[BB] Late Breaking News

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Can anyone help me with the venue information and the actual location?

I would appreciate it mightily.

All it says on the FIRST site is

The FIRST Championship games for 2011 – 2013 will be housed at the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis with a total of 502,000 contiguous square feet of exhibit space in six halls, 83 meeting rooms, the 1,411 fixed-seat Ferrara Theatre, the St. Louis Executive Conference Center and The Edward Jones Dome.

A total of 21 area hotels will provide rooms for the participants.

The dates for the FIRST Championships in St. Louis, Missouri are: April 28-30, 2011; April 26-28, 2012 and April 25-27, 2013.

Heh, if you think about it, at least we've been told a few years in advance about a big change

[JaneYoung]

Downtown.

Thank you, Akash and Ed.

[TKM.368]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

The dates for the FIRST Championships in St. Louis, Missouri are: April 28-30, 2011; April 26-28, 2012 and April 25-27, 2013.

Right up against AP exams now. Tough choice for kids... not to mention possibly irritated AP instructors. It's better than being during AP testing I suppose.

[artdutra04]

Nice, this just saved the teams/volunteers who fly a lot of hassle.

Why? The one thing I didn't like about Indy was that they have no real transit system. (No, I don't consider once-an-hour-buses as "real" transit). Atlanta was great. You land at the airport, take MARTA into downtown, and pretty much either just walk to your destination or take the train. All said and done, it costs a few bucks for the trip. The last time I was in Indy, a one way cab trip from the airport was $80! Indy, you may have great people and great hospitality, but you're really lagging behind most other cities when it comes to real transit systems.

But after I saw St. Loius was selected, I immediately looked into their transit system and found they have a light rail line running from their airport to the downtown central business district, including a stop right at the America’s Center Convention Complex, where the Championships will be held, with plenty of hotels along the route and in the central business district. My wallet breathes a sigh of relief.

Originally Posted by jgannon

I attended a convention at the America's Center this summer, and actually found it very difficult to get food quickly and easily. Downtown St. Louis is an absolute ghost town on the weekends, and I've heard countless people listing the food situation as their top reason for not wanting that event to return to St. Louis. I'm hoping (and expecting) that FIRST will be setting up vendors inside the venue, much like we've had in Atlanta.

I've been to a lot of cities which only seem to cater to the 9-5, Monday through Friday business crowd. They built massive super highways from the downtown CBD to the wealthy suburbs, plowing through every neighborhood of character around the downtown, and destroying hopes of a "livable" downtown. It's sad to see urban areas neglected that much.

Getting back to your quote, where were you in downtown St Louis? Google seems to show quite an abundance of places to eat...

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Indy, you may have great people and great hospitality, but you're really lagging behind most other cities when it comes to real transit systems.

Couldn't have said it better myself and I'm sure this factored into FIRST's decision. Indianapolis has a lot going for it, but one thing it doesn't have is a solid public transit system.

Congratulations St. Louis, it will be nice to get a change of venue and scenery after being in Atlanta for so many years.

[Andy Baker]

Congrats to St. Louis!!!!

Atlanta has been great, Indy would have been great, but it looks like the decision-makers in FIRST believe that St. Louis will be greater.

I'm looking forward to St. Louis in 2011, for sure.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

[Carol]

One drawback I noticed about Indy (and this was only from driving past the sites, so I may be wrong) is that they would have had to move the FTC and FLL to separate buildings. It looks like St Louis (my birthplace, BTW) can accommodate all three in at least walking distance. I firmly believe that the three events should be co-mingled, so that:

1) the team members in one program can see the other parts of FIRST
2) spectators can view all three easily
3) mentors who are involved in more than one program don't have to choose

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Couldn't have said it better myself and I'm sure this factored into FIRST's decision. Indianapolis has a lot going for it, but one thing it doesn't have is a solid public transit system.

It would probably be cheaper for the city to provide a free rental car to every visitor to the city than to build a transit system.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

It would probably be cheaper for the city to provide a free rental car to every visitor to the city than to build a transit system.

But free rental cars would only last a weekend. A good transit system lasts 50, 75, 100+ years.

I may be going to college for robotics engineering, but I love transportation, energy, and city planning politics. Why? It's the closest politics comes to engineering. We have problems, and we have various methods of providing solutions. Perhaps because I grew up in New England, but I've always taken strongly to New Urbanism, as it's pretty much the traditional way cities were built in New England.

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Getting back to your quote, where were you in downtown St Louis? Google seems to show quite an abundance of places to eat...

As I said, I was at the America's Center, where the Championship is going to be held. I did eventually find places to eat lunch, but they were certainly not the type that could support gaggles of high schoolers. I'm confident that the arena and convention center will have a food setup not dissimilar to what we have in the Georgia Dome and GWCC, and that will be great... all I'm saying is that I wouldn't tout the food situation as a particular benefit of this venue, because in comparison to the accessibility of the CNN Center, this is actually one of the few negatives I see in this change.

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Indy, you may have great people and great hospitality, but you're really lagging behind most other cities when it comes to real transit systems.

I disagree.

I have a pick-up that seats 5, and has room for my stuff in the bed.

That is real transit.





PS - congrats to St. Louis.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

I disagree.

I have a pick-up that seats 5, and has room for my stuff in the bed.

That is real transit.





PS - congrats to St. Louis.

If you're willing to drive 4,000 round trips, I can't argue with that hospitality.

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

If you're willing to drive 4,000 round trips, I can't argue with that hospitality.

That's the Kind of Fella I Am - John Mellencamp

oh wait, wrong thread .....

[Meredith Novak]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

I have a pick-up that seats 5, and has room for my stuff in the bed.

If you had a real pick-up it would have a bench seat and room for like 8. I am reminded of the time our crew rode in the back of a pick-up with the tools in the snow in swanky downtown Evanston to get to the MWR. No one thought anything of it once they saw the AR license tag.

Indy would have been great - you all are so professional. We appreciate your effort and hospitality.


_

[Richard Wallace]

Video of Dean's announcement is here.