[DEF] AAMI Stadium Upgrade | $100m | 52,000

[adam73837]

[quote="Prince George"]Don't get me wrong, I am not arguing that $100M at AAMI would be money well spent, nor am I saying that a multipurpose venue wouldn't be a nice thing to have. What I am arguing against is the notion that building a new stadium downtown will boost life and energy in the city.

That is why I draw the comparison with AAMI on gameday - 20-40,000 people is a significant number to pull into the area, and that's been happening for almost 20 years. Has that led to a renaissance in West Lakes?
[quote]
Perhaps the reason for that is the fact that West Lakes has pretty much nothing but the West Lakes Mall!!! Perhaps you'd like to go to Melbourne on a gameday and see how many people there are in the restaurants on Flinders Street and how many people there are walking around Swanston and Lonsdale Streets with their supporter gear on! Or even better, perhaps you'd like to go and watch the flood of people making their way over trainlines, into the CBD!!! Besides, Adelaide is meant to be 'The Festival State with brilliant foods in fantastic Restaurants' so you'd expect to see people going into the city and Rundle Mall, etc.

[Brando]

I fail to see why some people cannot see that an inner city stadium will increase vibrance and atmosphere to the city. Im not going to go do anything before or after a game at AAMI. What can i do if i want to? Go shopping at Westfield? Eat a burger at McDonalds? I can do that anywhere, so what really is the incentive for people to stick around.
In the city however, plenty to do before and after...

Aren't we trying to get people to visit the CBD more?

I'm sorry but it is so clear cut...

Thank you to LAT for making some outsiders point of view here because it is not only the SA people we are letting down, but also the interstate supporters that must cringe at the thought of the trip to 'nowhere land'. The time is now for a vision we can all support, even if that means Rann comes out and backflips with a VISION that both parties can agree on. 5-10 years, it doesn't matter, just don't waste money on AAMI anymore. It is not what we deserve.

[Cruise]

So if we have an inner city stadium are you going to stop everything and go on a magical spending spree in Rundle Mall?

Another question, Do you have money coming out your arse?

[Brando]

So if we have an inner city stadium are you going to stop everything and go on a magical spending spree in Rundle Mall?

Another question, Do you have money coming out your arse?

Ask a decent fuck'n question then maybe i'll reply. :wank:

[Cruise]

So if we have an inner city stadium are you going to stop everything and go on a magical spending spree in Rundle Mall?

Another question, Do you have money coming out your arse?

Ask a decent fuck'n question then maybe i'll reply. :wank:

it was a serious qusetion. Seing as an inner city stadium will mean patrons will pull money from anywhere to make the city more "vibrant"

[cruel_world00]

So if we have an inner city stadium are you going to stop everything and go on a magical spending spree in Rundle Mall?

Another question, Do you have money coming out your arse?

Come on Cruise, an I don't see how anyone can think crowd numbers would decrease with an inner city stadium.... honestly, the ony downside would be cost, and like I and many others have said a hundred times... we don't want a new stadium tomorrow or even in the next 2 years, we just want to know that AAMI isn't the be all and end all and that there is a plan down the tracks of enlivening the city with an inner CBD stadium because that is definitely the way of the future regardless of people's bullshit that it will have NO impact.... or should I say "magical spending sprees"

[Cruise]

I never said crowd numbers would DECREASE with a new inner city stadium.
I am conservative by nature, And i want to see that a new stadium is profitable, no matter how many seats it has.

[cruel_world00]

What are the downsides of an inner city stadium? I want to know from your point of view...not that I think there aren't any... I just want to know what you have to say... cheers.

[Cruise]

I just don't believe the immense cost justifies the means.

[cruel_world00]

I just don't believe the immense cost justifies the means.

So AAMI is something that the people of SA should just put up with forever then?

[Cruise]

I want to see it proven that people don't wan't to travel to football park. But seeing as so many people want to split with their hard earned and visit football park week in and week out it makes it a hard case to prove to relocate to an inner city location

[Prince George]

Look, I am going to spell out my opinion one last time, and then I will remain silent on this thread.

I have thought about this stadium idea long and hard, and the conclusion that I came to is that I'd love to see Adelaide United playing in our own Old Trafford or San Siro, but I would only be able to justify spending the money on the basis that I really want a better place to watch the team and not that there would be a significant flow on effect elsewhere.

I ask you to consider what effect AAMI had on West Lakes, and you all rightly say "There's nothing to do", "There's just the mall", "I can get McDonald's anywhere". So why, I ask you, why has no one thought to themselves "If we build a <bar>|<restaurants>|<whatever> here, we'll have all these people coming to the area and there's no other competition for their business - it'd be a goldmine!" I'm sure that the local residents would like better entertainment in their area too. But in 20 years, it hasn't happened.

Perhaps the football increased the patronage of the mall itself? Well, they have just had an upgrade, but in the time since the Crows joined the AFL Marion became a monster and is going to get bigger still and TTP may have $190M spent on it. So I submit that the upgrade at West Lakes is just part of the normal lifecycle of a Westfield Mall.

People have said "You should see how busy Melbourne is on gamedays", and I don't doubt that it is. But Melbourne is busy anyway, so the important thing is not how busy it is, but how much busier it is. Melbourne has invested in a host of different ways to make their downtown attractive to people, and they've received attention from many corners for it - http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/09/17/m ... e-streets/, http://www.livablestreets.com/streetswiki/melbourne. adam73837 mentioned Swanston St, well that's the street that get's the most attention from planners for the Swanston Street Walk.

Now, here's the crucial part when you're considering Melbourne:

Downtown Melbourne is now a true residential area. The city center has seen an eightfold increase in residents, from fewer than 800 private apartments in in 1994 to around 10,000 private residences in 2005

That probably works out to some 15,000 people living in the area, and probably they are wealthier and younger than average: that sounds to me like a serious energy pump for the area. And unlike, the stadia, that did not require the a vast investment of public money. I submit that the growing population of Adelaide's city center will do far, far more to make Adelaide vibrant than a sport ground will.

Finally, I find the choice of the railyards as a location for a stadium unconvincing. In other forums many people decried the proposed hospital as a "waste of prime waterfront real locations". Well, a stadium is hardly a thing of beauty, its focus is entirely inward with the stands facing the ground and showing their backs to the outside. Adelaide Oval really might be the most attractive ground in the world, but I don't think that it's what people have in mind. That sounds like neither a suitable use of the waterfront views that are supposed to be wasted on the hospital, nor an attractive gateway to the city from the northwest.

If a stadium really was going to get built there, let me make two requests:

First - as much as possible leave the stadium open to the north and south. Do this to at least try to make use of the views that are available in the location.

Second - put little or no parking on site. It seems to me that this is what you have to do if you want to use it as a way to promote activity in the area. Old Trafford, for example, has numerous carparks, but not many actually at the ground; instead they are all "within 0.5 miles of the ground"

There, I've said my peace.

[Paulns]

[quote="Prince George"]I ask you to consider what effect AAMI had on West Lakes, and you all rightly say "There's nothing to do", "There's just the mall", "I can get McDonald's anywhere". So why, I ask you, why has no one thought to themselves "If we build a <bar>|<restaurants>|<whatever> here, we'll have all these people coming to the area and there's no other competition for their business - it'd be a goldmine!" I'm sure that the local residents would like better entertainment in their area too. But in 20 years, it hasn't happened.[/quote

You have some fair ideas but then again you try explaining that to someone who lives in the far Southern, Northern and Eastern Suburbs?????????? Yeah you can build what you want at West Lakes but you can't change its location...... LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.... Isn't that the most important rule in property development????

Football Park might of been fine 30 years ago but Adelaides grown a lot more outwards since then and with new land about to open up at Buckland Park, Gawler East and down south past Noarlunga, its only going to get bigger.... Its unfair and unreasonable to expect people to come from these out reaching suburbs to a backward, old outdated so called excuse for a stadium in the suburbs......

As for getting the local residents in West Lakes on board....Good luck. One example now is that the council already poses restrictions on the stadiums lighting so as not to effect the local residents. Lets also be realistic here and say Adelaide can also be very conservative by nature. Just look at whats happening in Glenelg. Residents complaining about noise and developments, etc.

If we truly want Adelaide to grow, the only logical answer is an inner city stadium where the infrustructure of public transport, clubs, bars, etc already exists.

[Wayno]

Such a waste spending $100m on AAMI. That's all i have to say...

[rev]

So if we have an inner city stadium are you going to stop everything and go on a magical spending spree in Rundle Mall?

Another question, Do you have money coming out your arse?

Do you ever make a post that is not sarcastic in some way or you trying to be funny?

Here's a suggestion, since you apparently have some doubts.
Go to Rundle Street, and ask the owners of the cafes and bars, if they see an increase in trade during "Mad March".
Then ask them if they would rather the Fringe etc, were not held.

Maybe that will knock some sense into you.