Jeff Mitchell: No joy in Mudville
Widely publicized attempt to relocate the Bakersfield Blaze Minor League Baseball club to Salinas has apparently failed ...
By Jeff Mitchell, Civic Chronicles
It appears that Mighty Casey (from the great 1888 baseball poem by Ernest Thayer) has indeed struck out -- at least he has here in Salinas.
For those that don't recall this caper, D.G. Elmore, owner of the Bakersfield Blaze Minor League Baseball club, wanted to move his team to Salinas.
The project, which I thought was very cool in concept and frankly still like, was first announced in 2014 and the team initially was to be relocated to a Front Street location owned by Hayward Lumber.
Minor League Baseball is increasingly a hot commodity in many cities and business savvy owners are building little baseball valhallas for what is an expanding fan base.
But after much ballyhoo by Salinas City Council, the parties could not reach a deal for the Hayward site and the project was put on hold for a spell. Then, earlier this year, Elmore and the city started talking about the project moving to another location, this one on a 24-acre parcel at the southeast corner of John and Abbott streets owned by the Uni-Kool Co.
Like the original Front Street site, Elmore said he envisioned a 3,500-seat custom baseball ballpark at the new site for what would ostensibly become the Salinas Blaze plus a hotel, restaurant and retail space.
Though Elmore did not return a phone call seeking comment this week, sources at City Hall said Elmore and his negotiating team just could not come to terms with the Uni-Kool owners.
None of this was going to be cheap and, to Elmore's credit, he appeared to want to build a truly upscale venue here.
Several months ago, the Uni-Kool site was valued on an online commercial real estate site at an estimated $30 million. Elmore projected the cost of the stadium and hotel to be $15 million to $17 million.
So though I couldn't reach Elmore, I did get ahold of Salinas City Manager Ray Corpuz Jr.
His report was succinct and not very encouraging.
"Mr. Elmore and Minor League Baseball had discussions on all the major issues involving a move to Salinas," Corpuz wrote in an email. "The conclusion was all the requirements that needed to be met could not by the deadline set by Minor League Baseball. The right to continue to explore the explore Salinas was not extended."
Elmore's Bakersfield Blaze is the Class A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners.
What worries me about this from a Big Picture perspective is that Salinas just can't seem to get any kind of wood on the ball in terms of major economic development projects.
The greatest thing to happen lately, of course, is the Taylor Building on Main Street and that already has shown signs of the being a true economic engine for the downtown.
But I think we all realize that's not nearly enough.
And I think we all know what a failure -- to date -- our effort to merge Silicon Valley high tech with agriculture has been. (And this is despite us spending now well more than $1 million on "rainmaker" consultants.)
It's not that I think there isn't a future in bringing high technology to the area's $9 billion ag economy -- I'm sure in time there will be. This is especially true as local growers continue to struggle to find enough field workers.
But, in the meantime, we need new thinking and new leadership on this issue.
I think the powers that be in this area need to go back to the drawing board and think of economic development in less grandiose terms. I think one critical element -- and maybe the biggest elephant in the room -- is the continued educational development of our community. We need far more of our young folks to get through a community college and then into CSUMB.
Without offering industry a significantly more educated and sophisticated workforce who in their right mind would want to relocate a business here?
So I think it's a shame that Elmore and his Blaze couldn't relocate here to Salinas, a baseball and sports-crazed town. I still think it could be a success.
Well, as they say in baseball -- there's always next year.
Civic Chronicles columnist Jeff Mitchell covers politics, government and life in the Salinas Valley on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Reach him at 831-754-4281 or email him at jemitchell@thecalifornian.