Maybe we should cut back on the mojitos, but we're beginning to think MVB may be having some influence on shaping Miami's future. From the beginning we saw MVB as a digital gadfly/cockroach of ideas and criticism of the local scene. In that regard, we made sure our ideas were made known to those involved with the topic. Now, for the first time, we learn in Miami Today that Glenn Straub, owner of the Miami Arena, is interested in speaking to Cirque du Soleil about making his arena a permanent home for Cirque. Although he admits Cirque has not contacted him, we made sure he and Cirque knew about our vision for the Miami Arena through numerous emails with links to our posts. The same goes for MLB and the Florida Marlins. We are excited about the Marlins insisting on a downtown site. Although their first choice is very close to our site which we lobbied for since 2003, perhaps this is the time for the city and the county to step in and bring all the parties together to choose a central, unified site that connects the Miami Arena and a downtown baseball stadium with existing commuter rail (FEC tracks, MetroRail) and a future BayLink (monorail). We call it the "Grand Central Station of the American Pastime." We think it is the best idea of any of them that have been thrown out there because it is built over existing mass transit. This fact alone will supply the downtown baseball stadium and Cirque with a lifeline of fans who will be more than happy to give up their cars to get downtown to see a game or the latest Cirque show. Fans from as far away as Palm Beach will be able to hop a commuter train and travel to a game without ever fighting traffic or searching for parking. Best yet, they'll never have to pay an exorbitant parking fee again. If it's raining, they'll never know it because they'll get on and off the train inside the enclosed atrium connecting the stadium to the arena. BayLink will offer the same hassle free trip to the ballpark for the thousands of fans living on Miami Beach. All it will take is a little vision on behalf of everybody. Perhaps Miami's Mayor Manny Diaz or County Mayor Carlos Alverez would like to step up to the plate and make this happen. Oh, yeah, you can rest assured that we have forwarded this posting to them.
Become an MVB FACILITATOR! For those who also think this is the best solution for the survival of a downtown stadium and an arena based attraction, feel free to let our government officials know by emailing your thoughts to them through our handy-dandy email contact list found on the right side of our home page.
UpDate (4/27/07): The Miami Herald reports that the plan to help build a downtown Miami baseball stadium which was passed in the House won't be heard in the Senate, basically killing any chance to see a $60 million tax subsidy spread over 30 years. Instead the Senate is considering a watered down allocation to be split between three professional teams netting the Marlins a one time payment of $32.6 million.
2 comments:
I hate to be a devil's advocate here because I would love to see the Marlins come to d-town.
Your proposal seems like a a great idea for getting fans to the game since people generally arrive to these events at different times. But do you think that our public transit system will be prepared to handle the mass exodus when the game is over?
Cheers.
Good question. We would like to think with everything in place, i.e., MetroRail, a commuter train on the FEC tracks, and BayLink, it would be possible.
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