on a somewhat related note, i believe that this is the third year in a row that the Parks Dept. has raised the parking rates for both shea and yankee stadiums (the parks dept. technically runs both the stadiums and most of the lots in the area and licenses out parking rights for some lots or runs some lots outright through the municpal parking corporation). it's obvious to all that there is little to no maintenance costs associated with these lots, they are simply vast stretches of asphalt (or garages at yankee stadium) the ny post revealed that parking at the 2 stadiums is one of the biggest cash cows for the parks dept. surprise, because it's pretty much pure profit. what if the parks dept. actually put their effort into parks, like municipal stickball lots?

and while you can bring food into both stadiums, it has gotten particularly harder to do so, especially at yankee stadium where they stop just short of a cavity search and have a longer list of banned items than shea. there's something particularly obnoxious over both stadium's security policies as both stadiums are public property, built, rebuilt, and maintained with precious parks dept. budget dollars. both security policies are obstensibly for security, but as mushnick has pointed out, it's merely a smokescreen to weed out more food being brought in to sell more food. mushnick pointed out that at pnc park in pittsburgh (i think, might be different new park) the stadium opened without any water fountains, which are required by law. the owner claimed accidental oversight, that's a pretty big oversight, in the months where no water fountains were in place, sales of bottled water skyrocketed.

were you guys aware that pac bell park is now SBC Park aka Stick Ball Croo Park?