Santa Clara Pedestrian Undercrossing - VTA Santa Clara Pedestrian Undercrossing Reveal Tickets, Fri, Jun 30, 2017 ...
It'll likely be Nancy Thomas' neighbor's kids if the event wraps up before 8:30pm. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Looks great! Did u know there is now a paint to deter people from peeing on walls? It bounces the pee back at the perpetrator. I wonder how it would fare against graffiti...
My fear is it will become a hangout for bums (ie: outdoor toilet) and a magnate for graffiti and drug activity.
This is just an extension of a tunnel that has been there for several years to access the northbound train platform. The current tunnel seems pretty clean.
I cannot agree. Everytime I go down to the moat area or walk the concourse and get blown around by all the cold wind,* I think to myself that this stadium has such serious flaws. I'm not just talking about the wind. Having the suites on the ground floor has ruled out the great atmosphere that the other new SSS's are developing. The only good thing about that is I assume other stadium owners have learned from Kaval's biz-school folly to prioritize seat configurations for corporations over fans. On the other hand, isn't every new SSS replicating the LOBINA? So Kaval gets big credit for that trend. * Kaval was wrong or lying when he said the architects did not model the stadium wind tunnel effect correctly and that it would go away when the 6-story building next door was built. The wind tunnel effect remains.
At least we have a stadium to boast and talk about. Its San Jose's first and only outdoor stadium since 1932. We all should be grateful to have it.
Ha! But that's the issue. I cannot boast about Avaya because of its 3 main flaws: a moat area that works against fan engagement, a moat area that is damned uncomfortable to sit in, and where you can't see the play, and a traffic situation that is so bad it is a significant factor in deciding to go to games OTOH, I do talk about the LOBINA a lot when bringing guests to the games.
An occasional coworker of mine does camera work at Avaya. There's usually 4 to 5 camera's right under the press box. Even with Saturday's warm weather, the camera op's had sweatshirts and/or jackets on......they refer to working at Avaya as working in a wind tunnel...which begs the question, would an outter skin help the situation?
I assume an outer skin would stop the wind, just like closing your car window stops the Venturi effect. But I kind of recall Kaval told me a fabric skin would not hold up.
I have wondered about this myself, but I do not think a skin would help . First of all, the skins that were planned originally, and that the stadium structure is intended to accommodate, are "slats" or horizontal boards to allow some air movement to pass through them. I would expect those to provide some sort of wind break, but I don't think that is where the tunnel effect comes from. Before every game at Avaya, I do a little "ritual" walk around the entire concourse. I enjoy Avaya very much and love to "circumnavigate" it to see everything and, hopefully, run into many of my wonderful fellow Quakes' fans. At the game Saturday, because of the early time and warm weather, I took special note of the breeze. At the concourse level it was light but present. Then I realized that, even with the skin, the ends of both length-wise concourses would remain open. The skin, even if we had one, would not cover either opening. And that is where the wind originates from. So, I doubt that the wind tunnel effect is going to disappear any time soon. I am happy, though, that I didn't choose the Club seats. I have always felt that field level seats are not optimal for really watching the flow of the game. So, I can't identify with the discomfort you moat-dwellers deal with. I am in 107 above the home bench where the views are good and it is comfortable most of the time.
I would call the moat an interesting, but ultimately fatally flawed concept, like so much that transpired during Kaval's tenure. I think that having the field flanked by half-empty areas mostly inhabited by non-fans who would rather be snarfing the free food and drink than watching the game is a terrible and costly detriment to the entire atmosphere of the stadium. It renders the real fans much more remote to the action than in almost any other MLS venue and to a great extent takes the crowd out of the game. I'm guessing that Kaval was so pleased at his innovation (and it really is innovative, much as New Coke and subprime mortgages) that he neglected to get any input at all from any folks with actual experience in the field. I believe that from now on the moat should be rechristened as "Kaval's Folly"...
I like the moat. The moat itself is not the problem with stadium atmosphere. And plenty of us moat-dwellers are authentic fans (has that phrase been trademarked by Comcast?), at least as measured by knowing what color kit the home team is wearing.
I don't think the moat was Kaval's idea. It was present in the renderings that were first presented in late 2009, and Kaval came aboard in the middle of the 2010 season.