Check out these two recent articles, the first being for the Harrison Square development and the second against it.
Don’t let Harrison Square plan collapse through inertia
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/16410318.htm
Will Fort Wayne be suckered by stadium?
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/16328202.htm
What do you think about these opinions? Post a comment!
Monday, January 8, 2007
Opposing Viewpoints
Posted by scott spaulding at 1/08/2007 02:04:00 PM
Labels: Harrison Square, Opinion
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2 comments:
Strictly as an innocent bystander, I find it strange how some of the people who complain about Fort Wayne's lack of a popular downtown are the first ones to criticize efforts to remedy the situation.
Granted, any idea needs tweaking throughout the project to tailor it for the area and demographic. But seriously, don't complain about your city then get negative about the efforts to make it better.
I found Edgerton's piece to be an extremely negative, anti-establishment, anti-corporate take on the situation. So what if Lincoln wants to help finance the stadium? It's less burden on the taxpayers and great advertising for a Fort Wayne institution that'll aid in keeping what's left of Lincoln here for even longer.
They use the propaganda that locating a ballpark downtown will draw tourist and entertainment dollars, but all they do is shift the same money from one part of town to another.
Isn't that the point? --to shift money downtown? Fort Wayne is suffering from suburbanitis. The underlying premise of that quote is that building a ballpark downtown won't draw people downtown. What about the people that go to Memorial Stadium week after week to see the Wizards and the fireworks? I'd be even more likely to go to a Wizards game if I could walk to Columbia Street West afterwards...or Flashbacks...or the Dash In...or any number of other establishments that come along with bringing dollars there.
Granted, tourism is desireable, but I see downtown improvement as more than just catering to out-of-town business. We need to first bring Fort Wayne's own residents back downtown.
I'm all about taking everything with a healthy level of skepticism, and there are things about the stadium deal that could use upgrading (like, maybe...having a multi-use complex?). But wanting to scrap the whole thing just because you don't like local baseball? C'mon...
I also noticed the mistake by Mr. Edgerton in reference to Dayton being Double A. It doesn't help your arguments when you have included false information in an article. I was tempted to write a rebuttal to Mr. Edgerton's article and inform people that Dayton is in the Midwest League, and not only that, but they sell almost every game. The other article, however, was extremely well written and answered many of the questions I hear from numerous everyday citizens.
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