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Virginia Beach Arena (Cancelled)


vdogg

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Well that took even less time then I thought. Not even 24 hours later and the pilot is already trying to stir up controversy. Just what do they think the development authority is for, of course they're going to have to spend money to do studies. And I like how they said some council members were surprised yet only quoted Bill Desteph as having a real issue with it. Last time I checked you needed more that one person to say "some".

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/08/va-beach-board-spent-nearly-700k-so-far-arena-bid

You see, this is why we can't have nice things. <_<

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Well that took even less time then I thought. Not even 24 hours later and the pilot is already trying to stir up controversy. Just what do they think the development authority is for, of course they're going to have to spend money to do studies. And I like how they said some council members were surprised yet only quoted Bill Desteph as having a real issue with it. Last time I checked you needed more that one person to say "some".

http://hamptonroads....o-far-arena-bid

You see, this is why we can't have nice things. <_<

It's a news agency who's top "columnist" is an opinion writer in Kerry Daugherty who's followers take her words as the "truth" behind every "transgression" of the city council. Did you see her last article taking quotes from some members of city council and speculating their "actual meaning"? :shok:

If you take everything the Virginia Pilot "reports" as "fact", which a lot of the VBTA and their sheep do, then you'd think the Va Beach City Council is hell bent on destroying Virginia Beach and spending money to pave over the Atlantic Ocean.

It's no surprise they would quote Desteph and usually John Moss, both of which are sound pieces for the VBTA who's goal is to make sure all tax money goes towards city subsidized guns for every home owner and a 12 lane 264. Those two speak of developers as if they are the Taliban.

This is the association and tone the Virginia Pilot has taken on for years. Remember, John Moss, Kerry Daugherty, the VBTA, they were opposed to Town Center, the Hilton, all of 31st redevelopment I'm sure, and lightrail. The stadium is just another trinket for them to attack and spread their message that status quo is good, the world is flat, and the VBCC are a bunch of thieves.

I am more pleasantly surprised when I see people on the Virginia Pilot message board defending the VBCC and supporting lightrail, this stadium, etc.

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Do you guys remember back when Norfolk was courting I believe the Hornets and Smithfield Foods offered to pay millions for naming rights?

I also believe that there was a great demand for luxury boxes in proposed arena. These boxes generated millions of dollars in leasing and rental fees. Also, the Richmond market was very supportive of us and many of the Fortune 500 companies expressed interest in leasing sky boxes.

I know that the governor is pledging his support with perhaps some state help and Comcast is offering a 25 year deal as an incentive to get this done.

It would appear that Virginia Beach is being offered a once in a lifetime deal for something they have plans to build anyway in the future. It will cost the city tens of millions more if they wait.

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Wasn't it stated last week that the Maloof brothers would be in VB this Tuesday and Wednesday to announce the big news themselves???? Well, Tue and Wed came and went.

What I heard on WAVY last night was Comcast is now saying they never guaranteed a sports team to begin with.... What a waste and I really believe this will go down in HR history at another failed "attempt" to get a pro sports team.

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Wasn't it stated last week that the Maloof brothers would be in VB this Tuesday and Wednesday to announce the big news themselves???? Well, Tue and Wed came and went.

What I heard on WAVY last night was Comcast is now saying they never guaranteed a sports team to begin with.... What a waste and I really believe this will go down in HR history at another failed "attempt" to get a pro sports team.

It's a bit early for that type of pessimism. I'm waiting to see what they come out with in October before I draw any conclusions. These rumors are just that, rumors. Always take info in the media with a grain of salt unless it actually comes directly from the parties involved. "Anonymous sources" are notoriously unreliable.

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As eager as I am about all the possibilities, the speculation and back-and-forth is getting annoying, if not frustrating. I worked for the media, and in the last week I've truly understood why people dislike and distrust the media do much. This has slowly become a farce.

I get that the arena planning will take awhile...and honestly it looks promising and City Council would likely make a huge mistake turning this down, with all the possible incentives. That being said, I'm sick of the false hope. This has happened far too many times before.

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Has anyone heard the radio ad about light-rail? I love it! Nooooooooooooo

This Nooooooo crowd tries to kill every project the city proposes regardless. They don't care if it's a great deal, if it cost them one dime in taxes, the scream Noooooooo.

What in the hell else does these idiots think generate tax revenue that keeps their taxes low? You can't keep expecting services but refuse to pay for them. Besides, Virginia Beach may be the largest city in America without an arena. Can anyone think of a city with a population over 400k without at least a 10,000 seat arena?

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if the political posturing and cronyism isnt already obvious, Nick Cattle (local espn sports caster) just said John Moss and De Steph are having a joint press conference tomorrow morning at a restaurant on Lynnhaven Pkwy to discuss their views of the stadium proposal. All council members and the general public are encouraged to attend. Conveniently this is happening when a lot of the public are on vacation. This will be nothing more than their extremist VBTA and extremist tea party followers having a rallying cry against this and mostlikely lightrail somewhere in there. They are also demanding a refferendum if the public investment is over ten million(most definitely wil be). These guys make me sick.

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if the political posturing and cronyism isnt already obvious, Nick Cattle (local espn sports caster) just said John Moss and De Steph are having a joint press conference tomorrow morning at a restaurant on Lynnhaven Pkwy to discuss their views of the stadium proposal. All council members and the general public are encouraged to attend. Conveniently this is happening when a lot of the public are on vacation. This will be nothing more than their extremist VBTA and extremist tea party followers having a rallying cry against this and mostlikely lightrail somewhere in there. They are also demanding a refferendum if the public investment is over ten million(most definitely wil be). These guys make me sick.

It never ceases to amaze me how public servants, supposedly steeped in the ways of the constitution, fail to have even a remote understanding of how our representative form of government works. We elect people to make sound and reasoned decisions based on facts and if their decision making process is lacking we hold them accountable. If we're just gonna hold a referendum on everything then why the hell are they there in the first place? We could save ourselves a ton of money and just do away with the city council altogether.

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Amazing that so many people refuse to accept this area for what it is, a region of nearly 2 million deep. And they are really cutting off their noses to spite their faces, turning down what could help tourism numbers tremendously year-round. This isn't even about the NBA (I'm starting to see the rumors as just that), and Moss and Desteph's stubbornness could do more harm than good, esp. if this really did hit a referendum.

And the complaints from others about their "taxpayer" dollars are foolish. As if you'd really notice the extra 1% on your next receipt or out of your paycheck.

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Another day, another bs article. Each article more negative than the last. It is obvious now the pilot is trying to kill this project, like everything else, in the crib. The funny thing is that once this thing dies they'll spit out an editorial proclaiming that we've missed yet another opportunity and decrying the cities lack of vision. I am sick of the slanted and constant negative reporting this paper puts out. Why have they become the defacto mouthpiece of Moss and Desteph? Are they on the payroll? This thing will be dead in a week.

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/08/va-beach-board-spent-sell-public-arena

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Amazing that so many people refuse to accept this area for what it is, a region of nearly 2 million deep. And they are really cutting off their noses to spite their faces, turning down what could help tourism numbers tremendously year-round. This isn't even about the NBA (I'm starting to see the rumors as just that), and Moss and Desteph's stubbornness could do more harm than good, esp. if this really did hit a referendum.

And the complaints from others about their "taxpayer" dollars are foolish. As if you'd really notice the extra 1% on your next receipt or out of your paycheck.

Now that I have moved, more I really believe what I have always thought:

Too many old people and not enough young people wanting to make a difference, heck or know how. Lets face it, that area loves it military and found a level of comfort surrounding it as it has paid out wonderfully (somewhat) through the years. People do have negative images of a "big city", yet we have big city crime without the positive. Va.beach, the last to hold on what they have come accustomed to: Southern, suburban living. Lots of positives to that, but a lot of negatives too when you factor in the volatility of the military. I guess the difference now is, with a volatile economy, not looking into the future for better despite what your population growth suggest is not a wise move as a lot of people have mentioned. Even Norfolk struggles with their perception of "urban".

Miss op, better chance centered in Norfolk anyways.

Oh well.

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You just can't please some people!

They blame the President for not creating more jobs, then given an opportunity to create jobs, they don't want their taxes raised. They want better public services yet want smaller government. They insist on better roads but refuses to consider alternative proposals such as light-rail.

Since I can't think of anything nice to say about them, I am done ranting about these idiots!

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I try to take Pilot comments (and Kerry Dougherty for that matter) with a grain of salt, and write them off as people who live under a rock and have no idea how anything works. It's frustrating as hell, but I figure that most online commenters are either a gross misrepresentation of the general public or just trolls. Same reason you get so many anti-Obama comments on articles about anything (Yahoo is probably the worst in that regard, but the Pilot has a lot of it too).

While the arena articles have received hundreds of comments, there's 8,000 Facebook people who are in favor of this deal, or at the very least a new arena (we'll say 7,500 and the rest naysayers or Sacramento trolls). Reading the FB group, City-Data's forum, and this board, many realize that an arena is necessary and that this proposal has win-win potential, regardless of any big-4 team.

That's not to say people aren't upset about this deal, esp. with the closed door meetings, but I think the outrage is exaggerated, and most people have the good sense to realize this has tremendous economic potential.

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I try to take Pilot comments (and Kerry Dougherty for that matter) with a grain of salt, and write them off as people who live under a rock and have no idea how anything works. It's frustrating as hell, but I figure that most online commenters are either a gross misrepresentation of the general public or just trolls. Same reason you get so many anti-Obama comments on articles about anything (Yahoo is probably the worst in that regard, but the Pilot has a lot of it too).

While the arena articles have received hundreds of comments, there's 8,000 Facebook people who are in favor of this deal, or at the very least a new arena (we'll say 7,500 and the rest naysayers or Sacramento trolls). Reading the FB group, City-Data's forum, and this board, many realize that an arena is necessary and that this proposal has win-win potential, regardless of any big-4 team.

That's not to say people aren't upset about this deal, esp. with the closed door meetings, but I think the outrage is exaggerated, and most people have the good sense to realize this has tremendous economic potential.

Nick Cattle interviewed the head of the city's economic development department and asked him about the closed door sessions. Basically he said (a) these large corporations do not want public meetings since a lot of their business IS confidential (b) there WERE city council memebers at this meetings, just not all of them, and © they did everything by the law.

He also talked about the identity crisis this area is going through, basically whether or not to be progressive towards a more unified metro and a belief that we DESERVE these higher quality amenities, i.e. a basketball team. He said it is a culture change that is occuring and ultimately his job is to pursue an increase in the tax base and that is what he did with the stadium.

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I wanted to hear Cattles' arena discussion, so I'm glad things were put into perspective. It sounds like the outrage has cooled off (if there ever was any to begin with), as long as the Pilot/news stations stop with the hype and scare tactics, or being shills for Moss and Desteph.

Kerry Dougherty has an article whose headline asks why pro sports turns elected officials into raving beasts, or something like that. I hate judging a book by its cover, but knowing the cynical tone she takes so often, I'm not setting myself up to be annoyed by her pointed editorializing, when she's made it perfectly clear that she is 100% the culture change you referred to on the radio show.

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We will hear the proposed numbers in October. The city is currently discussing contracts and determining who will pay for what. Once the preliminary proposal comes in October, then the city council will have to vote on pursuing it or not. Then the final negotiations wills stand.

You have to figure Moss and DeSteph will push for a referendum if the stadium costs more than $10M for the city which it will.

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Not good news for those hoping to bring the Kings to VA Beach. Seattle has their arena plan in place now, along with some heavy backers: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8365013/seattle-agrees-plan-build-new-nba-arena

Don't think anyone is surprised to see Seattle get it together. Knew it was only matter of time. Now it's wait and see as to what the Maloofs (or Magoofs as they are often called) do.

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