[BB] Late Breaking News

[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.

[MissDaisyGirl]

Originally Posted by Richard

Video of Dean's announcement is here.

Ha, Dean was pretty funny! Thanks for posting this!

[nuggetsyl]

Oh boy i can feel the neg rep coming already, here i go. I have the same problem with stl (St Louis) as i do with ind (Indy) there is not enough seats on planes for teams to get there in a affordable fashion (seat per day available below). I fly for the 5th largest airline in the world and one of there hubs is ewr (Newark NJ). Another problem is type of planes that fly into stl we call them barbie jets (really small jets). There the first to get canceled in bad weather and get this really cool thing call weight restrictions. 4 teams with 30 people going would take half the flights off the market raising prices to double what they are now. I am sure first got a great deal for stl and i hope it will improve the product first can put out. But its going to price teams out of the champs.

direct flights only as of 11/3/09

250 ewr-stl
2162 ewr-atl
2350 ewr-mco

[Jonathan Norris]

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.

Those dates are much better for us University mentors, should be after all our exams. I know last year attending the Championship was right in the middle of my exams... the last half of my exams did not get enough attention.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

Those dates are much better for us University mentors, should be after all our exams. I know last year attending the Championship was right in the middle of my exams... the last half of my exams did not get enough attention.

Canada, yes.

America, probably not. Most American college students exams fall between the new St. Louis dates and the couple weeks after that. This is going to make it much tougher for American college students to make it to Championship.

[MissDaisyGirl]

Exciting news! Should be a nice change of pace.

Anyone know of some interesting attractions/destinations/eateries that St. Louis is famous for (obviously the arch)? I'm already planning my trip.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by MissDaisyGirl

Anyone know of some interesting attractions/destinations/eateries that St. Louis is famous for (obviously the arch)? I'm already planning my trip.

Here's a start.

Check out the St. Louis for Kids section. (I like that section.)


Jane