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Al Lang Forum Draws Nearly 200 People, Variety Of Ideas
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Published: March 7, 2008
Updated: 03/06/2008 11:24 pm
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ST. PETERSBURG - ST. PETERSBURG - ST. PETERSBURG - Given the chance to weigh in on the future of Al Lang Field, most of the nearly 200 people who attended a public forum Thursday night said they want all or much of the hallowed baseball grounds turned into parkland.
The response was not unexpected given that neighborhood leaders unsuccessfully asked the city council in August to include the waterfront site, the training home of eight Major League teams since 1914, in St. Petersburg's collection of parks along the downtown bayfront.
However, many people also said they would like to see other uses for the spring training stadium, which the Tampa Bay Rays will vacate when its spring games move to Port Charlotte next year.
Some people said the city should try to land another big-league team for spring games. Others suggested using the stadium as a multiuse venue for events such as concerts or the popular Saturday morning market.
The Community Input Forum that the city, civic and business groups sponsored at Mahaffey Theater solicited ideas on other uses for Al Lang if the $450 million stadium the Rays want to build there by 2012 is rejected by voters or fails to get on the November ballot.
Some participants, though, expressed skepticism about the process and doubted that their input would matter.
"It was very well structured and it elicited a lot of comments from people that want to be involved in a decision that's already been made," said John Burgess, 64, a retiree. "The mayor and city council are going through the motions, and they're patronizing the citizens."
The evening consisted of an exercise in which people seated at tables considered four options: reusing the existing building and parking lot; converting the entire site into a public park; turning two-thirds of it into park and the remaining one-third into something else; and any other option determined at each table. Participants also filled out individual survey forms.
Fred Russell, 45, an architect, said he thinks the city structured the forum "to get the answers they are looking for. It's a little frustrating, but I think we're still able to get our ideas out."
City officials said the public input will assist them in developing a recommendation to the city council on the Rays' stadium proposal, due by June.
A few hours before the forum, opponents of the new stadium aired allegations that the process the city was using to obtain proposals to redevelop the Rays' current home at Tropicana Field had become tainted, and they wanted the city to start over.
Former St. Petersburg city council member Kathleen Ford, a lawyer, cited articles in construction-trade magazines and Web sites that suggest the Rays and their development partner, Hines Interests, already had been selected for the $1 billion project. She said other potential developers may not submit a proposal, thinking a decision has been made.
City Council Chairman James Bennett said he doesn't expect the city to cancel the request for proposals it issued in January. The proposals are due March 18.
Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.
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