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Diet_Coke t1_j9rohvv wrote

Reply to comment by zstansberries in MLB-required upgrades to The Diamond could cost city $3.5M by PercyDovetonsils

Now think about the benefit $3.5M could provide to schools in the same terms

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zstansberries t1_j9rpqof wrote

Correct. Schools do deserve $3.5M too. It should be both/and, not either/or.

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Diet_Coke t1_j9rr28x wrote

Unfortunately the city's not an endless supply of money. The franchisee should pay for it, it's not like people who live here get free tickets to the games. If McDonalds was going to close the store on Broad and 18th St unless they spent $3.5M in renovations would you support the city giving them the money too?

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zstansberries t1_j9rv3ih wrote

The city did not come to an agreement with a single McDonald's to maintain a specific standard of operating, but they did however come to that agreement with the SF Giants when they agreed for their affiliate team to play here. I'm arguing that the city should pay for the fees they agreed to pay for, while agreeing with your hypothetical unrelated point about public schools at the same time.

Moreover, the diamond and our baseball team are a significant driver of tourism and revenue for the city that warrants reinvestment. Why would they be actively planning to redevelop that entire area as "the diamond district" if it was not. The flying squirrels are arguably one of the most popular minor league teams, leading the league in overall attendance season after season. It would objectively be a horrible decision to lose them by not investing money that the city already knew it would have to invest.

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Diet_Coke t1_j9rvw2b wrote

I don't think a ton of people are traveling to Richmond, staying in hotels, going to restaurants because of the Squirrels. It's mostly people from the surrounding counties (whose tax dollars wouldn't be going to the team) and they eat at the stadium and go home afterwards. That piece of land is being developed no matter what, it's right next to Scott's Addition and is a very obviously underutilized piece of real estate. They're calling it the diamond district for marketing, but it could be called anything and developers would be drooling over it.

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LharDrol t1_j9tjbgx wrote

This narrative that all money should go to schools, and that they would somehow all of a sudden produce much better results if only they had more money, is a joke. Tell me how the $3.5mm will be allocated to actually produce better academic results. There already have been many tax increases in the city "for the schools."

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Diet_Coke t1_j9tk5j8 wrote

You could hire more teachers or pay existing teachers more to retain them. You could provide after school programs that will keep kids out of trouble in those crucial hours between when school lets out and when their parents get home. Enhance the lunch programs so that we're providing healthy, good food. All kinds of things.

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