Save the PawSox, before it’s too late
I have been reading the articles about a new baseball stadium for the PawSox and I find myself shaking my head especially at the “no new stadium” residents.
I totally get not wanting to be fleeced as a taxpayer (that happens enough already in this state), so I don’t think you want to get into a situation like what happened with 38 Studios.
However, let’s face it. The city of Pawtucket has been in a state of decay for decades. Spare me any talk about recent development in the city. A half a century ago, when I was a youngster, there were still department stores downtown. Back then you could see the city was changing and not for the better. However, it still had a certain vibrancy.
Now? Much of the downtown district is simply awful. The latest stadium pro- posal sounds like a potentially workable deal. Everyone shares in the cost and that decrepit Apex site will finally be redeveloped and LOOK like a destination spot.
Spin-off development is likely. Restaurants, souvenir shops, hotels, etc. would revitalize a downtown district that has been screaming for a makeover for years.Sure, the team owners have plenty of money but you are NOT going to get a 100 percent privately financed stadium. It’s that simple.
You need to negotiate. You need to compromise. You can’t say “good riddance” to the PawSox. That would be foolish on the part of city residents.
No one is pounding on Pawtucket’s door to develop the Apex site. If the PawSox relocate, the city will continue to be stuck with a dormant Apex parcel, a downtown that continues to decay AND a vacant McCoy Stadium. Pawtucket loses on all counts.
Who has the last laugh when the Worcester Red Sox are entertaining thousands of fans up there, while summers down here won’t hear the crack of bats and cheers of thousands of Sox fans?
Are the ‘no new stadium’ types going to be happy when the city suffers even more after losing what is arguably its prime entertainment option?
City residents should be clamoring for a fair way to keep the PawSox in town. They should be embracing a way to build that stadium downtown with the skyline as a backdrop. The residents of Pawtucket better wise up soon... before it REALLY is too late.