July 30, 2008

Tiger Stadium gets tenth life

The proposal to save part of Tiger Stadium from demolition got renewed life yesterday after Detroit city council president Kenneth Cockrel Jr. sent presevationists and city officials into a room yesterday and ordered them to work something out. The result: a plan in which the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy will put $369,000 in escrow (the group says it's already raised $430,000) to pay for the city's costs in saving the home-plate corner of the nearly century-old ballpark. The conservancy will then have until next March - rather than the 60 days the mayor had demanded - to raise the $15.6 million it needs to convert what's left of the stadium for a baseball museum and other uses.

The council acted after a morning in which many supporters of the preservation plan testified and called to urge that part of what's left of Tiger Stadium be saved. "I have yet to hear a constituent in the Corktown neighborhood say 'let's demolish it,'" said State Rep. Steve Tobocman. Added Bill Dow of the Tiger Stadium Fan Club: "The momentum's going to continue because as more people see the stadium being torn down, the more people are going to want to say, 'we've got to save a part of this history here.'"

The deal won't be official until Monday, when the parties will again meet and the council will vote on final approval of the plan.