Oldsmar’s pursuit of Tampa Bay Rays is now official
What began as somewhat of a joke by Mayor Doug Bevis recently became official, as the Oldsmar City Council agreed to create a task force, led by the mayor, to let everyone know the city is all-in when it comes to landing the Tampa Bay Rays.
The idea that city officials should present a united front whenever discussing the proposed plan to build a multi-purpose complex, including a Major League Baseball stadium, on a vacant parcel of land across from Tampa Bay Downs, was initially proposed by Vice-Mayor Eric Seidel during the Feb. 7 council meeting.
The item was put on the agenda for discussion on Tuesday, and although the task force idea was unanimously supported, one council member objected to how the pursuit of the team has developed.
“I’m glad this is finally coming before Council, but I think we put the cart out there somewhere and we haven’t found the horse yet,” Jerry Beverland said.
“This should have never started, I don’t believe, until it came to Council first.”
Beverland, a longtime local politician and city historian, said he’s not against the idea of trying to bring the team to town, but he believes the issue should’ve been addressed in a formal council setting prior to this week.
“I have a lot of questions, and I have to protect my vote as a council member of the city of Oldsmar,” he said, noting two key sticking points with the proposal include getting landowner Stella Thayer’s consent to move forward with the project and the fact that the existing Duke Energy power lines would run “right through the middle of centerfield” of the new stadium.
“You can’t just move those power lines,” he said.
Seidel didn’t dispute Beverland’s assertions, and he admitted many issues still need to be addressed.
But he said everything that has happened so far – from the mayor initially getting the word out that the city was interested in bringing the Rays to town, to holding formal press conferences and meetings with county and team executives — happened organically.
“I don’t disagree with you, but it just kind of unfolded this way” Seidel said.
“But I don’t know that there was another way that could’ve been better. Perhaps there could’ve been.”
Mayor Bevis concurred, saying, “I don’t think we planned for this to happen,” adding that he would take full responsibility for how the whole sequence of events unfolded.
“I think actually it probably unfolded exactly right, because our last meeting was the first council meeting after our second meeting with the Rays where they said we wouldn’t have brought you in here if we weren’t in the hunt,” Bevis said. “So I think it worked out good.”
Council members Gabby McGee and Dan Saracki agreed, and the discussion eventually steered back to the makeup of the task force, with the mayor asking the other council members what they believe the composition of the committee should be.
While there was no clear consensus, local and regional businesses such as Westfield Countryside Mall, Nielsen and Lockheed Martin, as well as Chamber of Commerce officials, city staff members and community leaders, were mentioned as potential targets.
After the meeting, the mayor spoke about the latest developments in what has already been a strange and wild journey.
“I’ve been talking about this for six months, something that says who our partners are,” Bevis said.
“Now we need to reach out to the chamber and local business leaders and figure out how we are baking this cake and what’s our objective.”
Related content:
The Never-Ending Stadium Boondoggle
http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/09/the-never-ending-stadium-boondoggle/403666/
The threat of relocation:
One tactic that is frequently employed to get the public to fork over money…..
Subsidizing stadiums is an economic disaster:
Ultimately, the burden of public subsides falls disproportionately on small cities that are the least able to bear the cost.
Stop the madness:
It’s time put an end to runaway public subsidies to lucrative sports franchises.
Tampa Bay Rays 2017 Payroll:
http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/tampa-bay-rays/payroll/
Also
Located to the North of the site are two untapped, Oldsmar City owned, large Blue Water Aquifers having a depth of 40-45ft. Our store purchased, bottled water is preferably to the over chlorinated,
brackish, osmosis process treated city water.