"Nobody wants to leave. We love it down here. But
Next Year we go to Orlando. Its like a Divorce. It's Gone.
You Don't Look Back."~ Bobby Cox - Braves Manager
And just like a stale marriage, the Braves took off for a more exciting city and something brand spanking new.
The West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium was built in 1962 and opened March 9, 1963. It closed in 1997 when the Atlanta Braves went on to greener pastures. And using the word "divorce" is fitting. Our investment went right down the tubes. They threw us away like an old shoe, an old wife, for a younger and brand new model. The WPB stadium was finally demolished in 2002.
Construction cost was $1 million in 1962. That would be equivalent to $7,851,357.62 today or a 685.1% increase. The Braves now are looking back but they want something bigger and more expensive than that. They are looking at $10 million on up...flirting with a new prize that they can, in 20 to 30 years, abandon again--taxpayers be damned and the economic boom that they promised? It will never materialize; it never does.
Stop welfare for billionaires! This doesn't make good sense. All I hear is how we are so poor and need a bigger tax base. And they want to destroy an 80 year old deeded ecologically diverse and highly used park, and have us treat the Braves to a charity free lunch starting at $110 million, AND raise our taxes?? Are they nuts? We could accomplish the same economic "benefit" by taking out a loan for $110 million, and flushing the money down the toilet. Is anyone going to compensate me when my property value goes down for living close to a stadium now instead of a long lived park? Is anyone going to care about this? NO. But they want me to pay them more tax money for this insanity? The county needs a brain scan on this move.
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