My Turn: FUSE district remains a success despite light cast on baseball team management
One of the very first things I did as a newly elected Council member was to vote to purchase the property for FUSE. I was in full support then and I am in full support now. The concept of FUSE was and is much more than a ballpark. It was to be a catalyst for growth in an area that had seen decay and was riddled with crime. It was also a job creator for our city... Both of these ideals have exceeded our initial expectations.
The challenges with the current management team need to be separated from the economic development and good things happening around the FUSE stadium. The lack of success on the team management level is not to be equated with a lack of success for FUSE. It is also not indicative of a lack of support for a ballpark in downtown Gastonia.
The failure of Mr. Bellamy to manage his facility team and to make good business decisions is what has led to the results we see today. The first season saw the park filled with eager patrons, ready to see a game and purchase some food and beverages. That all faded, not because people did not back baseball or FUSE, but because they did not feel they were valued, and the product had value. There were also many sponsors who were either not followed up with or given promises that were not kept. Long story short, this is a business failure of the management team not a failure of the initial goals of FUSE.
I am and the city is committed to making sure this is a continued success. We are slated to have Durty Bull Brewery open in a couple months. The old Coca-Cola building is being developed into a flex-space multi-use development. The old Y property across the street has been sold by the Y and is now going to become a mixed-use residential space. And the list goes on and on.
If we look at what this space along one of the state’s busiest highways looked like just a couple years ago and what is happening now, there is no doubt we did the right thing. I am just as proud now as I was then.
I will not allow one failure to derail the revitalization of this area. It will also not derail the vision for FUSE to be a community hub with concerts and other special events. I think I speak for most of us on this Council when I say we can be disappointed with Mr. Bellamy and the management of the space without being disappointed in the development around the space. I was and I remain extremely disappointed, even disgusted at what has happened with the management team.
It is important to note that the Council does not have any votes regarding its HR, payroll, bill paying or other matters. His management company is a private entity, they lease the space from the city and that lease has specific conditions that must be met to remain viable. At no time, since being awarded the management contract, did he share specific information with evidence to us on the current financial dealings. Most of what we learned came through the media and the public during and after the fact. Thank you to the employees, vendors and others who shared info with me (and others). It was valuable and helped us to put the pieces of this together.
I want everyone to be clear. When I point out the failings of the current management team and when I press them to pay their vendors and employees and when I call him out (publicly and in council meetings) ... it is the management that I am calling out, not FUSE. I have and I remain committed to this development and to the projects occurring there.
We will work together to correct the mismanagement of the facility and move forward in a direction that places the customers, vendors and investors of the ball team at the forefront instead of in the rear-view mirror. And above all else, we will work together to make this facility the community hub it always should have been.
A picture is worth a thousand words...
Robert Kellogg is a Gastonia City Councilman.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: My Turn: FUSE district remains a success
