When Denver made the same pitch for Coors Field being an economic generator for the LODO district of Denver, larger but similar in nature to Shockoe Bottom, the development actually moved as far away from the stadium as it could get ! And it didn’t help the restaurants that were in the area earlier. In fact wait staff didn’t want to work on game days because their “regulars” wouldn’t come.

As for restaurants, such as Zuppa, what would they gain from having a stadium? People go to the ball park and eat at the ball park. They don’t go out to dinner before a 7:00 PM game( which is the starting time for the majority of games) or after the game. I was at the Nationals -Red Sox Game last week and the food was definitely upgraded from RFK Stadium but there were still plenty of hot dogs, fries, and beer being sold. There was even shaded eating areas so that you could eat prior to the game.

In other news, Scott Burger of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association once again called on citizens and the media to investigate and examine why Richmond has the highest minimum residential water rate in the country, the highest meals tax in the country, a ridiculous admissions tax, and ridiculous fees and tax burdens on CIty residents in general, while entities like VCU skate around City code and State law, and CIty services like mass transit and park maintenance are being cut. Burger also called for a ‘public outing’ of what the failed Broad Street CDA and the white elephant downtown Convention Center and downtown arts center project Center Stage are really costing the City.