Friday, May 23, 2014

Beckham's Soccer Stadium: The Neighbors (VOTERS) Are Pissed Off! By Geniusofdespair

Historic Boat Slip From the 1920's (Then the Port) - David Beckham's Group Wants to Fill It In. By the way, the green in the background is the Everglades.
I went to a meeting of the neighbors around Bicentennial Park and the Downtown Neighbor Alliance. Apparently it is not just me and environmentalists who do not want the slip filled in. And, by the way, that article in the Miami Herald today was a total insult to PEOPLE IN MIAMI. They had the nerve to say they were taking our Chevy and giving us a Cadillac (In their distorted view). We want our Chevy and we don't think it is a Chevy, it is a Rolls Royce to us! This is not a nimby thing. It is a quality of life question. People want a quiet place to sit and walk by the water. Parcel B is anything but quiet. I have been there, the traffic noise is pretty bad. Let that be our dog park or our soccer field. Someone should tell the Beckham's Group Parcel B is already OUR park and so is the slip. They aren't increasing anything they are decreasing our park space. Fuzzy math doesn't work here. They are stealing our park space for their 10 story stadium (and I still think it will turn into gambling on that first level). People scoff but just wait. Adelson of the Sands was in partnership with Beckham on other deals.

Coconut Grove, Brickell, the upper East Side and the new building inhabitants across the street from the park want their park space...all of it. And they want the historical boat slip to be kept as water (duh moment). They don't want about 10,000 truckloads of fill. These are voters, pissed voters. Marc Sarnoff you had better be listening if your lovely wife is following in your footsteps to the commission and Francis Suarez, if you want to be mayor, you had better be listening too.  This is such a colossal bad idea I can't even comprehend it and neither can the people of district 2 and 5. Keon Hardemon's constituents also benefit from this park where they can picnic and fish by the water.

Everyone is talking to David Beckhams, the interloper, maybe they should take some time to listen to the voters who think the stadium should be inland. There are thousands of voters against this bad idea. They say put it somewhere else. It is not just Royal Caribbean that has a voice. People do too. LISTEN TO THEM! You will be hearing from them Miami! Their message: Don't mess with parks and our green and blue space!

It is not just the thousands of people in these building that are mad. There is now a coalition. Also note the buildings on the right side of photo. This is quite a lot of people. If you go in the other direction there are thousands more.
This is where they want the stadium (historic slip on the right). The park has been closed for renovation, it is just getting ready to open. Of course no one was using it during the work being done. Bicentennial Park is not that big (29 acres) they want to take a big chunk of a small park with two museums already on it.
I added these for this idiot in comments.... go to the link

67 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it and I would rather have their proposed plan than what is existing.

I just hope that the county works out a fair deal.

Anonymous said...

1st anon, F*** you. I hope every last politician supporting this colossal theft of our public land ends up in jail!

Move west Beckham...............Or to our last colossal public theft next to the Marlin's.

Anonymous said...

No Genius - the first anon is just another of the PR minions employed by Beckham's real estate advisors and investors who got up early today to "manage" the messaging. They were in full force at the press conference. Watch out for these talking points - you'll see them cropping up in blogs and article comments:
1) Beckham is giving us MORE parkland
2) Miami can't afford anything - therefore we should be happy to take Beckham's money and stadium/shopping complex in our public park.
3)Parks alone don't work - need to "activate" a park with shops and restaurants, maybe ballrooms and casinos, too
4) It's OK to fill in a state-designated aquatic preserve because that's what has always been done in Miami. Just look at Miami Beach - Carl Fisher filled it in last century and voila - it's the NORM to fill in Biscayne Bay.
5) The so-called "aquatic preserve" FEC slip is full of trash, therefore, concreting it over will be an "improvement."
Actually, it will HELP the environment.
6) No, no, no, Virginia. This is not about casinos.

There are probably more lies, lies, and renderings to come but you get the picture.

And here's the greatest fabrication of all:
the Beckham renderings show a nearly invisible - at most 8 foot tall stadium - the PEOPLE are taller than the stadium in the renderings for goodness sake - when actually it's a 10-story building blocking the waterfront).

Anonymous said...

In the historic photo - you see the Everglades in the background - we sure had a lot of wilderness to choose from - so maybe having a waterfront park wasn't so necessary, huh? Now that we've lined the waterfront with buildings, we do indeed need that green space. Take a lesson from NYC's Central Park, will ya?

Anonymous said...

More photos of Museum Park! And I encourage people to go out there this weekend and take a look for yourselves, post the photos in your social media networks, email them to media all over the world. Tell everyone this is our waterfront park and we don't appreciate these out of town real estate investors and their facilitators in public office (Mayors of Miami and Miami-Dade County) to take it from us.
A real photo counters a fake rendering any day.

Anonymous said...

Beckham wants the downtown area for the demographics. LOTS of the empty condos have been bought up, CASH, by South Americans. Working class Cubans in Little Havana are not the demographic they want so next to Marlins stadium is not an option. I give the Beckham people credit, they've done some research. With the downtown concentration of the right demographic and easy access from Key Biscayne (the other big concentration of SoMericans with money) is the ONLY place for the soccer stadium. Doral is out of the question as it isn't a very glamorous place.

For fun though, let's assume they get their stadium and a team franchise. How about a naming contest?

Geniusofdespair said...

No naming contest here.

Anonymous said...

Beckham and his handlers are scammers, just like David Samson and Jeff Loria of the Marlins. Beckham et al must think Miami is full of idiots.
Instead of showing a 10 story concrete structure ruining a waterfront park he showed grass. Ex-Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who got recalled by 81% of the voters, and Disgraced Ex-Mayor Manny Diaz sure set a low bar. Now Carlos Gimenez and Tomas Regalado and Marc Sarnoff appear to be even lower.

rolmas said...

Well I'm out. When respectful debate can't be had then it is not worth it.

I live across the street and at the moment my vote is yes. I was looking forward to respectful debates, but what I see here is nothing short of bullying.

I live here and use the parks. On any given day I have to distract my son from seeing homeless people peeing and laying all over the place. The only area we can play in without tripping over the homeless is the patch of grass between 3rd and 2nd.

Why?

Because of Bayside. I don't love Bayside and think we can do much better, but it attracts people. Because of that that area is active. Go ahead and call me a minion.

Do you live here? Bicentennial Park and Parcel B have been "open space for a long time. No one used them. I will give you this, if everyone screaming about open space ACTUALLY used the parks I would be one happy person. There is nothing in this park that will attract families nor long term interest once the "new" factor is gone.

You don't want the stadium? Awesome. Instead of insulting those that want an active park, lets propose solutions. What plan can we come up with that will keep the park from being under utilized?

I want to be able to enjoy the park and am willing to listen, but lets keep the hysteria to a minimum and speak reality.

Geniusofdespair said...

The park has just been refurbished after years of neglect for $10,000,000. Blame the Pottinger decision for the homeless peeing. That is everywhere including Bayfront Park. Everyone wants an active park. you will see that now that all the pieces are in place. It is still under construction. And, there needs to be a police presence. Giving up the park because of neglect by the city is lunacy. Giving it up to a stadium that will not only eat up more land and water but that we will have to subsidize is lunacy. The part of town you live in is just starting to grow. I remember when Brickell was dead as a doornail. Wait, you will see a big change and your neighbors understand that.

Anonymous said...

Apparently they can get more money for advertising when they are in a downtown location so that is the real reason they are gunning for it. Aerial shots as they go into and out of games etc. Totally ridic. They should go by the Marlins and make a soccer complex where people can actually play right near it and revitalize the whole area so it's not just baseball. Put a part over there!

Anonymous said...

Fool me once. And once is enough. Open your eyes to the real potential impacts -- traffic nightmare, loss of water view and promises of more parkland than will ever be built. Hope voters learned a thing or two from the arena giveaway. New downtowners need to learn the history of this whole site before deciding that this will give their kids a place to play.

Anonymous said...

Rolmas: Here's the issue - the soccer fans, the real ones, are not going to be able to get to downtown Miami for games. This is a bad location for a sport which has historically lost money, just look at our recent past with Soccer and now look at the problems in Orlando.

The biggest issue is these are private investors. They can buy privately held land or lease it from a private owner. The publicly owned lands along the water need to be left out of the hands of these types of schemes. Look at the Heat deal. Look at how much it costs us every year. Look at their profits. The Marlin's is the obvious elephant in the room and now the Dolphins want the County to pay so they can hold events at their privately held stadium.

These stadium deals in general always net out a loss to the taxpayers one way or the other. Now, we have the added lose of our waterfront land. If you don't like what is going on, why don't you and your neighbors propose a park plan, even though there is one and they've just refused to move on it.

I think you may be in the minority of your neighbors opinions. Time will tell and I believe many lawyers will be very busy either fighting this or trying to con our BCC and the City Commission to move too quickly. I do not believe for one second we, as taxpayers and the property owners need to negotiate anything. I believe this stadium doesn't belong on our waterfront land, as most sport stadiums are not taking up valuable land like this anywhere in the US, except for people like us with politicians who "funded a stadium during a recession" per Sampson. He is the poster child why we should never go in to these deals again!

rolmas said...

Trust me, I blame Pottinger! Bayfront Park is the main park I speak of. We still use it quite often though. I get the area is in the process of revitalization and has huge potential, that is the main reason I bough here a year ago.

You make fair points, but I will add trusting the City to properly maintain and activate the park and having the majority of Miami-Dade county residents care about maintaining the park borders on lunacy as well.

Geniusofdespair said...

WE COULD PUT SOLAR ENERGY PANELS IN THE PARK ROLMAS!!!

rolmas said...

I am 40 years old and aside from college, I have lived here my whole life, so save the lecture on history.

Dont talk to me about traffic, that is simply not relevant. The majority of games are on Saturday nights and the NBA and MLS don't overlap for the majority of the season. In addition I moved to downtown because I want to be able to walk. If I wanted peace and quiet I would have moved to Pinecrest.

As for real fans not getting to the game? Here is some history for you. The Metro Rail was overflowing with fans getting to the old Miami Arena for games. People seem to forget that, I used to ride from Kendall all the time.

Still waiting on other ideas. I get it we don't want a stadium. There will be a referendum where we can vote for or against. This will create lots of opportunities for discussion. Lets not waste these opportunities and just yell, lets come up with other solutions.

rolmas said...

I AM ALL FOR ROOFTOP SOLAR

Anonymous said...

I think we need to knock everything down and let the everglades reclaim everything. In fact we should all move back to England, Germany, Spain, etc…go back to horses, buggies…..

The Miamian said...

personally i feel that a location in the area just north of the school board would be awesome there is a metro mover station there the miami trolley stops near by and it would be a tremendous boost for a desolate area. i feel it would give life to the entertainment area along miami ave and just north of the pac. there are currently many lots for sale in the area and maybe with some street reconfiguration it could hold a larger stadium where possibly the U can play . i don't know why this area hasn't been looked at

Anonymous said...

Many of the new condo owners are overseas investors so they won't be able to voice their opinion in an election.

Anonymous said...

Those condominiums are going to have to hire their own lobbyist (will never get foreign owners to agree to this). This entire area is already commercial, noisy and filled with traffic. I see this a lost cause.

Anonymous said...

The School Board property downtown is a very good option. It's close enough to the water to get those wide shots of the bay they want so badly and there's plenty of public transport right there, and parking all around it. MDC has parking too which can be negotiated for games.

This should be considered a very viable Plan C. Work out a lease or option to purchase before Ross & Perez scoop it up for more condo canyons.

Anonymous said...

just because we don't have the money today to make Bicentennial Park the greatest park in Miami's collection of parks, doesn't mean we should give it away to another professional sports team. Why don't the mayors of Miami-Dade County and Miami fight for us the residents of this community like they fight for professional sports teams? Answer: we don't give them campaign donations like the sports teams do. We must insist that the land and boat slip be preserved until we can do better. Once the bay vistas are gone, they are gone forever...and to what end? so that a soccer team can use it 28 games a year? come on people, gambling must be part of this equation or why would they be fighting for this parcel of land/water? The sleeping giant has been awakened. It's going to be fun to see what happens next.
SIMPLY BLUE

Anonymous said...

the problem is this isn't really about soccer, it's about a destination resort once gambling is here. No investor is going to take a chance on the 'hood when Miami's signature waterfront is only blocks away. Downtown waterfront as a tropical version of the Vegas strip is every politicians' wet dream, but they know it is never going to get past the public.

And in this case I would say past performance is an indicator of expected returns, of how well the gov't pricey gentrification schemes have never delivered even close to what was projected

Anonymous said...

The Heat may be a money loser in terms of their lease agreement but if you take a more nuanced look at what value the Heat bring to the table, it's not as bad of a deal as some might think.

The way I think of it, every time TNT shows our skyline, that's free advertising for the city. The Heat have provided this advertisement on one of the biggest stages in sports, the NBA Finals, 4 times in the past 8 years. Let's say they show our skyline 4 times in each of 3 games per Finals appearance. Each of these shots is worth an estimated $400k in advertising costs. That's 4*4*3*($400k) = $19.2M worth of advertising.

If you take into account all of the other times the city has been shown on TV in the past 15 years, it could begin to approach the $64M the county has invested in it. Even if these aerial shots are worth half as much as a typical ad, we're still only talking about a few million dollars in losses per year for a county with a multibillion dollar budget.

I remember when the Gators won their back-to-back basketball championships and football championship, the number of enrollment applications increased 20%. Those years, sports had a direct impact on the academic performance of our school. Similarly, sports can have an impact on a local economy.

Also, as Miami is becoming a truly global city, putting a stadium for a sport that everyone loves and plays can help people from around the world identify with Miami. Among Europeans, Miami is probably the third most well-known city in the US and Beckham is probably one of the best known athletes. I guarantee you that Europeans will take notice of this stadium and team and Europeans bring a lot of money to our city. Similarly, our standing as the capital of Latin America is tarnished by the fact that we don't play their sport. With an MLS team in Miami, awareness of the city will increase as European and Latin Americans watch friendlies or exposition games held in a beautiful downtown location.

Anonymous said...

This is just a land grab. Beckham and his handlers propose a 10 story wall of concrete blocking 3-4 blocks of Biscayne Bay. Then he will cover the 100' high walls in illegal LED billboards. The condo residents will never need to turn on their lights at night because the 24/7 LED billboards will light up their apartments with ads for beer, vodka, Kia's, casinos, trips to Cancun...

Anonymous said...

As quick as you are to scream about others' inaccuracies...

Your caption on the photo is a lie. The two slips shown in that photo were filled in long ago. Those filled in slips are what we know as Museum Park now, (and Bicentennial Park before). The slip that would be filled is south of these. It is worth being accurate because people are defending the green space now that used to be historic slips.

Red Zin said...

Miami voters will approve this referendum. The affluent coastal voters in opposition are way outnumbered at the polls.

If we could swap AAA for the stadium, I might be more inclined to support this. At least an outdoor venue makes some sense for waterfront.

AAA is a giant concrete box, doesn't even have hockey! Just let the AAA lease alone, let it lapse as scheduled 20 years from now. Grin and bear the shitty AAA lease deal until then. No extension.

I just don't see any nexus between the stadium and casino gambling. Casino operators need HUGE MEGA complexes. A ground floor casino at the soccer stadium won't cut it, unless unlimited casinos are allowed around South Florida or the state. That's doubtful.

Finally, the PortMiami development plans are a scam. Commercial and retail at the port? WTF?

That's where a convention center and hotels should go. THAT would be a good investment of public money.

Just my 2 centavos.





Geniusofdespair said...

If you want a photo with all three slips from 1943 go to my other blog and read about the history:

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-bicentenial-park-boat-slip-my-blood.html?m=1

Thank you for being a snit.

Anonymous said...

The 20's photo shows a series of fuel tanks, this is south of what is now I-395, the museums are built on the fuel tank area. Over the years the original port of Miami has undergone changes including filling and adding slips etc. The current slip that is under discussion is partly seen in the lower left corner of the photograph.

Anonymous said...

genius, where did the everglades previously begin? that photo is astonishing!

Al Crespo said...

The Everglades began around 27th Avenue. There used to be a waterfall there and everything behind it was wetlands.

That's why there was an Indian Village at Musa Isle on the south side of the Miami River around 18-19th avenue across from Nuda's boatyard.

Anonymous said...

"The Daily Business Review" reported that Beckham and his handlers are not planning any parking for their 10 story concrete structure on Bicentennial Park. WTF?

Anonymous said...

I plan to organize my neighbors in the Roads neighborhood against this travesty. Also plan on a new slogan for our hood: Coral Way-the future Bayshore Drive. My place will be waterfront

Geniusofdespair said...

Read the Crespogram...
http://www.crespogram.com/index_public_html/BENDING_OVER_FOR_DAVID_BECKAM.html

Anonymous said...

http://en.parkopedia.com/parking/attraction/american-airlines-arena-miami/

Somebody needs to add up the parking spots. See how deficient this area is.

Anonymous said...

As another resident at the biscayne wall, I will be voting yes. Why?

Soccer fans and tourist > homeless at a large piece of grass.
More waterfront park land to walk along the bay > walking in a patch of grass
More amenities and restaurants > a large piece of useless grass
More income generated from sales tax > a piece of grass that doesn't generate and needs constant maintainence

If I wanted peace and quiet and grass with no traffic, I would have moved inland. Maybe you all aren't fit to live in a city. Go back to the countryside, This is downtown Miami.

Anonymous said...

To The Roads' neighbor who is outraged by this issue, pleae contact me, Grace Solares, I am the President of The Roads Association and I am equally as outraged. Maybe you can attend our next meeting on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 at 7pm at Simpson Park. See you there and let us plan a concerted Opposition to this give away of public (our) land.

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of Cannes pro filling in the bay comments on all media sites that allow comments. A lot of comments by one or two people claiming to be miami bayfront residents. Very obvious. Need to get a jump on voter lists and absentee ballots to keep our land. I wish I had the $ to be the Norman Braman on this. Will not vote for gimenez again tho I supported him before. Where is Carvalho on this?

Anonymous said...

Canned comments I meant to say

Anonymous said...

FPL blocked solar at the last stadium project, saying we could not route power from the garage (where we had made space for panels) to the stadium (where we needed the power), because to do so would make the stadium operator a utility, and they had the electricity franchise (read government-sanctioned monopoly). Genius - do you have solar on your roof yet? Go for it. Put the SOBs out of business one roof at a time.

Anonymous said...

It is best if Beckham and company put the stadium where the residents of Miami see fit and only then there will be an outpouring of support. Miamians do not have a problem with Beckham and company, it is the politicians and the crooks who own the system that Miamians do not trust anymore. Miami has a "culture of corruption" that has been making life stressful and unfair for the people who live here over the years.

Anonymous said...

No more sports! We are a poor city let them go elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

A lot of Beckham trolls out there.

Anonymous said...

You guys understand that Beckham has to have the stadium in downtown? It's one of the qualifications sent by MLS if he wants to join the league. I have never seen anyone sit by the boat slip and actually enjoy it. This new park adds more life and encourages people to bring their families to enjoy the park together with the rest of the city.
Beckham has a great track rate of being a genuine man. He promises that he and his investors will split the bill without any taxpayer money. The opposite of Marlins stadium. People should stop associating this new stadium with the Marlins stadium.

Anonymous said...

Who cares want MLS wants? Who voted for MLS? Does MLS pay your Real Estate taxes? We don't have any obligation to give MLS $500 Million worth of waterfront land. Vote No.

Anonymous said...

They can have the waterfront if they pay my property taxes. I struggle all the time to pay that bill and only go to the downtown waterfront maybe once a year. Sarnoff and Regelado have already stolen our beautiful Coconut Grove waterfront (the bay bottom was already a part of that package), and now want their legacy continued by having their relatives replace them. Imagine Raquel and Theresa being controlled by these two, who, in turn, are being controlled by developers. They fix the vote, like they did with the Coconut Grove waterfront, and get control of the city's entire bay bottom. In Coconut Grove we already understand its a done deal no matter what we want. Developers have control of our waterfront for the next 80 years! Would someone please tell me where to send my tax bill and I will gladly sit this one out!!! In the Grove we understand that if you publicly go against Sarnoff, the inspectors will be at your door, so its really hard for us to fight this Nazi commissioner.

miaexile said...

Regalado on TV with Helen Ferre, sputtering and double talking his way thru questions about this. He encapsulates what passes for Leadership in Miami. A bag full of lies in a cheap suit. And give $5 to any ninny on the street and they" ll vote for this. Welcome to Miami, 1/10 coherent. The stupidity here is breathtaking.

Anonymous said...

The best place for the soccer stadium would be on top of Mt. Trashmore in South Dade.

This is the most underutilized space in Miami-Dade County. The access by vehicles is excellent.

It is also the most elevated point in the whole of South Florida.

You would have a stadium that would attract international attention.

Anonymous said...

MLS is not in charge of what we do with our waterfront land.

As a private entity, there's nothing preventing Beckham et al to actually purchase land from a private owner and do with it what they want. I'm sure the City of Miami will approve whatever zoning issues need to be dealt with so they can build this monster but it will be on private land, with private funds. They already have their tax breaks thanks to our Tea Party legislator, which is an oxy moron if you think about the mis use of our tax funds for a private entity and not for public service.

The School Board land is downtown and meets the requirements of the MLS. Why isn't Beckham et al looking at that? Oh, because they'd actually have to buy the land and put their money where their mouth is. This is like the Dolphin's scam last year when asked why don't the Dolphin's pay for their own upgrades "it's not profitable", nor will this MLS scam be. So, when the team goes bust, it will be like the Arena a few blocks away from the Arena.

For Edmunson to say the Stadium has to go somewhere, or something like that, well, let the team buy private land and build it "with their own money". That still makes me laugh because most businesses I know build their own facility's with their own money on their own land. Why is this a big deal? Oh, because we won't get into another Marlin's billion dollar tax payer funded mess.

I would say "vote NO" but what I think any politician who wants to stand up for the people should tell them to find their own land, not taxpayer funded waterfront land.

As to the spin machines supporting this, you are either as gullible as the BCC or your math skills aren't up to speed on the losses these stadiums are.

Anonymous said...

MSL didn't say waterfront. The Marlins Stadium is downtown. There is space there. Don't block our waterfront!

Higgins said...

I like the trashmore idea. What a view they would have. It is time to close that dump.

Anonymous said...

I am curious how Spencer Crowley can live himself. He should resign from the FIND commission immediately.

Anonymous said...

Love the Mt. Trashmore location. Could you put pilings deep enough to secure the mass of a stadium though?

Anonymous said...

Two important points.
1. Homeless don't like to stay in places that have activity like the 2 new museums and a new park that will be used not only by condo's across Biscayne Blvd., but will evolve with events and activities as the museums are completed. Also the current work is only the beginning of the plan for the park, allowing the park to be opened to the public.
2. To say the FEC is underutilized misses the fact that the seawall, bollards, and bay walk projects have just been completed. The area has been closed as a construction site with no public access.

Anonymous said...

Sarnoff is the local commissioner. He should be yelling and screaming to stop this rape of Bicentennial Park. God knows, he attended enough ribbon cuttings and photo ops on the Park. Now he promotes a massive 10 story concrete structure blocking scarce views of the bay? Creep.

Anonymous said...

If you built the stadium on Mr. Trashmore you could construct special underground parking just for city and county commissioners!

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Anonymous said...

I believe you get sweeping vistas of the bay from the top of south dade Mt. Trashmore. While it might smell tainted, it isn't "spiritually tainted." It's so accessible from the Turnpike,

I'd love to see a Hinckley, OH vulture circling the new "dump stadium" grab a soccer ball in play! Now that would be so Miami.

Anonymous said...

"Beckham has a great track rate of being a genuine man. He promises that he and his investors will split the bill without any taxpayer money."

ASKING FOR STATE MONEY IS ASKING FOR TAX MONEY DIVERTED FROM SERVICES TO FUND STADIUMS.

Was he genuine with his $250 million contract?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/912838-david-beckham-has-he-delivered-what-the-la-galaxy-paid-millions-for

So his tenure with the Galaxy wasn't all bad in terms of on-pitch performance, and the Galaxy certainly saw some success. But while he had some standout moments, was it enough over the course of five seasons to really merit all that money, purely from a playing perspective? Probably not.

If we're talking his status as an icon within the club, his relationship with the game itself and spurring that impassioned fan base that makes international football so engaging—no.

His loan spells with Milan, and his handling of the situation, caused a rift with the fans, who booed him upon his return to the Home Depot Center and greeted him with signs that read "Part-Time Player" and other such slogans. A scuffle almost started between him and a fan, and Beckham's attempts to extend his loan spell at Milan don't really help his case in terms of commitment to the Galaxy.

So Beckham may not be Pelé and he may not have been the spiritual savior of American soccer in the way the MLS might have hoped, and he wasn't exactly a hit with the league's most passionate fans. But he did generate a whole lot of revenue, bring attendance to record highs, likely converted a few casual fans and score a few really great goals in the process.

The full extent of his impact remains to be seen as the MLS continues to grow and will do so regardless of whether or not he goes to PSG, but he wasn't a total bust.

Anonymous said...

I live in the Roads, and so does my mom and cousin (different houses). We are ALL looking forward to this!!
We love the idea of an exciting walking city, like we experienced from Barcelona to Singapore.
If you want peace, move to Tennessee, sit on a rocking chair and hear the crickets at night, by a Bon fire.

Anonymous said...

Beckham and his handlers want free land. They don't live in the City of Miami, in fact, most of Beckhams handlers are foreign. They don't give a crap if they ruin a waterfront park. Think the New York resident Jeffrey Loria gives a crap about Miami? After he got the $3 Bil from Miami's taxpayers he bought a $40 Mil summer house in the Hamptons. That's in NY State.

Anonymous said...

You are looking forward to having your waterfront blocked off? The roads??? I don't think you are walking, you sound like a Beckham plant. You didn't say anything about watching a game so what do you really want living miles away?

Anonymous said...

What about hooliganism, how would that be dealt with? Soccer hooliganism is a major problem in Europe, are they going to thousands of pints of beer at each event. Commissioner Sarnoff what about drunk hooligans destroying property and setting fire to cars?

Anonymous said...

Contact City of Miami Commissioners... Tell them to vote no.

Anonymous said...

Miami over 100 years old, yet in 10 short years our politicians have given away most of the publically owned land along the water(AAA, Art Museum, Science Museum, childrens museum). Let the next generation have a say, leave some land for them.

Anonymous said...

Watson Island has been a disaster. Given away to a bunch of creeps. Politicians even approved two illegal LED billboards on City property. Time to save Bicentennial Park from another crime.