Grebien Calls on General Assembly to Approve Slater Mill Ballpark Immediately
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Mayor Donald Grebien is calling for the General Assembly to act immediately to approve the Ballpark at Slater Mill.
Grebien’s call to action comes as the City of Worcester is developing a deal to build a stadium for the PawSox. Recently, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker committed to the project. The Baker offer is for infrastructure and land.
“Rhode Island’s leaders must act and approve this proposal in January. Our PawSox are going to end up in Worcester if we do not act. We cannot afford to watch the tax dollars go to another city and another state,” said Grebien.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe threats by the PawSox to move out-of-state have gone back three years since the new ownership bought the team from the family of long-time owner Ben Mondor.
Grebien also proposed that if the General Assembly will not approve the new Senate plan that was proposed earlier this month, then the City of Pawtucket would be willing to take on the funding of the stadium if the tax revenue from the PawSox were reassigned to support bonds. There was little detail to the proposal.
Grebien's new proposal would require significant review, legislative changes, and might face significant challenges from bond rating agencies like Moody's. It is unclear how such a structure would not continue to require a state backstop to the bonding.
Ballpark at Slater Mill
The stadium will seat between 9,000 and 10,000 fans and use the same field dimensions as Fenway Park.
SEE THE NEW PROPOSED SENATE DEAL BELOW
The total cost of the project is $83 million.
Grebien added, “Rhode Islanders don’t want to see yet another icon, place for families and business disappear. And Pawtucket cannot lose our chance to rebuild our city and boost the Blackstone Valley. Now, as elected leaders, we cannot be paralyzed by the past. We have to move our great state forward. We have to act. And we have to act now.”
A GoLocal poll conducted by John Della Volpe of Harvard found that the proposed funding scheme for the PawSox has little public support in Rhode Island. Della Volpe heads the polling firm Socialsphere.
Related Slideshow: New PawSox Deal—December, 2017
Here are the provisions of the legislation according to the Senate Finance Committee,
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