BasesLoadedWalk

http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/articl...sp&c_id=fla You could see a pic of a mostly-demolished OB. Just in case anyone needed a reminder.

"The love of the game and this city is in my DNA," Wilpon said. "I've lived here all my life. People have asked me why I am building a smaller stadium . I didn't build a smaller stadium to make money. I'm doing it because that is the way to give fans the best experience of being close, like in Ebbets Field." http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/...0,3897483.story http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/Citi%20Field%202/CitiFieldConstruction2008-05-03024.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/Citi%20Field%202/CitiFieldConstruction2008-05-03025.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/Citi%20Field%202/CitiFieldConstruction2008-05-03050.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/Citi%20Field%202/CitiFieldConstruction2008-05-03051.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/Citi%20Field%202/CitiFieldConstruction2008-05-03058.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/Citi%20Field%202/CitiFieldConstruction2008-05-03005.jpg

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/st...9355200^1624971

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/ci_8956469 Fremont, A's continue to play waiting game Ballclub's move likely delayed to 2012, 'if everything goes perfectly' By Matthew Artz, STAFF WRITER Article Created: 04/17/2008 02:34:47 AM PDT FREMONT ? The Oakland A's still plan to come to Fremont, but team officials no longer expect to arrive in 2011. A's co-owner Keith Wolff said that opening day 2012 now is the team's target date, although that, too, could change. "If everything goes perfectly, 2012," Wolff said at a community meeting Tuesday night when asked what year the team would arrive. "I think we need a little leeway." After the meeting, Wolff said that the team could arrive in 2011 only if the city certifies the team's environmental impact report by the end of this year ? a target date both Wolff and city officials said almost surely will be missed. "2012 was probably more realistic than (2011)," City Manager Fred Diaz said Wednesday. "It's a very complicated project, and because of its complexity, it's very slow." The A's are proposing a 32,000-seat ballpark, along with up to 3,150 homes, an elementary school and a commercial center similar to San Jose'sSantana Row on 226 acres west of Interstate 880 and south of Auto Mall Parkway. Because the project is so massive, the team is continuing to fine-tune details with the city and other agencies. "I think they're realizing that there's a lot of things that need to be addressed," Planning Director Jeff Schwob said. Fremont and the A's still are discussing different plans for accessing parking lots and determining which entity would be responsible for paving a temporary parking lot west of CushingParkway, he said. The environmental report, which requires the team to respond to comments from public agencies and citizens, typically takes 14 to 18 months to complete. The draft environmental impact report, which would include the city's much-anticipated traffic impact study, could be completed by the end of the year, Schwob said. Given that schedule, it is unlikely that the report will be made public before the November mayoral election, in which former Mayor Gus Morrison, a critic of the A's plan, is running against two men supporting the team's move to Fremont ? incumbent Mayor Bob Wasserman and Councilmember Steve Cho. Wolff did not directly respond when asked if the team was concerned about Morrison entering the race. "We just want to present a project that makes sense for the city of Fremont." Meanwhile, the team is continuing to try to strengthen local support. Last week, it sent out mailers to Fremont residents that had a picture of co-owner Lew Wolff, Keith's father, on the front reading to a group of schoolchildren. And at Tuesday's meeting, attended by about 45 people at St. Joseph's Parish, stadium backers distributed a different flier touting the development and its benefits for Fremont. Fremont reporter Matthew Artz can be reached at 510-353-7002 or martz@bayareanewsgroup.com. For more go to the Tri-City Beat Blog at http://www.ibabuzz.com/tricitybeat.

They should have a Admin Doby day for the whole league.

It's their attitude towards non-Muslims which is why many people are wary of them.

And down she goes! You know...progress and all. :unsure

And as for baseball, an awful lot of the dismantling was at the hands of one Omar Minaya. And he was the hired assassin at the behest of Selig, if I recall correctly. The Mess are happy to have him.

after labatts pull their pledge of $100 million towards the stadium molson jumped at the chance to replace them because it gave them the4 bragging and pr rights to every professional sprts franchise in the province of quebec. so there is $120 million of the $200 million needed, and there were still other rights be sold so amount asked of montral was in the a contribution of approximately $40 million. what you and your crew of haters don't seem to get is the difference between how of a contribution is made in public dollars and how much is financed by that municipality. municipal debt is tax-free and hence carries a lower interest rate and in Canada like the US corporation , in this case the Expos franchise couldn't make a bond offering without being publically traded company and even if they did the bonds would have to have a higher, taxable interest rate which makes them less attractive. there's other reasons too. what happens is molson guarantees to pay to the club money the team then guarantees to the municipality so when it's all said and done the city or province is out only a fraction of the $180 million in bonds they wrote. I don't recall the part about Molson wanting to pay to finance the bonds but I do remember about the minority owners refusing a cash call made by Loria, which gave him authority to take over the franchise according to the agreement. That is what was really behind the dispute, although the stadium failure was a contributing factor. Another thing you have to consider is that Montreal had been smarting over the money they had been paying out to cover the costs of the 1976 Summer Olympics. So the city leaders were very reluctant to commit to another major stadium project, even if the contribution would have been relatively minimal. This is Canada we're talking about, after all. They are very tight with their money. Oh, well. Labatt/Molson Park could have worked assuming that the revival of the Expos as a franchise would have been achieved in the same time. Unfortunately, it was like a chicken-or-egg situation. Did the fans stop coming because the Expos were bad or did the Expos do badly because the fans stopped coming? Whatever it was, the Expos were being slowly killed off, in what would be a fate worse than Blue Monday. A walking corpse, if you will. Maybe the MLB brass would have given them another chance at turning it around but they were having none of that...not while there was at least two markets that were willing to take them.

You can look them up yourselves, but here are some links to the most recent galleries of the new Yankee and Shea stadia going up, from just this week: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14504460@N02/...57604352609067/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/25298694@N03/...57604375553229/

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8389/img0088ko1.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_3.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_4.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_7.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_8.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_9.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_1.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_2.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_5.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/citi_models/Citi_model_208_6.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/YS_Render08_5.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_1.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_2.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_4.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_5.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_6.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_7.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_8.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_9.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_3.jpg http://www.stadiumpage.com/future/NYS_Render_0308_10.jpg http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d169/baseballman1243/new3d.jpg http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3213/ys0301081ts8.jpg http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5907/ys0301082ok9.jpg http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5773/ys0301083ao7.jpg http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6025/ys0301084va1.jpg http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8707/ys03010810ch0.jpg http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8003/ys03010811on0.jpg http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8628/ys03010813lc7.jpg http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2663/ys03010815xb4.jpg http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/860/ys03010817at7.jpg http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/853/232939266050d650ac0dle5.jpg http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1197/2329392654c92d2ee7d8yr7.jpg

Now I'm not a security expert by any stretch of the imagination, but one would think that a major public building like a stadium would require considerable manpower to surveil its premises. Add the fact that Miami is one of the major cities with a crime problem and a target of terrorism and you'd see how it should not be easy under normal circumstances to draw officer corps to patrol at sporting events. Which makes it all the more ridiculous to see this controversy unfolding. If anything, any good police chief understands that officer corps at sporting events means less manpower to combat street crime, and that's just with 8 football games/year (16 when the Dolphins played at the OB) plus the annual bowl game. Yes, I am aware that the expectation of overtime pay would make the work enticing to take on. Yes, I understand officers wanting to get paid. But it also means less time spent with their families, the stress of having to look for, arrest and remove rowdy troublemakers and whatever trouble that might happen when major numbers of people gather at one spot. Then there's the stress of anticipating any scenario from accidents to fires and now terrorism. Fighting average street crime is stressful enough. In other cities, it's accepted as a fact of life that there would be major inconveniences in handling the job of overseeing crowds going in and out of sporting events. Imagine how the a city like New York could manage to put policemen at Yankee Stadium. It has to be expensive to keep an eye on those maniacs who inhabit there.

I admit to watching a concert by Patty Smyth and Scandal last summer.I am the warrior Here's an oldie but goodie:

Rays submit design plan for new park http://www.bradenton.com/breakingsports/story/461198.html Rays moving forward with stadium plans http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb Expert transportation and parking study confirms AL Lang site well suited for Rays waterfront ballpark http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/pre...jsp&c_id=tb Rays' tally reports parking is plentiful http://www.sptimes.com/2008/03/12/Southpin...reports_p.shtml

Interestingly enough, St. Pete is holding the first public hearing on this plan tonight as we were awaiting the vote on the Miami ballpark. Groups were already forming to support and oppose this. http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/arti...x?storyid=74548 BTW, I like it. At least from the rendering it is promising.

If Brandes were to be given the wide interpretation the writer suggests, then the State or local governments would be prohibited from funding airports (because they aid private corporations - airlines), seaports (aiding cruise lines/shipping lines), railroads (aiding freight lines/passenger lines), performing arts centers, etc. What allows cities to fund these projects is the provision of "public purposes" within the funding mechanism. That opens the door to the public facility being used for public purposes, with incidental expenses or uses to a private entity. Therefore, the use of a Spring Training facility for public purposes would be within the funding mechanism, and thus be consistent with the Florida Constitution, even with incidental private functions within the public facility. In this case, the facility is public, but leased for some time for a private use - instead of having the State/City act as a "bank" or "lender" to a private corporation. Also, in the case of the Marlins, there is the creation of a public-private partnership, which would lie outside the Constitutional provisions - such as when the local government is the land owner and a ground lease with a private entity is undertaken. I've worked on partnerships between SFRTA and developers to create "transportation hub-villages." If so, then it would explain the transfer of the land under the OB from the city to the county. A "public facility" might not be given legal status without the proper authority under Florida state law having the title to the land in question, i.e. the County, since the County is seeking to be the legal owners of the facility. At least that's what I think the County would argue in court if this case ever gets that far. It's all complex stuff, I know. That's why I never went to law school. Also, wouldn't the law require the proper said authorities to allow activities other than baseball, say, a CONCACAF tournament in the new facility to qualify for "public purpose" status?

Well, there are about 10 months between the vote (assuming that's going to happen) and when they want to start the groundbreaking. So it would mean that we have about six or seven months of legal challenges to "entertain" us, even more. This might get even more interesting as I learn new information.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/custom/...0,7997025.story http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/422946.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle3385228.ece Kosovo declares itself an independent nation Catherine Philp in Pristina Kosovo declared itself a nation today, defying its traditional overlord Serbia in a bid to become an independent and democratic state backed by the US and much of Europe. ?Kosovo is a republic - an independent, democratic and sovereign state,? said Jakup Krasniqi, the Speaker of the Kosovan Parliament, making the declaration at the climax of an emergency session. The chamber burst into applause. Across the capital, Pristina, revelers fired guns into the air, waved red and black Albanian flags and honked car horns in jubilation at the birth of the world?s newest country. The city was already in carnival mode as revellers poured into the snowy streets from early this morning waving red and black flags in the bright sunshine. The free beer had already begun to flow even before the Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, announced the special parliamentary session convening at 3pm local time to declare Kosovo a nation. "Kosovo citizens today await an independent, sovereign and democratic country, a state for all with equal rights," Mr. Thaci declared. "It is time to take the decision to make Kosovo a member of the community of free nations." Kosovo Albanians had known for over a week that today would be the day of their formal liberation from Serbian rule, and the celebrations began days ago. Car horns honked late into the night on Saturday as revellers toured the city packed into cars, leaning out to wave their Albanian flags along with the Stars and Stripes of their American allies. Despite the late night, organisers were up early to set up the music stages and beer stands along Mother Theresa Street, the pedestrianised boulevard running through the city centre right up the parliament where the historic vote was to take place. Staff at Fellini's, a smart Pristina bakery, had been in overdrive to finish the icing on a 30-metre long birthday cake for the new nation, and began laying it out on tables this morning, slapping away tiny fingers as they dipped into the frosting. Several young boys also managed to get their hands on the free beer being handed out in plastic cups at stalls laid on by the Peja brewery, known by its Serbian name, Pec, in the days of Belgrade's rule. Ethnic Albanians poured in from all over Kosovo ? and beyond - to join in the party. Friday's flight from London was packed with members of the Kosovan disapora who had forked out over ?700 a piece for their tickets, nearly four times the usual fare. Fatmir Dauti is a Macedonian Albanian, and has no connection to Kosovo but his common ethnicity with the ethnic Albanian majority here, but came anyway to join in the party. "I did not want to come, my heart wanted to come," he said. "We are Albanians and we are brothers." Kadir Ibrahim had travelled in a convoy of seven minibuses from his village, Vuqitern, 30 miles outside Pristina, to celebrate with the crowds. "We've been waiting for this day for centuries," he said. What would be new tomorrow, after independence was declared? "We will be free," he replied. Even amid the rejoicing, there was still room for ancient hatreds towards their despised Serbian overlords and for Russia, and its ongoing attempts to block Kosovo's independence becoming a reality. "Russia go to rehab!" one bar owner scrawled on his blackboard in place of a menu. Schoolchildren drawing on a metres-long banner in the street were more direct. "F*** Serbia and Russia," they wrote. One local newspaper, Express, reserved its front page for pictures of Tito, Milosevic and Nicola Pasic, with the simple headline "F*** U." Another, Koha Ditore, was more forgiving. "Today, a new life begins. The past should not be forgotten, but it belongs to the past, and should be forgiven," it wrote. The jubilation in Pristina was starkly contrasted with the atmosphere in northern Mitrovica, the main Serb enclave in Kosovo, where gloom mingled with defiance. The Serb Orthodox Church of Kosovo issued a statement calling for the Serbian army to come to the rescue, armed by Russia, and defend Kosovo from "occupation" by the European Union troops - among them, 600 British soldiers from 1st Battalion, the Welsh Guards - preparing to take over from the UN here. The red, blue and white flag of Serbia, adorned with a white double-headed eagle, fluttered defiantly over the rooftops of northern Mitrovica, facing off against the sea of red Albanian standards on the other side of the Ibar river. At the declaration of independence this afternoon, a new flag for Kosovo, will be unveiled. No-one is very hopeful that it will catch on. "This is the flag we fought and died under," Selvet Murati, a former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla at the festivities said. "They can stick that new one over all the official buildings they like, but this will always be our flag." Kosovo has been under UN administration since the 1999 Nato bombing campaign drove out Serbian troops. While Serbia?s formal sovereignty is internationally recognised, Belgrade has little or no practical involvement in the governance of the province. Kosovo?s prime minister claims that about 100 countries are ready to recognise the province?s independence as soon as it is declared. The US is expected to recognise an independent Kosovo early next week. But it will be opposed by Russia, Serbia?s traditional ally, and by Spain, Romania and Greece. Moscow?s veto at the UN Security Council, which meets in New York on Tuesday, stands in the way of general international acceptance of the new state for the foreseeable future. The EU is send a 1,800-strong mission to help Kosovo?s leadership with security, legal and customs issues after the breakaway from Serbia, including about 60 British police officers and judicial experts. The EU?s decision today to send the mission was denounced as ?shameful? by Belgrade, which has threatened sanctions against the new nation. Slobodan Samardzic, a Serb Cabinet minister, insisted that Kosovo - regarded by Serbs as the historic heartland of their nation - remained ?an inalienable part of Serbia?. They don't call it the "Balkans" for nothing. As of now, there is already heated argument in the UN Security Council about this. I don't see a smooth transition, in any case. :whistle

It is a lot of reading, that's for sure. Obligatory legal stuff and all. I've been reading on and off so far today. Maybe Cape and/or Marlins2003 would offer an opinion on this deal based on the language of the bill. Let's hope it's OK from the County's perspective.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/busines...0,5431696.story

It's not about the building, it's about the experience....wait...30,000 Met fans....sh*t, I haven't thought this through fully. 09/30/07

Well, at the very least we can't say that this offseason has been uninteresting. :cool

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4785/yankee2bgame2b080ly5.jpg http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6102/2289374870102391509nhgeyn8.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/158/2677175980102391509heuayd4.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6818/2666026310102391509ntptkk3.jpg http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3835/nyff1090207171024x768zq0.jpg http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/1477/nyff1080207171024x768ta7.jpg http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/6089/nyff1060207171024x768ym0.jpg http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3264/nyff1050207171024x768ej0.jpg http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3743/nyff1040207171024x768jy2.jpg http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9734/nyff1010207171024x768wn3.jpg I may as well throw these in... http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/CitiFieldConstruction2008-02-02089.jpg http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/466/95982918wj7.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2716/17916688qu2.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/CitiFieldConstruction2008-02-02017.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7016/71260772gb5.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/CitiFieldConstruction2008-02-02022.jpg http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9757/31863643zo4.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee98/citi_field/CitiFieldConstruction2008-02-02007.jpg http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/1338/58565083fy1.jpg http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4551/66117603ka9.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6425/11832543ev1.jpg http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/580/52612230ig7.jpg http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/1800/44621536da8.jpg http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/6044/79177504lm7.jpg http://homepage.mac.com/marc.nash/.Pictures/photo.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/803/image4hj0.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/4861/image2ff4.jpg http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6883/img1880ow9.jpg http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2559/img1881km4.jpg http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8784/img1882tn5.jpg http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5818/img1883xr4.jpg http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5717/img1884ok3.jpg

city of miami alway not happy what i heard on other report is that their want marlins to hire clean crew to clean the garage and maintain it Unless the lease has language indicating what type of control the franchise might have in running the parking garage, I don't see how they would take on that responsibility. And Joe Sanchez is not at all embarrassed in making that statement. Assuming it's true, of course. *Snark*