The “We Are the 55% Project”

The mayor’s attempt at stalling progress Thursday should come as no surprise to any of you. It did, however, validate the idea in the minds of a great many of us, that the mayor couldn’t care less about the thoughts, feelings, and wishes the city council members and constituents that want to see some progress being made in the stadium issue. It really doesn’t matter if you chalk up mayor Foster’s aloof attitude on the stadium issue to megalomania or attribute it narcissism, the fact stands: Foster is working on his timeline, everyone else be damned.

Dare I say that his glib, arrogant attitude toward the Rays reeks of carelessness toward what could possibly be the inevitable? Is that just pointing out the obvious? Lest we remind Bill “declining property values, meeting a budget and public safety issues like EMS and protecting police officers” Foster, that if the Rays are lost to Tampa or another market all together, that the city stands to lose 5,000 plus jobs, and $300 million in combined revenue a year. How will that pan out for the issues that “keep you up at night” then, Bill?

There is a saying that is thrown around a lot when talking about the Rays play on the field: respect the process. Unfortunately, that saying doesn’t carry over in the case of the mayor’s handling of this process. In fact, there is nothing to respect about mayor Foster’s process. Foster stands as a major speed bump in the way of “the process” and progress in general. I think a new saying would be apropos: fear the process.

As if the timing of his chiming in on the matter was aligned with the stars, MLB commissioner Bud Selig had this to say on a Sirius XM interview Thursday:

I like Stu Sternberg a lot, as you probably know…I, too, am concerned about their attendance. I track attendance every day. He knows it. I’ve talked to him a lot. They are a wonderful organization, produced a terrific team this year and finished last in the American League in attendance. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion. That’s bad…[Selig then asked if stadium situation is a “lost cause”]…I can’t answer that yet but I’m usually an optimist and I don’t have any reason to be too optimistic.

Ouch. Should we Rays fans be fearful? Yes. Should we Rays fans be angry? Absolutely. I can certainly tell you that the anger and ire over this entire situation is oozing out of every one of my pores. So, what can we do?

Not to get all hippy-dippy or anything, but we all (including mayor Foster, the city council, and the Pinellas County Commission) need to remember one thing: our votes put these people into office. They are, ideally, representing our beliefs in what we want, and it’s obvious that those stalling things are not doing a very good job of representing us. If they are not going to advocate for us fans and constituents, then we need to make our voices heard in the matter. What is the “We Are the 55% Project”?

55% is a number based on the average number of fans that came to any given game this season, divided by the total number of fans that the Trop can house. I know, you’re obviously still a fan of the Rays even if you couldn’t make it out to any games for one reason or another, I just wanted to come up with something catchy. Now back to my train of thought…

Over the course of the forthcoming days and weeks, we will be compiling a list of things the Rays mean to you, dear reader. We’ll also be taking note of why you think the Rays should stay on this side of the bay. Why? We’ll be using your ideas to write a generic letter that we all can cut an paste, and send to the folks that are affecting this issue in some way, shape, or form. In short, all you’ve got to do once the letter is composed, is cut and paste it, and send it (a great many times) to those people. It’s literally the least that we can do to make our voices heard. I’ll, again, post all of the important email and snail mail addresses as this project comes to a head.

Time is of the essence though, and we’re hoping to have your thoughts compiled in a timely manner. In other words, send your thoughts in ASAP! By all means, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also email us, or post something on our Facebook page. It’s time that we’re heard in this matter!