Friday, January 20, 2017

Why I’m not upset the Atlanta Braves didn’t choose John Prince Park.

First, Thank You to the Atlanta Braves organization for considering John Prince Park. And when you meet other baseball executives looking for a new home for their Spring Training needs remember what the Post reporter Joe Capozzi wrote in April 2016:

“Braves supporters, wearing blue tomahawk T-shirts and holding ‘Bring Home the Braves’ signs, outnumbered opponents of the park plan by a 3-to-1 margin at two separate public meetings.”

I’m not upset any more and you shouldn’t be upset either. You win some. You lose some.

However, John Prince Park has received so much attention far and wide and wouldn’t be surprised one bit to learn another team (or teams) have their eyes on it. The optimism and strong support from the cities of Lake Worth, Palm Springs, Greenacres, and Atlantis brought all of this area in Palm Beach County closer together and that hasn’t gone unnoticed. We’re all in this together.

If you are still upset please don’t act out like a neighborhood association president did recently who opposed that location for a spring training facility:
[City Manager] Michael Bornstein, Your an A@&h#le plain and simple . . . the trashing of you will be worse and worse. . . . God should be the judge of all of you.
Don’t lose your cool. That’s what the other side does all the time.

And whatever you do don’t fall into the trap of turning on any elected official OVER ONE ISSUE! If it’s true County Commissioner Dave Kerner opposed baseball in John Prince Park, so what? Over all these years how many times has he stood with our City, fought for and with us? Too many times to count.

But the most important thing to remember is this: Many on the County level acknowledge that many areas in Central Palm Beach County have been neglected and ignored for too many years. Those areas are the Lake Worth Corridor, many blighted areas in Lake Worth west of I-95, parts of the Town of Palm Springs, and many other areas in unincorporated PBC between the City of Greenacres and the City of Lake Worth.

The debate over baseball in John Prince Park has changed all that. And that’s a good thing. Don’t forget that.