The Padres and their private-sector, downtown Ballpark
Redevelopment Project partners, which include officials from
the city of San Diego, the city's Redevelopment Agency and
the Centre City Development Corporation, reached an
agreement on a settlement with the Coalition Advocating
Redevelopment Excellence (CARE), a group opposed to the
ballpark on environmental grounds. CARE agreed not to
appeal the dismissal of the $1B suit they filed last fall
under the CA Environmental Quality Act challenging the
Environmental Impact Report conducted on the project. The
decision upheld the report, which the judge found to be
proper and sufficient. Under the agreement, the city agrees
to exercise reasonable efforts to provide adequate
maintenance, parking enforcement and public safety services
in surrounding neighborhoods during ballpark events. The
pact also calls for a CARE member to serve on the Citizens
Advisory Committee that will be maintained for three years
after the ballpark opens in 2002 (Padres). In San Diego,
Philip LaVelle wrote that the Padres agreed to develop a
public-information program to "inform fans of the best
routes in and out of the ballpark area." City officials
agreed to pay "up to" $20,000 for a traffic consultant "to
help the group participate in efforts to draft a traffic
plan for game days" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/10).
