Fairgrounds a bad site for ballpark

A baseball stadium at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds is a bad idea.

The promoters of a minor league ballpark have been floating a variety of ideas for a site. All these ideas have one thing in common: free land. These folks say they want to build a privately funded ballpark, but their first step has been to find a piece of government-owned land they don't have to buy.

Even if they talk Sonoma County out of a chunk of the f airgrounds, where is the $4million to $5 million necessary to build the ballpark coming from? Nobody has identified the source of a single dollar.

Beyond that, who is going to pay to maintain a facility built on county land if a team doesn't immediately move here, or if a team comes, then leaves?

The promoters talk about the joys of baseball on warm summer nights. That is not the Sonoma County I call home. Most nights in midsummer, it is downright cold at the fairgrounds.

Proponents claim the ballpark could be an entertainment venue for outdoor concerts. The last major act to come to the f airgrounds outside of fair time was the Beach Boys, about 15 years ago. They sold out, but downtown Santa Rosans h owled in protest over the noise, and there has never been a repeat. Two things have changed since then. More people live even closer to the fairgrounds. And we can now sit down comfortably to enjoy music at the Burbank Center and, soon, the Green Music Center.

They say the ballpark fits well within the fairgrounds. It doesn't. Their initial plan requires clear-cutting redwoods in the picnic ground known as "Founders Grove, " relocating the rodeo arena, tearing down the largest barn and moving several livestock show rings and concession stands. The fair board has spent millions of dollars in the last 15 years rebuilding the back end of the f airgrounds to promote agriculture and to encourage circulation of foot traffic throughout the grounds.

Who is going to bear the cost of the proposed changes to the fairgrounds? Will the agricultural exhibits flourish in the shadow of a giant structure that partially blocks access to them?

The Sonoma County Fair deserves a better fate than this. It hosts 350,000 happy people every summer. For 80 years it has been one of California's best fairs. It is the one community event which brings us all together, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or economics. Disrupting a valued public institution for the gain of a few private promoters should be done carefully and rarely, if at all.

A week ago, I received an e-mail from the ballpark promoters, apparently addressed to people they thought might support their plan. I was probably on that list by mistake. But since they asked, here is what I will need before I get behind their program: Show me the money to build and maintain the ballpark. Show me the team that is going to move here. Show me the warm summer nights.

Show me the neighbors who will tolerate outdoor concerts. Show me the new barns and arenas to replace the ones you intend to tear down. Show me a good reason to disrupt our oldest and most cherished community event.

This is a field of dreams - but they are all pipe dreams.