Detroit council approves demolition of Tiger Stadium

This breaks my heart, but I understand why they have to do it. Too expensive to maintain, too big for a minor league or college team, land too valuable to let sit empty, and to let it just crumble under the harsh Michigan winters seems disrespectful, somehow.

I wish we could afford to keep it as a historical site. I really do. But it just isn't feasible.

Goodbye old friend.

After months of wrangling, the City Council approved a plan today that can have the seats and other memorabilia inside Tiger Stadium sold, and the ballpark dismantled, by the end of the year.

Plans seem up in the air as Kwame and the City Council wrangle over the future; they signed off on his plan, which I believe might include saving portions of the park, but wouldn't turn over the land to his development coporation.

While the council approved the plan touted by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to demolish the stadium to make way for new stores, homes and a playfield for city youth, it voted against turning over the land to the quasi-government Detroit Economic Growth Corp.

Still approval of the development plan sets up a strict deadline. A demolition contract will be awarded in October with all demolition and site preparation completed by September 2008 and construction to start in April 2009.

And from July 17th-

The Detroit Economic Growth plan also gives the nonprofit Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy until the end of the year to secure financing that would preserve part of the stadium, which would be used for recreational baseball games.

Hope they can come up with the cash and preserve at least parts of it- some day future generations of Tiger fans will thank us for that.

Good luck people.