Downtown Ballpark: A Marathon City Council Meeting

Let me start by saying that I'm not a huge fan of long meetings. Yesterday's City Council meeting was headlined by the downtown ballpark vote, and discussion began around 11am. By the time things wrapped up, it was 6:15pm and some people spent as much as 10 hours at City Hall. They listened to the more than 140 people speaking for or against the ballpark. I was not planning to speak at the meeting, primarily because I already did back in June at the first City Council ballpark meeting. However, it didn't take long to convince me otherwise. What I did not expect was the overflow of people gathered to address Mayor John Cook and City Council. I was originally scheduled to be the 18th speaker for the ballpark supporters, but was worried that I wouldn't make it back to the radio station in time to start Sportstalk. So, I was able to move up and make my speech. I wanted to make sure I recorded it, and my good pal Jose (a longtime TV cameraman), was able to capture the entire speech on my iPhone. I know many of you had not seen it yet, so here it is:

I wasn't the only member of Townsquare Media that spoke in support of the ballpark. Marina Lee, who's son Andy is the host of 600 ESPN El Paso's Sports Spin, had a great speech and I hope to post that video later today. Also, Tricia Martinez, who is one half of KISS FM's "Mike and Tricia Mornings," brought the house down with her comments. Here they are: