It is wonderful to dream—one of the freest and most enjoyable things in life. Yet, dreams can be destructive and deflating if they substitute obsession, cant, or hype for reality. Dreams must not become your master.
The hope of a major league baseball team for San Jose is one that our community has pursued for many years. It fed off another frustrating quest, namely, the attempt to build the major sports facility that had long eluded San Jose. In 1988, citizens drove a stake into the heart of that monster when, against all odds, they voted in favor of the Downtown Arena. In approving it, the community took a leap of faith for a variety of reasons. If baseball advocates wish to copy that success, they must analyze it carefully.
Being at the center of the Arena battle, I learned three things. First, a “yes” vote takes faith in government and specifically confidence in the Mayor and Council. The public need not be assured that City leaders are wise and omnipotent, but that they are basically honest and dependable. Second, the election must occur in sound economic times, devoid of gravely serious international and local concerns. Third, the campaign must not be slick and controlled, but strike a more elementary chord of belief in our City and its evolution into a major metropolis. Smart people have to separate hype from fact and not drink their own Kool-Aid.
It appears that the current initiative by the Mayor and certain advocates comes up short in each of the three areas. In the 1992 effort to bring the Giants here, the Kool-Aid was being injected intravenously by all the participants. Hired gun, attorney/lobbyist Stan Berliner, passed it around by the barrel, billed exorbitantly, and laughed all the way to the bank and Santana Row. The effort was a massive failure and the fingerprints on that debacle are clearly evident in the Mayor’s latest Hail Mary pass, for it surely cannot be called a plan.
See previous post on your last blog.
Lots of obstacles. The ‘92 campaign was also a blunder because of the tactics, messages and rip-offs by the campaign consultant.
Who, I believe, was on more than Kool-aide.
This time it has to be done smarter.
Tom,
What don’t you run for SJ mayor? It seems you have a lot to say—as a critic.
Dr. SJ
I can only imagine the wheeling and dealing that would go on in City Hall if we were to build a new baseball stadium in San Jose. I’m sure Ronny G and the rest would love to reap the benefits of the lobbyists efferts.
While baseball and a stadium would be a great thing for San Jose why don’t the A’s do what the Giants did. Build it with private money not on the backs of taxpayers.
I’m sure Cisco would love to be involved, that way they would get the IT contract without having to pay for vacations for the City Hallers!
Disaster after disaster with this Mayor. Maybe if he could use it as a driving rage on off days it might work. Maoyor Hammer and her hired gun Stan Berlinger blew it big time, there was a reall chance at that time. Now if city hall was built at the right price we could afford a stadium. With what city hall costs you could build a football and baseb all stadium and have money left over for soccer field.
While I would agree that the Mayor’s “dream” looks more like a hail mary than a plan, I don’t agree that his style permanently gets in the way of a good thing for San Jose. The real dream is all about economic development. The real dream comes with a baseball site that puts huge nembers pre-game and post-game pedestrians in and around our downtown and along the Guadalupe. The real dream looks a lot more like Denver, San Francisco, San Diego, Baltimore and Cleveland, where building a MLB stadium was not the end in itself. In those cities it is documented that ripple after ripple of ancillary development around the stadium sites has completely transformed both local geography and the city’s economics. In fact, if done properly most of a new SJ stadium could be paid for through a new assessment district which taps related development in the downtown frame. Had the Mayor described just a bit more of this he may have been credited with having vision, instead of being criticized for his “dream”.
The airport expansion should inform us all: “If you name it, the money will come.”
Seems to me, all we need do is name the baseball stadium after some connected egomaniac and wait for the construction cash to flow. Mineta Field would be a bit redundant, but I suspect his ego could handle it. The problem is that we baseball fans would have to do without a right or left field because, as he shown in Washington, with Norm all plays are made in center.
I’m sure our current mayor would love the sound of Gonzales Field, but his connections—those not under investigation—are too busy dipping into our pockets to reach out to others. Nonetheless, we should all get used to the sound of Ron Gonzales Plaza (located in front of the new City Hall, in the shadow of the Fiscalini Dome).
Any chance, as an integrity-restoring, good faith measure, we can get Cisco to fund our park? I like the sound of it: Cisco Field at Cannery Yard.
In my dream, the baseball stadium would line the new Guad. River Park…god it would be unreal and successful. Anyone who’s been to downtown Denver knows that their sports teams have transformed their downtown. It is something I can only dream of for my kids…
“New” Guadalupe River Park? You mean the one that they have been “working on” for 15 years? I agree that your idea of a ballpark there would be awesome but why doesn’t anyone bring up the fact that the park should have been finished year ago? Off the subject a bit but I couldn’t resist!
A dream needs to be followed by smart actions. That would be a real definition for ‘Smart Growth’. Why not let the all the developers who have made so much $ from the Ron G. plan pay for the stadium. Just skim a little cream off of their profits and boom, we have a stadium. Shoot, they could even build it for us for all they’ve made. I say this with my tongue firmly planted on my cheek of course.