Brian34Cook

Hour Two: Bill DeWitt III And Ballpark Village



Bill DeWitt III calls in. Highlights…DeWitt notes that technically he is still in the transition to president and that Lamping will be around until opening day…The hardest part of the job are the unforeseen crises that come up…Doesn’t think Ballpark Village is a project that is in jeopardy; they just want to have the best possible plan, says there are a lot of legal complexities…Tim tells him that he is worried that because of the high rent and the revenue sharing obligations that only corporate, national chains will be able to be a part of the Village; DeWitt says he’s heard the opposite because of the subsidies available…He believes there will be a mix of local brands and other types of places…While he doesn’t think there is a direct model already established, he thinks one can make comparisons to Wrigleyville insofar as their plans, but notes that Wrigleyville came about organically…As a baseball fan, believes this season is exciting because of all the fresh faces and the young guys nippin’ at the heels of the starters…Says one needs to be thick-skinned for this position when there are radical, fringe fans spouting off…Knows that he is well prepared and educated to do the job, just needs to ignore allegations of nepotism…Denies the rumors that they’re getting ready to sell the team in a few years…Will work on Ballpark Village as his main side project but wants to make sure the organization is in great shape.

After DeWitt leaves, McKernan still is of the belief that Ballpark Village is somewhat destined to fail. He and Doug agree that the new stadium sucks and is too corporate. McKernan says he was only on board with the new stadium because he thought it would spark life into downtown but that Washington Avenue developments has beaten the Village area to the punch. Randolph Jr. brings up that people aren’t going to want to live there because the city schools suck so bad. Vaughn brings up that not even fast food restaurants can survive downtown.

Friday’s Show at insideSTL.com :: The ITD Morning After