Residents endorse ballpark project Union Hill group touts benefits of housing and jobs The proposed Shockoe Center ballpark development has picked up the support of the Union Hill Civic Association. The group voted 25-1 with one abstention Wednesday to support Highwoods Properties’ plans for Shockoe Center, which are being reviewed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration and financial advisers for the city.

Catch-22 Not long ago Richmond hired three consulting firms to analyze the relative merits of refurbishing The Diamond or building a new ballpark elsewhere. The report by Davenport & Co., Economic Research Associates, and Chmura Economics concluded that putting a new stadium in Shockoe Bottom made the most sense. Now the city has retained those same firms to check the math on a proposal to build a stadium and ancillary development in the Bottom. Skeptics of the Shockoe proposal naturally wonder if—as the late, great Henry Howell used to say—there is more moving around in the dark besides Santa Claus. “I wonder why we’re asking the same folks the same questions,“ says Richmond businessman Charlie Diradour, a proponent of keeping baseball on the Boulevard (a position we consider attractive). “I want to know what different answers they’re going to give us.“

The same firms hired by Richmond to analyze a proposed $363 million development, including a new baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom, already endorsed the concept in a study produced for the city six months ago.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has enlisted the city’s financial advisers to test the feasibility of a proposed ballpark development for Shockoe Bottom. The city is spending $100,000 to get an outside review of the $363 million Shockoe Center project.

The organizers of the annual Shamrock The Block St. Patrick’s Day festival in Shockoe Bottom postponed yesterday’s event because of the rain and cold. The new date is March 28 from noon to 6 p.m. For details, search online for Shamrock The Block.

If former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder’s slavery museum is being abandoned in Fredericksburg, some Richmond officials say it’s time to talk about the project—or something like it—for Shockoe Bottom.

A woman in a red knit cap offered to pay the membership dues of strangers as they arrived at St. John’s Episcopal Church for a neighborhood vote on a ballpark for Shockoe Bottom. Nearly 40 people joined the Church Hill Association at the door Tuesday night, with the dues of 24 paid by Church Hill resident Debra Clarke. By secret ballot, members voted 62-44, with two abstentions, against the proposed Shockoe Center development.

A proposed baseball stadium development in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom has yet to win support from an influential neighborhood organization. After more than an hour of lively discussion in St. John’s Episcopal Church last night, members of the Church Hill Association voted 62-44, with two abstentions, to take a position against the proposed Shockoe Center development “as presented, given the information provided.“

For all sane people, there’s only one proper reaction to the passing into history of another Super Bowl: Just a few more weeks until spring training! Yes, baseball fans, the long wait till next year is almost over. Except in Richmond. Virginia’s capital city will be without professional baseball for the first time in 44 years. We’ve parsed endlessly the reasons why. So let’s look to the future.

The headlines get worse every day: School systems cut teaching and staff positions. Businesses dismiss employees by the thousands. College tuitions increase while investment returns plunge. In Richmond, we have a solution. Build a $60 million baseball stadium and pay for it with sales-tax revenue generated by the ballpark development.

Their claim that this ballpark would not be an economic generator is based on analysis of major-league parks. The actual experience is completely different for minor-league parks that are surrounded by offices, housing, and hotels. Louisville, Memphis, and Toledo are prime examples of the amazing benefits to a downtown from minor-league sports.

We have a few more. With the help of another Church Hill resident, we suggest:—Dig a hole and allow the area to flood, as it probably will again someday, and just make it a lake. That way the city can charge for rowboats and other aquatic conveyances. Have bass fishing tournaments in the lake rather than the river.—Spruce up the Farmer’s Market by attracting artisans. Maybe even an art show from time to time.

Developers want to build a $60 million ballpark in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom capable of hosting a variety of events. They detailed yesterday how they believe they can pay for the project without tapping tax revenues that currently flow to the city and state.

There comes a time when even a community as clueless as ours must stop piling desecration upon desecration. Such is the case with the resurrection of a proposal to build a ballpark in historic Shockoe Bottom for whatever team replaces the Richmond Braves. Mayor L. Douglas Wilder said Mon day that developers might want to build a ballpark near Main Street Station, as opposed to the current site of the faded Diamond.