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OT: WTF happened to Newark Bears Stadium??

I wish other cities would do this instead of build 60 story luxury buildings on EVERY… AVAILABLE… INCH of land.
 
Congrats to the mayor and your community! Nothing is more important than open space preservation. My town is 38% preserved/protected land whether public (green acres) or private (preserved farmland). I remember one deal we made.....40 acres with partial sewer service capacity. There were 3 developers bidding on the site. I literally saw an agent post a for sale sign and said oh hell no. We had a possible deal in place within 24 hours. Those developers were pissed and came into town hall to yell at everyone. However, towns have the hammer to get deals done. We paid the same amount as the other offers - $1.1m IIRC. The big difference, towns can do deals without contingencies. Developer contracts are based on planning/zoning board approvals which may take 1-2 years. We can close and get cash in the owners hand within 30 days. We never lost a deal! :)

During my time, we preserved about 1,500 acres of land, which directly blocked over 3,000 housing units from being built.
 
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I wish other cities would do this instead of build 60 story luxury buildings on EVERY… AVAILABLE… INCH of land.
Most towns/cities are shortsighted and don't understand the full benefits of open space. Back in the 90s, my town passed a voter referendum starting an open space tax which generates $1.5m every year for the preservation and maintenance of land.

I can't say for sure that we have the highest % of preserved/protected land of any NJ town, but I don't know of any with more (and I really looked).
 
I think if the Bears could have gotten an affiliation with a MLB club things might have been different.
I totally agree with this. That’s why Trenton Thunder lasted as long because they had future Boston, Detroit, Yankee stars playing their games there compared to the past their prime has beens like Rickey Henderson, Canseco Bros, Jose Lima in Newark.

I believe the Yankees wanted to move their AA or AAA team to Newark while their home stadium was being rehabbed. Also probably a test to see if the Yankees would do well in Newark (F*** YEAH THEY WOULD HAVE DONE WELL THERE!!!) Bit of course the scumbag Wilpons blocked the Yanks because of territory rights.

The Yanks wouldve done well in Newark but after that, it was a wrap for Riverfront Stadium.
 
I totally agree with this. That’s why Trenton Thunder lasted as long because they had future Boston, Detroit, Yankee stars playing their games there compared to the past their prime has beens like Rickey Henderson, Canseco Bros, Jose Lima in Newark.

I believe the Yankees wanted to move their AA or AAA team to Newark while their home stadium was being rehabbed. Also probably a test to see if the Yankees would do well in Newark (F*** YEAH THEY WOULD HAVE DONE WELL THERE!!!) But of course the scumbag Wilpons blocked the Yanks because of territory rights.

The Yanks wouldve done well in Newark but after that, it was a wrap for Riverfront Stadium.
The Yankees would have done the same thing. And I believe I read something way back when that confirms that.

But they all still should have been big boys about it and figured something out as it would have been good for everyone involved…Newark, miLB, MLB, Yankees and Mets.

The original Newark Bears were the Yankees Triple A farm club for many years back in the day.
 
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Shaq is doing a lot of real estate investing in his hometown. He was born and raised in the Central Ward and has two residential projects are up and running there and a high rise multi use project near Penn Station topped off last week. He has another very large Passaic riverfront project in the works. He also been sponsoring new basketball courts throughout the city and just opened one in my old 1940’s neighborhood on Hawthorne Avenue. I recently visited my birth home and it is in horrible condition and will soon be razed but the rest of the street looked to be in pretty good shape. I worked in Newark during the 1967 riots and later went to law school there and it has taken a long time but the downtown core has made a significant comeback.
 
Shaq is doing a lot of real estate investing in his hometown. He was born and raised in the Central Ward and has two residential projects are up and running there and a high rise multi use project near Penn Station topped off last week. He has another very large Passaic riverfront project in the works. He also been sponsoring new basketball courts throughout the city and just opened one in my old 1940’s neighborhood on Hawthorne Avenue. I recently visited my birth home and it is in horrible condition and will soon be razed but the rest of the street looked to be in pretty good shape. I worked in Newark during the 1967 riots and later went to law school there and it has taken a long time but the downtown core has made a significant comeback.
My Mom is 89 and still remembers how nice downtown Newark used to be.

It was a big deal to go shopping there back then.
 
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I think if the Bears could have gotten an affiliation with a MLB club things might have been different.
I used to go to Bears games since it was close to home , cheap tickets and cheap beer

and the first few seasons they had a few big time former MLB stars

It all went downhill when Ricky Cerone wasn’t involved anymore.

The Mets blocked the Yankees from having an affiliated team there. So the Mets cost the city of Newark tax revenue, jobs and the prestige of having a MLB affiliated ball club.
 
The Atlantic league was fun in the early-2000s…used to go to 5-10 games in Camden every summer with cheap tickets, good prices on food and beer, cheap parking, etc. Got to see some pretty big (or formerly big) names like Ricky Henderson, Jose Lima, Carlos Baerga, etc. Most teams had a few names that I’d recognize. Fun times, but Camden’s stadium has also been torn down.
 
My Mom is 89 and still remembers how nice downtown Newark used to be.

It was a big deal to go shopping there back then.
I have family from the First Ward (North Ward) and used to hear tons of stories about them growing up in Nork.

One of my uncles still lives on Summer and by coincidence I’m gonna stop by to see him for a bit tomorrow.

Downtown was making legit progress before the State mandated lockdown which I’m sure slowed stuff down and forced a few good places such as Dino Barbeque outta biz.

It was potential to be a destination from NJPAC to the Prudential Center from 21 to Halsey if and only if the city gets a serious handle on crime.

It was definitely safer in 2019 to walk around downtown than it was in 2005 , by a lot.

I never had an issue walking around Broad/Market area before games or concerts and i noticed Devils fans going a few blocks the on the other side of Broad to Hobbys Deli.

But too much violent crime still exists and what’s more important is the perception of it even if stats show otherwise

The riots set the city and its people back 100 years.
 
The Atlantic league was fun in the early-2000s…used to go to 5-10 games in Camden every summer with cheap tickets, good prices on food and beer, cheap parking, etc. Got to see some pretty big (or formerly big) names like Ricky Henderson, Jose Lima, Carlos Baerga, etc. Most teams had a few names that I’d recognize. Fun times, but Camden’s stadium has also been torn down.
Camden’s Campbells Field was the perfect stadium with the perfect location to CBP. But between the great, stable, long time MiLB teams the Phillies have locally, there was no way Camden could’ve had any other team to play there. Now the site is a HS sized track and baseball field for Rutgers Camden.
 
Camden’s Campbells Field was the perfect stadium with the perfect location to CBP. But between the great, stable, long time MiLB teams the Phillies have locally, there was no way Camden could’ve had any other team to play there. Now the site is a HS sized track and baseball field for Rutgers Camden.
Yea, it was a beautiful stadium. I umpired a few high school games in it. Also had friends rent it out for a bachelor party and played a slow pitch softball game that I umpired with kegs on the field and everything…fun day.
 
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