Dear city of Brighton and baseball stadium supporters,
Pick your chin up off the ground, it's going to be OK. I know you wanted a baseball stadium really bad and you feel like the kid on Christmas morning without that coveted toy. But as my mom used to say, at least I think she used to say, just because you wanted it doesn't mean you really need it.
I know there is peer pressure. Commerce City has a soccer stadium and they want a minor league baseball stadium. Aurora toyed with minor league baseball. Fort Collins wants a team. The new Thornton mayor apparently wants a stadium.
But, Brighton, to use another Mom analogy, "if Commerce City jumped off the bridge, would you jump too?"
Isn't there a little something to be said for uniqueness. After all, Brighton is getting those cookie-cutter big box stores like everywhere else and, mind you, without too much of a fight from this community. We've got a big movie theater and a steadily growing number of chain restaurants. We're going to have a Performing Arts Center in the near future.
So, naturally, the idea of plopping a baseball stadium in the heart of downtown makes perfect sense along with a giant Christmas tree overlooking a beautiful ice skating rink. Right?
So maybe now, is a good time to take stock of what we are as a community. And let's do it while voters are basking in the glow of fighting off another tax. And you're kidding yourself if you think this was solely about some "obscure, election laws" that nobody, according to the mayor, cares about it. The fighting bell rang a long time ago and voters are going to put up their dukes to a new tax any chance they get. These people turned down a new high school once, a high school, I tell you!
But, honestly, what is Brighton? Are we going to be unique community or are we going to be a dumping ground for the best of what every community has to offer?
Maybe we can be a great home even without a home plate.
