I happened to find myself in the relatively upscale inner circle of Woodlawn yesterday and came upon my first pro-stadium yard sign sightings. Here’s the totally unshocking part about it, though: the 3 signs were in front of 3 of the largest houses. That’s right, kids, rich assholes love new stadiums!
It made me really think about it, and I couldn’t help but come to the realization that most of the houses I’ve seen the POWW signs in front of look more working class. Not to say I haven’t seen rich assholes that don’t want the stadium, but it actually looks like this thing is shaping up to be a bit of a class line issue.
We’ve tasked our huge research department to start looking into seriously important statistics based on the existence of yard signs by type (pro, anti). We’ll be looking at make and model and year of car, most recent lawn mowing, existence of duct tape residue X’s on windows, number of yard gnomes, appearance of work out equipment on the property, etc. Keep your eyes peeled for our in depth report.
Here’s your chance to get famous! We want your pictures. We will post your pictures of yard signs, as long as they show the surroundings (i.e. make sure we can see the house), along with a credit to you and even a hyperlink to your internet presence. Keep in mind that we are not responsible for downtime caused by the avalanche of traffic this hyperlink will create, so don’t come crying to us when your hosting company bills you for overages. Otherwise, from now until November, send us any photos you get of yard signs out there in their natural settings.
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21 Responses
I bet there will probably be plenty of modest homes owned by trades people that support the new stadium. Take a look at the folks on the POWW board. most are quite well off. This is not the little people trying to raise up. This is not a class issue.
poor assholes love baseball too. . .
i was sad when we lost our florida state league team because going to night games down on the waterfront at Al Lang was one of the great things about growing up in St. Pete. Can’t wait until the new stadium is done!
go devil rays!
yea! new, bad-ass stadium on the water. . .
boo! anti-stadium people. . .
Quite well off? Do you have any info to support that Erin or do you just open your mouth and hope that what comes out is true?
Sometimes people say things that actually make me taste puke in the back of my mouth.
I’m going to go out on a VERY SOLID limb here and say that anyone who has seen any amount of information about the stadium plan and actually thinks its a good idea IS A COMPLETE FUCKING RICK BAKER TESTICLE SUCKING PIECE OF HAIR AND PEANUT FILLED SHIT
POWW steering committee
Hal Freedman: Realtor, CPA, IT consultant for Visa (semiretired). Member of the 2004 CONA leadership program.
Bill Stokes: Worked in broadcasting as “Natural Bill” on WMNF. Past board member Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Faith Andrews Bedford: Writer, environmental activist.
Justin Elza: Owner of J. Allan Writing & Design Studios. President of the 650-member St. Petersburg Creative Network.
Kathleen Ford: Lawyer, former St. Petersburg City Council member. Resides in Harbor Isle.
Lee Nolan: Commercial real estate broker. Serves on planning and visioning commission for the city of St. Petersburg.
Nicholas Boicheff: CPA, controller of a group of automobile dealerships.
Niel Allen: Realtor. Lives on Snell Isle.
Peter Belmont: Lawyer practicing environmental and land use law. St. Petersburg resident since 1972; resided downtown since 1997.
Rebecca Falkenberry: Lived in downtown townhouse for 10 years. Travel agent with focus on ecotourism.
Steve Lange: Architect. Lives in the Old Northeast.
Virginia Littrell: Former St. Petersburg City Council member. Fourth generation in St. Petersburg.
Vidya Varani: Former city planner.
Willi Rudowsky: USF journalism master’s student. 2005 CONA leadership program participant.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article454550.ece
OH SNAP! pwned!!!
None of these people are as well off as Ken and Tracey Locke, the founders of the so-called grassroots fans group, who drive fat beamers and live in a very tony house in the swank part of Old NE. They try to act like good old hometown folks but look at where they’re having their fund raiser, the posh as hell PUSH Ultra Scrounge. Give me a break.
By and large POWW is a group of middle class to upper middle class people, many of them long-time activists. None of them is really well off or POWW’s budget would reflect that. You’re grasping at straws.
Besides, POWW is up against a group of very, very, very well off new york investment types (http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/25/Southpinellas/Rays_owners_dealing_w.shtml). Compared to them, POWW is poor as dirt.
And what about the thousands of red signs popping up all over town. Are all those people well off? Is POWW paying them out of their alleged deep pockets to put POWW signs in their lawns?
I think it’s safe to say the organizers for both groups are comfortable.
POWW Committee
Hal Freeman
One Beach Drive Southeast #2705
St. Peterburg, FL 33701
Bayfront Tower
Kathleen S Ford
7477 18TH ST NE
ST PETERSBURG FL 33702-4764
Steve Lange
526 15thAve NE
Saint Petersburg, FL 33704
Old Northeast
Faith A Bedford
1 Beach Dr SE, Apt 1614
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-3956
Bayfront Tower
Nicholas Boicheff
1763 Tanglewood Dr NE
Saint Petersburg, FL 33702-4731
Virginia A Littrell
145 19th Ave NE
Saint Petersburg, FL 33704-4530
Old Northeast
V Varani
1 Beach Dr SE
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-3963
Bayfront Tower
Rebecca Falkenberry and Bill Stokes
301 Second St N, Apt 18
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-2965
Downtown Condo
Peter B Belmont
324 First Ave N
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-3811
Downtown Condo
Justin Elza
115 12th Ave NE
Saint Petersburg, FL 33701-1201
Old Northeast
And what about the Rays’ owners? How comfortable are they?
I guess not comfortable enough since they want US to pay for THEIR shit.
By the way, can you Google income, net worth and whether each of the people you listed rent or own? (since we’re getting technical with “well off”)
Actually, considering that the Rays owners are planning to put $150 million into the project, I’m not sure they’re exactly asking us to “pay for their shit,” as you so eloquently put it.
In fact, if you’d bothered to read about the twin proposals (maybe you have trouble reading beyond the first paragraph when writing isn’t laced with profanity?), you’d know that the twin development proposals result in a NET GAIN of public dollars. On the other hand, if the Rays stay in the Trop, all 85 acres of ugly dome and parking lot wasteland stay off the tax rolls and continue not making money.
Have you considered informing yourself and offering reasoned opinions on this issue? If not, maybe you should leave the public debate to people who actually care enough to learn the facts.
I just think it’s fucking hilarious that the team is called the “tampabayrays” and they are making the people of St.Pete pay for the stadium.
If this isn’t cuckoo style trickery, I don’t know what is….
For those that don’t get that bit of clever reference to the animal kingdom lemme give you a wiki rope…
“About 56 of the Old World species and 3 of the New World species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.[1] The best-known example is the European Common Cuckoo. The cuckoo egg hatches earlier than the host’s, and the cuckoo chick grows faster; in most cases the chick evicts the eggs or young of the host species. The chick has no time to learn this behavior, so it must be an instinct passed on genetically. The mother still feeds the cuckoo chick as if it were her own, the chick’s open mouth serving as a sign stimulus for the host to feed it.[2]”
Tampa pwnd St.Pete on this one for sure, no matter how it turns out.
Ya’ll crack me up.
For “Facts Please” - I agree that the 85 acres of Dome Land could and should be taxable - but don’t you think that the waterfront land that All Lang Park is on holds a higher taxable value than the Dome land - why should we pay $300 million dollars to give that land to the Rays and recieve no taxable value from it in the future. I mean, if we sold it to a devolper we would make a lot more money than giving it to the Rays. The deal just doesn’t make sense to me.
so rich people make things happen?
wow, whoda thunk that?
so, why exactly, is the new stadium bad?
at least back up your hate with some kind of manipulated statistics. .
great game by shields last night, btw
10 pounds of stadium in a 5 pound sack…
That’s about the best way to describe it. Bottom line, the giant stadium the new Rays’ owners want built (using taxpayer money) would be much too big for our waterfront. It’s the exact opposite of everything that’s great about St. Pete.
Al Lang Field (a fairly large structure itself) is tiny compared to the gigantic 34,000-seat stadium the Rays want built. With the cover up (as it would be most days), the new ballpark would be nearly as tall as the 28-story Bank of America Tower, the tallest building in all of St. Pete.
In fact, the new stadium wouldn’t even fit on the footprint of the Al Lang site. Instead it would extend past Bayshore Drive and into the Bay, requiring a disruptive dredge and fill process.
The City and its citizens have spent years discussing what’s best for the downtown waterfront–and a building of this height and overall size isn’t it! The Rays’ proposal is not at all consistent with Vision 20/20, the masterplan for our downtown waterfront, developed with extensive community input over many years.
Bottom line, why in the hell can’t they just build the stadium somewhere else? I guarantee you if they said, “Okay, let’s make a deal. We’ll keep everything the same, just build it at this other location” the people of St. Pete would be much more receptive.
“…it actually looks like this thing is shaping up to be a bit of a class line issue.”
This conclusion is based on the following evidence:
“…most of the houses I’ve seen the POWW signs in front of look more working class.”
Airtight reasoning. I’m totally convinced.
By bye asshole! You will have to leave when the stadium is built. Good riddance. I will enjoy the beautiful stadium and not see St Pete rot back into the dark ages as you would prefer. This blog totally sucks and you morons need to wake up and get with the 21st century!
BUILD IT!
By bye asshole do you mean bye bye asshole or indeed by bye asshole?
It’s surprising to me, as a fairly new Saint Pete resident, why some people are so against the building of a new ballpark. Are they afraid of positive change and the redevelopment that a new, state of the art ballpark will bring Saint Pete’s downtown? Sure, there will be more traffic, but that’s a slight price for progress.
Property values will rise long term from building a new ballpark. It will help keep Saint Pete on the national map and will re-develop parts of downtown that have been neglected for years. This is really just common sense.
Brian - it’s exactly because you’re a fairly new St. Pete resident that you don’t understand what’s going on. Read up on some of the history of development in St. Petersburg, including that of the land where the Trop is now, and what all it took (away) to build that honkin’ thing.
And no one uses “Saint” Pete. Not even tourists.
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