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At last, it begins.
Whether it's futile or not remains to be seen.
The Chargers held their first community meeting today in Barrio Logan, with the hopes of building support for their proposed downtown stadium and convention center. Attending the meeting were President of Business Operations A.G. Spanos President of Football Operations John Spanos, Special Advisor Fred Mass, and Special Advisor Jeffrey Pollack.
During this meeting, a new overhead rendering of the downtown stadium was revealed:
Haven't seen this rendering from above before. #SOTBChargersStadium pic.twitter.com/ATldMuA3st
— Ben Higgins (@BenHigginsSD) July 15, 2016
The representatives of the team also made the following statements:
Pollack: "This building is intended to be much more than a stadium, activated every day of the year" #SOTBChargersStadium @10News
— Ashlyn Lipori-Russie (@ashlynruss) July 15, 2016
Maas says the hotel tax funding would free up the money San Diego loses on Qualcomm Stadium for other city needs. #Chargers @10News
— Jeff Lasky (@10NewsLasky) July 15, 2016
As if to pre-empt the Chargers' campaign kickoff, the opposition group "No Downtown Stadium" (hereafter NDS) issued a press release yesterday, explaining their opposition to the plan. It was also revealed that Councilmen Chris Cate and David Alvarez joined the group. Here's the group opposing viewpoints (some of which I challenged in a post a few months ago), in summary:
- It asks too much of taxpayers.
- It threatens Comic-Con and tourism jobs.
- We need our streets repaired and our after-school programs fully funded.
- The Chargers plan is too risky.
- It would erect a 350-foot wall in the middle of a neighborhood.
Also, there was a community group call Barrios Against Stadiums outside the meeting which protested the stadium, which also indicated they were not affiliated with NDS earlier today.
According to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, it is expected that the San Diego City Council will vote to place the Chargers' proposal on the ballot early next week. The move follows the Registrar's determination that the Initiative received enough valid signatures last week to be placed on the November ballot.