Comments on: further updates on the Shockoe Center proposal

By: River District News » House Finance Committee passes stadium financing bill - Richmond, Virginia

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:15:12 +0000

[...] Loupassi’s bill to help finance Shockoe Stadium has passed the House Finance Committee with a 19-2 vote. The bill would set aside a percentage of [...]

By: neighbor

neighbor — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:42:28 +0000

The head of the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association wrote a relevant letter to the editor on this issue.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/NAPIERD_20090123-210812/187273/

By: River District News » Loupassi introduces stadium financing bill - Richmond, Virginia

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:59:07 +0000

[...] Committee. Delegate Manoli Loupassi has introduced a bill regarding financing the proposed Shockoe Stadium. CHPN.net has the story: Del. Loupassi has introduced a bill to divert the state sales taxes [...]

By: Church Hill People’s News » Loupassi introduces stadium financing bill - Richmond, Virginia

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:27:52 +0000

[...] bill to divert the state sales taxes generated by the stadium and other related new buildings from the Shockoe Center proposal to pay the cost of the development: The developers who want to bring minor-league baseball back to [...]

By: Scott Burger

Scott Burger — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:06:48 +0000

There are some choices involved:

http://scfoj.tumblr.com/post/67812048/solar-stadium-in-taiwan-close-to-completion

http://scfoj.tumblr.com/post/67123249/spill-estimate-grows-to-1-billion-gallons

By: Cadeho

Cadeho — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:17:57 +0000

Let’s just get Scott and gray to plant a tree on each vacant lot and let it stay like it is forever, amen.

By: Liberty

Liberty — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:23:52 +0000

i’m behind the developers and any diea they can come up with, BUT WITHOUT ONE PENNY OF MY TAX MONEY , NONE, tHE DEVELOPER SHOUOLD PAY TAXES ON THEIR PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE

By: Scott Burger

Scott Burger — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:16:11 +0000

Its called corporate welfare and its been an ongoing problem with Richmond.

http://www.vagreenparty.org/richblog/?p=18

By: JoeRichmond

JoeRichmond — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:22:13 +0000

Excellent point, Gray!

Why do we have to bail the wealthy out and then suffer their recriminations when we want healthcare benefits for our children?

By: gray

gray — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:28:01 +0000

Agreed. To sum it up, we give the developers valuable land, taxpayer money, and a promise to maintain the baseball park (can’t be cheap). If the stadium fails, taxpayers will pay again. Only the developers stand to gain riches, even in failure. Here is a good quote from the article: “The proposed bond issue for a ballpark not only denies the city any immediate return but also, like other aspects of the proposal, privatizes gain while socializing risk.”

Sounds like welfare for the wealthy.

When I take a risk in a small business, I reap the benefits or suffer the losses -it’s my burden. No one comes in to the rescue.

What are the realestate taxes the big business guys must pay on free land?

By: crd

crd — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:55:28 +0000

Excellent article. For those who are not aware, Randolph Bell is a retired ambassador with extensive State Dept. experience, and is now the Executive Director of the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond. He provides commentary on WCVE-FM radio periodically, also.

I’m not coming down on either side about the ballpark, just suggesting that folks read that article while it’s available- there’s a lot of food for thought in it, and it’s very well thought out.

By: john_m

john_m — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:21:57 +0000

I’d missed that entirely, thanks for posting it.

By: Lamplighter

Lamplighter — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:15:20 +0000

I’m surprised John Murden didn’t post a link to the ballpark article in Sunday’s Times-Dispatch:

“Ballpark Would Dig a Financial Black Hole in Shockoe Bottom”
BY RANDOLPH BELL AND JEAN WIGHT

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/BELL1221_20081226-201012/162645/

Bridg

By: Liberty

Liberty — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:32:25 +0000

edg- In my opinion the govt. needs to get out of the way in order for things to get off the ground in Richmond. Its not the govt.’s role to bring baseball to a community, if its such a good idea why do they need our tax money? There are much better uses of our tax dollars.

By: Mike Banta

Mike Banta — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:36:49 +0000

The following post is meant in jest:

CAVEs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) Redouble Arguments, Again

Adapting the old truism, “Those that don’t know history are doomed to repeat it”, CHPN’s resident CAVEs are working hard to ensure that they, too, get to repeat history.

In addition to their usual interest in conserving the unique historical aspects of our area, the CAVEs have extended themselves to energy conservation.

“It seems to us that its a waste of a precious resource, the ability to think, to deal with this new development proposal. Instead, we’re saving that energy to determine our level of support for The King’s Retreat. Meanwhile, we’ll just reuse our arguments from the Shockoe ballpark proposal”, said Crusty Hamshank.

Typical quotes follow:

Itâ€™s a tired old tale weâ€™ve all heard before….

Believe me, its tiring to have to fight the Shockoe stadium battle every two years…

…the same people are working on this project…

Weâ€™ve seen this type scenario again and again…