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Pete Hernandez on Comcast re:Stadium


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(note to mods - this brief program will only be on a few times today, I think alot of people may want to see it - feel free to move or delete this tomorrow)

 

Comcast broadcasts on the CNN Headline News channel (29 here) a local program featuring Spiro whatshisface.

 

Today's guest is ex-asst county manager and now City of Miami Manager Pete Hernandez (whose job it was to get the stench out of city hall once Joe Arriola departed) and the subject is the new ballpark downtown.

 

I'll let you hear it for yourself (unless someone knows how to find an online feed and can post it here) he is very very upbeat and talking like this is a done deal. They've been using the footprints of existing modern stadiums (Camden Yards was one mentioned, I forget the others) and he says triumphantly "they all fit".

 

I don't know the broadcast schedule (but it usually interrupts Glenn Beck around 7:25 - 7:35pm). Those interested might want to look out for it.

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I'll let you hear it for yourself (unless someone knows how to find an online feed and can post it here) he is very very upbeat and talking like this is a done deal. They've been using the footprints of existing modern stadiums (Camden Yards was one mentioned, I forget the others) and he says triumphantly "they all fit".

I've heard Samson say in a few past interviews that theyve used the footprint of Minute Maid Park to judge how big ours is gonna be

 

Everything lastely sounds very positive, lets pray this time we get the deal done

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I'll let you hear it for yourself (unless someone knows how to find an online feed and can post it here) he is very very upbeat and talking like this is a done deal. They've been using the footprints of existing modern stadiums (Camden Yards was one mentioned, I forget the others) and he says triumphantly "they all fit".

I've heard Samson say in a few past interviews that theyve used the footprint of Minute Maid Park to judge how big ours is gonna be

 

Everything lastely sounds very positive, lets pray this time we get the deal done

 

Okay, kids, it's another installment of "SoFlaFish's Fun With Photoshop!"

 

This time around the pictures from the three cities (Miami, Houston, and Baltimore) are the same scale (500') and they're all from Google Maps/Earth.

 

Here is the site with what I assume to be the assembled parcels of land outlined in red:

 

 

Here is the site with a Minute Maid Park overlay:

 

 

Finally, here is an overlay of Camden Yards:

 

 

Either way, it's going to be a tight squeeze in there, no bones about it.

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I know very little about the Miami area, minus some of the burbs I've been around getting to the current stadium and the Keys. What is this new site going to do for transit times from Central Florida?

I'd say you'd be driving for another 15 minutes.

 

There won't be any traffic at all heading south on I-95 before game time, but you won't have the convenience of hopping on the Turnpike from where you live and having it spit you out right at the stadium. Of course avoiding 70 miles' worth of tolls and hordes of FHP isn't necessarily a bad thing...

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I know very little about the Miami area, minus some of the burbs I've been around getting to the current stadium and the Keys. What is this new site going to do for transit times from Central Florida?

I'd say you'd be driving for another 15 minutes.

 

There won't be any traffic at all heading south on I-95 before game time, but you won't have the convenience of hopping on the Turnpike from where you live and having it spit you out right at the stadium. Of course avoiding 70 miles' worth of tolls and hordes of FHP isn't necessarily a bad thing...

If you put it that way...can;t argue with that! Less Smokeys and no Tolls, sold me on it! :thumbup

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I'll let you hear it for yourself (unless someone knows how to find an online feed and can post it here) he is very very upbeat and talking like this is a done deal. They've been using the footprints of existing modern stadiums (Camden Yards was one mentioned, I forget the others) and he says triumphantly "they all fit".

I've heard Samson say in a few past interviews that theyve used the footprint of Minute Maid Park to judge how big ours is gonna be

 

Everything lastely sounds very positive, lets pray this time we get the deal done

 

Okay, kids, it's another installment of "SoFlaFish's Fun With Photoshop!"

 

This time around the pictures from the three cities (Miami, Houston, and Baltimore) are the same scale (500') and they're all from Google Maps/Earth.

 

Here is the site with what I assume to be the assembled parcels of land outlined in red:

 

 

Here is the site with a Minute Maid Park overlay:

 

 

Finally, here is an overlay of Camden Yards:

 

 

Either way, it's going to be a tight squeeze in there, no bones about it.

 

what really ticks me off is looking over at aaa (with the stupid airplane sillouhette) and thinking that there was PLENTY of space on that strip of waterfront property for a baseball stadium. is it too late to get the dalai lama to levitate the aaa over to the government center site so we can build a stadium on the water?

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There is more than enough land at Bicentenial Park, like 100 yards north of the AAA. That is where the stadium was going to be built when John Henry was ruining this franchise. About a million other groups claim to have better uses for that land, many of them must be politically powerful because it is never even brought up anymore. Other than closer to my house in boca, it would have been the best place to build it....great view, somewhat easy access in and out, would have created a nice entertainment district with the AAA (much like other cities such as cleveland and I think atlanta have)....

 

Anyway, just built the damn thing already. There has never been this many positive signs regarding the issue...mlb has to move to do this quickly.

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I know very little about the Miami area, minus some of the burbs I've been around getting to the current stadium and the Keys. What is this new site going to do for transit times from Central Florida?

I'd say you'd be driving for another 15 minutes.

 

There won't be any traffic at all heading south on I-95 before game time, but you won't have the convenience of hopping on the Turnpike from where you live and having it spit you out right at the stadium. Of course avoiding 70 miles' worth of tolls and hordes of FHP isn't necessarily a bad thing...

 

LOL Maybe in Miami the traffic isn't bad going south at that time. But taking I95 up here in that time frame heading either direction is a parking lot. Turnpike is the only route to take. Time it right and you don't hit much real heavy traffic until in Broward.

What would that exit be off I95? I'm gonna have to drive it one day this coming week at the appropriate time to feel it out before I pass judgement. But I have always been against a downtown site. I just see no sense in moving further away from the counties that have the most disposable income and are the fastest growing. And the maps with the overlays show no parking. Gonna throw mass transit in? Add another 30-45 minutes each way over your estimated 15 minutes to travel times. Not bad if you are retired but I doubt very much most bosses would understand his employees having to leave work at 3:00-3:30 every day to be able to make the games.

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I know very little about the Miami area, minus some of the burbs I've been around getting to the current stadium and the Keys. What is this new site going to do for transit times from Central Florida?

I'd say you'd be driving for another 15 minutes.

 

There won't be any traffic at all heading south on I-95 before game time, but you won't have the convenience of hopping on the Turnpike from where you live and having it spit you out right at the stadium. Of course avoiding 70 miles' worth of tolls and hordes of FHP isn't necessarily a bad thing...

 

LOL Maybe in Miami the traffic isn't bad going south at that time. But taking I95 up here in that time frame heading either direction is a parking lot. Turnpike is the only route to take. Time it right and you don't hit much real heavy traffic until in Broward.

What would that exit be off I95? I'm gonna have to drive it one day this coming week at the appropriate time to feel it out before I pass judgement. But I have always been against a downtown site. I just see no sense in moving further away from the counties that have the most disposable income and are the fastest growing. And the maps with the overlays show no parking. Gonna throw mass transit in? Add another 30-45 minutes each way over your estimated 15 minutes to travel times. Not bad if you are retired but I doubt very much most bosses would understand his employees having to leave work at 3:00-3:30 every day to be able to make the games.

 

People make it on time for Heat games. I doubt there would be too many more problems with a baseball stadium. Yes, there are more people attending baseball, but if the site is downtown, many people would be coming from work and may not even have to take a car to the game. If the start time is 7:30 and you leave Palm Beach or Broward by 6, you'll get to the game in time. The traffic going south at that time is probably 20 times less than what it is going north. My route, which is the same as the one I take to get to the AAA, would be Turnpike South, get on 95 south at the Golden Glades, then either get off at 395 and exit at Biscayne, or take 95 south to the following exit (8th street) I believe. With little traffic, it would probably take me, coming from South Palm Beach county about 40-50 minutes as it does for most heat games. With traffic (and this would be the case for any site) probably 1hr-1hr 20minutes. I'm willing to live with that in order to save the franchise....I'll just go to a couple less games, but at least I will still have the option.

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I'll let you hear it for yourself (unless someone knows how to find an online feed and can post it here) he is very very upbeat and talking like this is a done deal. They've been using the footprints of existing modern stadiums (Camden Yards was one mentioned, I forget the others) and he says triumphantly "they all fit".

I've heard Samson say in a few past interviews that theyve used the footprint of Minute Maid Park to judge how big ours is gonna be

 

Everything lastely sounds very positive, lets pray this time we get the deal done

 

Okay, kids, it's another installment of "SoFlaFish's Fun With Photoshop!"

 

This time around the pictures from the three cities (Miami, Houston, and Baltimore) are the same scale (500') and they're all from Google Maps/Earth.

 

Here is the site with what I assume to be the assembled parcels of land outlined in red:

 

 

Here is the site with a Minute Maid Park overlay:

 

 

Finally, here is an overlay of Camden Yards:

 

 

Either way, it's going to be a tight squeeze in there, no bones about it.

 

what really ticks me off is looking over at aaa (with the stupid airplane sillouhette) and thinking that there was PLENTY of space on that strip of waterfront property for a baseball stadium. is it too late to get the dalai lama to levitate the aaa over to the government center site so we can build a stadium on the water?

 

 

 

Weren't you the one that said the Hileah park idea would be nixed because the UDB couldn't be moved? Hmm. What happened there?

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What would that exit be off I95? I'm gonna have to drive it one day this coming week at the appropriate time to feel it out before I pass judgement.

The site is right off of I-95 / NW 3rd Ct. It's easier to get to than the AAA.

 

You take the NW 8th St / Port of Miami exit. When you're heading south on I-95, it's the first right-sided exit after 836. The lights are synched, so you can take it straight down to NW 3rd St.

 

And the maps with the overlays show no parking. Gonna throw mass transit in? Add another 30-45 minutes each way over your estimated 15 minutes to travel times. Not bad if you are retired but I doubt very much most bosses would understand his employees having to leave work at 3:00-3:30 every day to be able to make the games.

You're such a negative nancy. You're not even looking at SoFlaFish's map. Look closer.

 

1) Immediately adjacent to the south side of the red rectangle is a huge public parking garage that completely empties out after 5-6pm (so much so that the county has to close it down after-hours and on weekends).

 

2) Immediately south of that is an even more massive, county-operated, public parking garage, which is also totally unused after-hours and on weekends.

 

3) And don't even get me started on the public parking lot that is immediately to the east of the red rectangle.

 

Parking is not an issue at all at this site.

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I know very little about the Miami area, minus some of the burbs I've been around getting to the current stadium and the Keys. What is this new site going to do for transit times from Central Florida?

I'd say you'd be driving for another 15 minutes.

 

There won't be any traffic at all heading south on I-95 before game time, but you won't have the convenience of hopping on the Turnpike from where you live and having it spit you out right at the stadium. Of course avoiding 70 miles' worth of tolls and hordes of FHP isn't necessarily a bad thing...

 

LOL Maybe in Miami the traffic isn't bad going south at that time. But taking I95 up here in that time frame heading either direction is a parking lot. Turnpike is the only route to take. Time it right and you don't hit much real heavy traffic until in Broward.

What would that exit be off I95? I'm gonna have to drive it one day this coming week at the appropriate time to feel it out before I pass judgement. But I have always been against a downtown site. I just see no sense in moving further away from the counties that have the most disposable income and are the fastest growing. And the maps with the overlays show no parking. Gonna throw mass transit in? Add another 30-45 minutes each way over your estimated 15 minutes to travel times. Not bad if you are retired but I doubt very much most bosses would understand his employees having to leave work at 3:00-3:30 every day to be able to make the games.

 

People make it on time for Heat games. I doubt there would be too many more problems with a baseball stadium. Yes, there are more people attending baseball, but if the site is downtown, many people would be coming from work and may not even have to take a car to the game. If the start time is 7:30 and you leave Palm Beach or Broward by 6, you'll get to the game in time. The traffic going south at that time is probably 20 times less than what it is going north. My route, which is the same as the one I take to get to the AAA, would be Turnpike South, get on 95 south at the Golden Glades, then either get off at 395 and exit at Biscayne, or take 95 south to the following exit (8th street) I believe. With little traffic, it would probably take me, coming from South Palm Beach county about 40-50 minutes as it does for most heat games. With traffic (and this would be the case for any site) probably 1hr-1hr 20minutes. I'm willing to live with that in order to save the franchise....I'll just go to a couple less games, but at least I will still have the option.

 

Leave here by 6 and make a 7:30 game? No way. Can't do that now. But...

I have always said I would try it for a year to see if it works for us. That's not going to change. Is 8th Street about where the map is showing? So far it just seems like week day games are going to be a thing of the past for us and probably all but mostly retirees in PBC. I'll most likely throw a little personal tantrum because we will have to give up our season tickets but I will eventually get over it. LOL Guess then I would be the stereotypical South Florida fan. Watch them on TV and complain about everything.

This point and other points such as location has been gone over enough on other threads. no real need to continue it here. Let's just see what happens now. It is definetly not our choice anyways.

 

What would that exit be off I95? I'm gonna have to drive it one day this coming week at the appropriate time to feel it out before I pass judgement.

The site is right off of I-95 / NW 3rd Ct. It's easier to get to than the AAA.

 

You take the NW 8th St / Port of Miami exit. When you're heading south on I-95, it's the first right-sided exit after 836. The lights are synched, so you can take it straight down to NW 3rd St.

 

And the maps with the overlays show no parking. Gonna throw mass transit in? Add another 30-45 minutes each way over your estimated 15 minutes to travel times. Not bad if you are retired but I doubt very much most bosses would understand his employees having to leave work at 3:00-3:30 every day to be able to make the games.

You're such a negative nancy. You're not even looking at SoFlaFish's map. Look closer.

 

1) Immediately adjacent to the south side of the red rectangle is a huge public parking garage that completely empties out after 5-6pm (so much so that the county has to close it down after-hours and on weekends).

 

2) Immediately south of that is an even more massive, county-operated, public parking garage, which is also totally unused after-hours and on weekends.

 

3) And don't even get me started on the public parking lot that is immediately to the east of the red rectangle.

 

Parking is not an issue at all at this site.

 

I can't tell by the map what are parking garages or just regular occupied buildings. And I don't know squat about downtown Miami. But I did say I would drive it to see how it is. We drive over an hour each way to go to games now and are long time season ticket holders. Can't see how that is being negative. I am however against any down town site. For the same reason I am against a Pompano site. I think the downtown site takes away season ticket options for PBC residents just as a Pompano site would take away season ticket options for South Dade residents. Really not interested in getting into this discussion again on this thread. Go to the relevant threads in the ball park section and you can read all about it.

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I can't tell by the map what are parking garages or just regular occupied buildings. And I don't know squat about downtown Miami. But I did say I would drive it to see how it is. We drive over an hour each way to go to games now and are long time season ticket holders. Can't see how that is being negative. I am however against any down town site. For the same reason I am against a Pompano site. I think the downtown site takes away season ticket options for PBC residents just as a Pompano site would take away season ticket options for South Dade residents. Really not interested in getting into this discussion again on this thread. Go to the relevant threads in the ball park section and you can read all about it.

 

I've posted in another thread the location of potential parking areas. For your benefit, take a look here:

 

 

 

The areas in shaded in BLUE are potential surface parking lots. I'm not even taking into account any of the parking garages in the area.

 

Plus, since you state that you live in Greenacres, I am practically you're neighbor right now (I'm in Winston Trails). I strongly prefer a Downtown Miami site and the drive is not as bad as you may think. The heaviest traffic heading south is in Broward County. So no matter where the park is built, for those of us in Central Palm Beach, we're going to hit traffic. But I'm sure that we are only but 10% to 20% of the "fan base." (not season ticket holders, I mean potential walk-up crowds). For me, if this thing is built and I'm going to a weeknight game, I'm not driving to the stadium or parking downtown! I'm taking the Turnpike south to the Sawgrass, then shooting down to the Turnpike again out in Miramar out to Doral. Why? Because I usually take my "old man" to the games with me and my son. In order for me to get to the games, I'm leaving my car at the Palmetto Metrorail station and taking the train to the games. That's how I went to see baseball games when I lived in Boston. That's also how I went to see baseball games when I lived in Montreal. If that is the site, the Government Center Metrorail station is going to be virtually attached to the stadium (it's that solid YELLOW box next to the "Minute Maid Overlay", with the GREEN LINE being the Metrorail line), so why bother with the hassle of paying upwards of $20.00 to park (and $20.00 is a reasonable number when you think how much people are hit for parking fees going to Heat games, and the cost of parking near Fenway is just as prohibitive!).

 

Finally, if the team is consistently winning, people will go to the games. I don't hear many "Broward" or "Palm Beach" people whining about going to Heat games! We're talking about approximately 20,000 seats for a Heat game. Baseball in that site is going to have approximately 37,000 seats available, and at a much cheaper price than Heat tickets. Either the Broward whiners will come, or they'll just be replaced by South Dade folks. Location in this area doesn't dictate attendance, product dictates attendance.

 

Weren't you the one that said the Hileah park idea would be nixed because the UDB couldn't be moved? Hmm. What happened there?

 

What happened there was politics as usual. The retainer agreements I provide for my clients always state that when it comes to local governments, you can never guarantee a result. I never guaranteed it wasn't going to be there, I said it was unlikely. Plus, with most of the focus moving away from Hialeah Heights and now going to Government Center, the opposition that would have probably been mounted out there has been rendered moot. I'm sure you probably would have seen a few Chapter 163 lawsuits at the Hialeah Heights site.

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