Another set of petitions designed to stop construction of a new El Paso ballpark has been submitted, but organizers may be too late to stop the process. Petition-drive organizers submitted enough signatures to force the El Paso City Council to consider an ordinance that would halt the demolition of City Hall to make way for […]
Tag Archives | tucson padres
El Paso moves forward with ballpark planning
The city of El Paso is moving forward with planning on a new Class AAA ballpark, hiring Populous to produce conceptual designs for the downtown location. The issue addressed by these designs: whether a new ballpark would fit on a small five-acre footprint current occupied by City Hall. The answer: yes, it will. From a […]
El Paso group pledges profits to charity
The word from MountainStar Sports Group was brief, but the intent is clear: two of the potential Triple-A team owners will give their profits to charity if a downtown El Paso ballpark is built. There’s a been a toxic environment lately surrounding a new downtown ballpark, with opponents slinging anything against the wall to see if […]
Tucson Padres battle lame-duck status, indifferent community
Though there was little chance the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) would be a long-term tenant at Kino Stadium, the city’s lack of support for the team is still troubling. The team should end up drawing around 200,000 fans this season, good for last in the Pacific Coast League. With it being an […]
Effort to thwart new El Paso ballpark falls short
A petition drive to put the issue of a new El Paso ballpark directly to voters — and changing the deal with the potential owners of a Triple-A team retroactively — came up short. Organizers, who also put together an “Occupy City Hall” movement in recent days to also express their displeasure, needed to come […]
Protesters to “Occupy City Hall” over new El Paso ballpark
Upset that city voters aren’t being asked to approve a $50-million ballpark for a Class AAA team, El Paso activists are planning an “Occupy City Hall” protest for next Monday. The issue: the city went ahead and negotiated a new downtown ballpark for a local group buying and relocating the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific […]
Hotel tax on El Paso ballot; no direct choice for voters
The El Paso City Council voted to include a provision on the fall ballot to raise the hotel tax to pay for a Class AAA ballpark, but voters will not directly vote on whether a ballpark should be built. The plan all along was to ask voters to approve a two-percentage-point increase in the city’s […]
Will El Paso ballpark spur downtown development? Insiders of mixed mind
One rationale for building a $50-million ballpark in downtown El Paso for the relocating Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League): to spur economic development. Will it work? The city is moving ahead with a plan to build a new ballpark at the current City Hall location and finding a new home for local government […]
Book news 2: A tale of Shammies and Smoke Eaters
Another book worth checking out: Tim Hagerty, the voice of the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), has authored an entertaining overview of unusual team names and their histories. Root For the Home Team: Minor League Baseball’s Most Off-the-Wall Team Names and the Stories Behind Them (Cider House Press; $12.95) covers unusual team names from […]
El Paso opponents: We want ballpark on fall ballot
Opponents of a new El Paso ballpark for a Triple-A team want to force approval of the project on the fall ballot, as they’ve gathered over 2,300 signatures on the issue. The ballpark is already tentatively on the ballot in the form of a proposal to raise the city’s hotel/motel occupancy tax by two percentage points […]
PCL approves El Paso purchase of T-Padres
This pretty much wraps it up: the Pacific Coast League has preliminarily approved the purchase of the Tucson Padres by MountainStar Sports Group, which plans on moving the Triple-A franchise to El Paso in 2014. The ownership group received approval of its Preliminary Application Review (“PAR”). Branch B. Rickey, president of the PCL, sent a […]
Foster: Opposition to new El Paso ballpark not a surprise
Paul Foster, one of the four owners of a potential El Paso Triple-A team, says opposition to public funding of a new downtown ballpark was expected and understandable, but a purchase of the team is at hand. Foster, along with his wife Alejandra de la Vega Foster, businessman Woody Hunt and his son, Josh Hunt, are […]
Opposition to El Paso ballpark surfaces
It wouldn’t be a real ballpark if there wasn’t real opposition, as petitions opposing public funding of a new downtown El Paso ballpark are now being circulated. In fact, we can’t recall any effort for a new ballpark where opponents didn’t organize on some level, whether it be citizens groups going to court to oppose […]