spent to build any new stadium to replace a previously tax-financed stadium less than 40 years of age.

Threaten to pass legislation which would effectively put the Braves out of business if they don't like it.

Threaten to hammer their asses with lawsuits claiming the Turner Field deal was made under fraudulent and exortionate conditions, and threaten to sue their asses for the complete cost of constructing THAT stadium (and operation costs over the intervening 17 seasons). Go nuclear -- claim MLB, Inc. was in on the fraud and demand damages in the multi-BILLIONS. Take it into antitrust court and sue everybody in the fucking league.

 

They uh, kinda had to build that stadium either way, whether the Braves wanted it or not ...

 

I totally agree and am shocked that Cobb County would be played the fool in all of this.

If the area around the park is a concern (and I agree it's less than ideal in its current condition), wouldn't it be cheaper to buy up all that land and get a developer to turn it into someplace nice?