An editorial in The San Diego Union-Tribune calls the proposed ballpark that would bring a triple-A team to Escondido “a good bet.” Using the example of higher than predicted returns for the City of San Diego on the Padres ballpark, the paper concludes “the devil is in the details and city officials must be careful not to give away the store. But we like the sound of it: the Escondido Beavers.” There’s little mention that the city would pay for the entire project, once again using redevelopment money, this time borrowed from anticipated income during the next 25 years.
The North County Times is more circumspect, noting the city’s $45 million cost and that the city gives the team “all revenue from concession and naming rights.” The editorial concludes “A minor league team in North County would be great, but not at any cost.”
UPDATE: In an op-ed published in North County Times on Sunday, July 25, Mayor Pfeiler says the City is taking a business-like approach to “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to jump-start development in Escondido the likes of which we haven’t seen since the North County Fair shopping mall was built two decades ago.” On the other hand, NCT columnist Jim Trageser says in the same edition that early cost estimates almost always turn out to be low and the city just took on the hotel project debt. “Too many questions still surround the concept,” he concludes.
SECOND UPDATE: Tim Sullivan, sports columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune, raises some crucial points in a column published July 25. Though he is writing about San Diego and the Chargers stadium, his arguments apply perfectly to Escondido and the proposed Padres triple-A farm team stadium and provide some examples of where cities have been seduced into bad deals.
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