Smallthoughts: Rant of the Week…Hartford Yard Goats

When is a project not a finished project? When it is Dunkin Donuts Stadium ..home of the Hartford Yard Goats. This story is a local one and this has been one I have been keeping an eye on for some time since this is not too far from where I live. The Hartford Yard Goats were originally the New Britian RockCats  the minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins and most recently the Colorado Rockies. Then the Rockcats moved up the road to Hartford, Connecticut to a stadium that wasn’t build yet. But it was to be finished April 2016. The cost for the new stadium was 60 million dollars as part of a urban renewal of the downtown section of Hartford. Hartford doesn’t have money for police, teachers and schools yet 60 million dollars for a Baseball stadium is steep. Yet they continue on with the project. The story gets better … the stadium is now 10 million dollars over budget so the cost is now 70 million for a city that doesn’t have the money …so the stadium that was supposed to open in April sat until May …until …July until…wait for it …2017!

And according to a published  local report …

Yard Goats could leave Hartford if stadium is not ready

Posted: Jul 27, 2016 2:29 PM EDT <em class=”wnDate”>Wednesday, July 27, 2016 2:29 PM EDT</em>Updated: Jul 27, 2016 2:29 PM EDT <em class=”wnDate”>Wednesday, July 27, 2016 2:29 PM EDT</em>

By WFSB Staff

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) –

The Yard Goats could skip town if the stadium is not ready for the 2017 season.

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The team’s owner sent the city of Hartford a letter this week saying ‘finish the stadium or we are out.’

Dunkin Donuts Park still sits unfinished.

The park still needs railings, stairwells and signs to be completed.

The city fired the stadium developer CenterPlan.

The insurance company has now taken over the project.

The team has a 25-year contract with the city, but without a stadium, Hartford is not holding up their end of the deal.

The team’s owner Josh Solomon released a statement that said “The Yard Goats love Hartford and we remain committed to the city. We will do everything in our power to make sure baseball is played at Dunkin Donuts Park in April 2017. We simply cannot continue to exist without a home in 2017.”

By the way …the 10 million that the stadium is over budget guess who is being asked to pay 5 million of that ??? Yes that right the tax payer in Hartford that’s who. &0 million could have gone to beef up the police force in one of the more violent cities in Connecticut, 70 million could go a long way to building homes for the homeless food for the homeless, that money could have gone to help educate the city’s children, instead it went to a baseball team that doesn’t even play it’s games in the stadium. What a waste !