Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (MJHankel) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:10:18 GMT

The new Kenny's Ribs is across the street from the stadium, which should be opening soon. There is also a dinner and jazz place right across the street that is where a sports bar used to be.

There is a brand new residential area just about 8 blocks, or so, west of where the stadium is. There is also residential just south of the stadium, but yes it is not in the greatest condition. Some of it is new some of it is redeveloped and some of it is vacant and burned, it is a wierd...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (AnotherCatFan) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:19:23 GMT

I am a believer that although Gary has gone through a downturn, it will resurrect like the mythological Phoenix. The whole city? Probably not. The north part of the city--DEFINITELY. And not just because of the stadium. I teach in the north side of Gary and I see sections of it coming back. In fact, I have to be careful of my beer purchases because the school is in my "neighborhood." Maybe I'm naive (at my age

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (nlfan) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:00:28 GMT

There IS residential area south of the ballpark, but a good portion of it is/was in bad shape (abandoned and derelict). The sad fact (unless something major has changed) is that most of the "life" in the city isn't downtown.

As for attracting attention, there are/were two major signs up (one for the RailCats, the other The Steel Yard & Bennigan's) by the ballpark to attract attention from people driving by on the Indiana Tollway. I'd say those are trying to...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:24:52 GMT

I think the grocery concept was more of an icon to the idea that some business needs to take root in the area.
What's there is residential housing, close enough that a decent market could survive, (you'd have to ask people who run that sort of business) but it's also very close to the government of the city/township. The train station is a block away. As being centrally located to downtown, it's ideal. Genesis Convention Center is basically down the street, which is a...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (BarkeepND) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:17:20 GMT

JohnU11 wrote:
Salvi has already suggested a "grocery store" for the area

is there any residential areas around the park? if not a grocery store wouldn't be much good.

I have folks look at me bewildered. "Is it safe?"

that's ok... i've had people ask me if we still get attacked by indians.

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:51:47 GMT

Salvi has already suggested a "grocery store" for the area, and I don't think 10 people understood what he meant.

But I know what you mean by the area. I have folks look at me bewildered. "Is it safe?" These are people who ought to know better.
I don't intend to fill this post with a lesson on the crime life of Gary, other than to say it's largely constructed on misunderstood stereotypes fueled by supportive real data. In other words, baseball...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (nlfan) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:20:54 GMT

They built it. People have come. They're just not showing up in the "expected numbers" you would expect for such a top notch facility, winning club and large metro area from which to draw.

As for the club to spur business around it.... that really requires that they "own" or have some real say in how the area is developed. I don't think they do. The only team I know of with that clout is the FW Cats who own, lease or have options on many blocks of land...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:57:18 GMT

Actually, the park is exactly where it should be in terms of transportation, but IMHO, the city of Gary itself hasn't even attempted to take full advantage of that since the Scott King administration retired. Politically, the city has tripped over more opportunities than it can count, including a chance to have a very successful CBA team that was botched from Day 1.

The new RailCats owner can do wonders by inspiring private businesses like Benigan's to participate in the...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (cra218) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:53:35 GMT

when one looks at the railcats you see a competitive team in a nice pk so what else can an owner/owners do ? okay its a dwtn pk , so is toledo and if the new ownership leaves taggert in place thats a good sign ( not that i think they wont) . outside of all of this theyre may not be any easy answers on how to improve things in gary

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (nlfan) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:32:06 GMT

Guys... can you stick to the topic and leave the personal attacks out of the forums? This is getting tiresome. As one who's notorious about "nit picking posts to death" I have to say this one is rather pointless and personal.

John's posts may be a little on the provocative side at times, but I see his points and I have tried to keep this topic "on topic." Asking if a new owner may damage/ruin a club is a good, fair and reasonable question. Being...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:34:54 GMT

Why do you care why I care?

So far, I've seen three types of posts from you
1. attack me personally, which is of minor consequence in the larger scheme, but it presumes you have attacked others as well, owing to the demise of a few people who posted on here earlier who no longer post
2. copy all the transactions, which are available readily from the teams' websites
3. prove you know somebody who can load a camera. BTW, I was aware of the Chicago event two...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (BillyChapel14) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:26:17 GMT

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:06:28 GMT
If it is your intent to personally attack all my posts with sophomoric cut-paste replies, just move to another thread.
My objective here is to advance my knowledge of the Northern League, not get into absurd childish spats with somebody who thinks posting pictures of cartoon bear mascots is of value to me.

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (BillyChapel14) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:56:28 GMT

JohnU11 wrote:

I don't see anything suggesting I was down on Salvi.

Can we start with you calling him an ambulance chaser? or how about "It would not take very many misguided decisions to wreck a fragile fan base", implying that the man does not know how to run this business.

I love this quote

I don't give diddly squat about profits.

Then you follow up with
...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:43:26 GMT
Well, the one peculiarity in Gary is the politics of the city. It boggles the mind sometimes that the pi**ing matches that go on in City Hall.
The club this year has the additional yoke of having its main artery (I-65) closed down for the entire season, which will affect attendance from the south county area.

I don't know how much, if any, communication goes on among the league/team/city but one of the issues was that the team was apparently part of an upgrade of...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (nlfan) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:08:22 GMT
Sole ownership isn't unknown in this league. I believe John Ehlert is the sole owner of the T-Bones. He bought it from a "sole owner" (as the D-S Dukes and himself bought it from one). (Big) Bruce Thom is the main (if not sole) owner of the RedHawks and Mayor Sam was pretty much the sole owner of the Goldeyes before portions were sold off. The same was true for Dan Orlich in Edmonton, and (maybe) Gidney in Calgary.

The issue of "autocrat" really isn't due...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:36:00 GMT
Read my post again. I don't see anything suggesting I was down on Salvi.
What is the thrust of the query?
Communications 101. It's about whether you want a single owner or an ownership group?
Which is better?

I don't give diddly squat about profits. I want to see a ball game within an hour of my house.
RailCats or Beaneaters ... NoL SoL FrL NE-old League.

I ain't in love with the RailCats but I don't want to see the $50 million...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (BillyChapel14) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:47:04 GMT
Seems to me that you're wasting a ton of energy on a guy that just bought the team. Nothing has changed as of yet, but you're already down on the guy. Would you rather the team go south and close the doors or be moved to another venue? How does the Waukegan RailCats sound to you? Considering that the team best (most profitable)year was it's first year and they never played a game in Gary, tells you what about the fans? Take into the fact that the team has the worst...

Re: New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (JohnU11) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:13:36 GMT
Just trying to get a feel for this. Salvi, it seems, is about 100 percent the owner (along with his wife) ... which would imply there is no ownership group (aka a corporate committee) to make decisions.

Generally, is this a good thing or a bad thing to have such an autocrat? I imply Salvi is an autocrat but I have no reason to say that other than to establish him as essentially the sole voice.

Would you rather have this, with the outside possibility that the guy knows...

New Owners

feeds@yuku.com (nlfan) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:35:24 GMT
The official press release is out with the details of today's press conference.

The Gary SouthShore RailCats (...) introduced the organization's new owner, Patrick A. Salvi, at a press conference today at U. S. Steel Yard.

Mr. Salvi and his wife, Lindy, purchased the 2007 Northern League Champion RailCats from the...