That is exactly what Leslie is. And the rest of my comment is spot on.
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Wish I could like this 1000x more. Itās why I was (and am) a successful manager or large projects in an extremely male dominated field.
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Someone on these forums should help with this endeavor. Price out 300 acres of land in Unionvilleā¦ or elsewhere in Chester County, PA. Land that has good established turf, a nice mix of cleared acreage and some trees, some hills, snd good drainage. Add to that the cost of a professionally designed and well built cross country course, top notch arenas, and electricity as well as water run to the venue.
This is all no big deal. Iām sure there is someone waiting in the wings, who is ready, willing and able to foot the bill for all of this, so that the eventing community in general can experience the pleasure of competing at a venue such of this, and Iām sure this hypothetical wealthy benefactor will be happy to the name the venue something that folks like Gardenhorse can then abbreviate into B.L.M. in order to celebrate and support that particular political movement. Iām sure the wealthy benefactor footing the bulk for all this wonāt want to name this venue after anything personal to them or their own familyā¦ I meanā¦ why would that entitled rich selfish jerk want to do something like that?!? :rolleyes: They should just fork over their land and money to third parties involved in eventing, and let the third parties decide what to name the venue.
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Was the demand actually that the landowner change the name of the entire property, or just that the event itself be renamed? Thereās no reason an event needs to have to same name as the venue ā¦ there are plenty of other events out there that donāt have the name of the venue.
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You should add Jason Whitlock with Outkick to this list. Heās not an intellectual like some of these names howeverā¦ heās actually a VERY well known sportswriter. Who has had some really interesting things to say about BLM and the issue of race and sports, and what he thinks of it all. His writing is a fascinating thing to compare and contrast with some of what has been written about this Plantation Field situation by a few other folks.
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Done
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123 acres of industrial land with East Penn Railroad access. 1 mile from US1 and 10 miles from I95. Natural gas, 3 phase electric, public water, phone and cable internet service at the road. Phase 1 and 2 bog turtle survey completed. Property survey with topo and wetland delineation available.
$8,500,000.00
Chester County, PA
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Another tangent on my part. What is a phase 1 and 2 bog turtle survey? Some protected turtle species?
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Itās a species that is on the federal list as āthreatenedā and Pennsylvania classifies it as āendangeredā so habitat loss is clearly an ongoing concern. Rightly so.
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That has been slightly unclear. However, this statement was in ENās Sept. 16 article, āThe Problem with Plantation.ā It seems to make clear they donāt think black people should be asked to come to a location named Plantationāi.e., they want the place, not just the event, renamed.
āAsking people of color to come visit, to spectate, volunteer, or compete, at a place called Plantation is insensitive at best and works against our efforts to implement more diversity in the sport. If we truly want eventing to grow, should we not embrace opportunities to demonstrate our commitment to inclusion?ā
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just to give āreal numbersāĀā¦ so maybe some people can have a reality check as to the generosity of this land ownerā¦ I know 30 acres in the area (not Unionville school district so arguably more affordable but 10 min from where PF ran). Not developed at allā¦cost is 700,000. But normal cost per acre in this area is currently Around 20K-25K per acre for the larger tracks IF you can find any for sale. Then you have to have permits and build the course and rings, run water and electric etc.
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thatās really not even enough land to do much with, sadly
I know, but it was the largest parcel I found. There may be larger parcels available. I didnāt do an exhaustive search, but I figured it would give an idea of how much 300 acres would cost. Roughly 17 million is my guess.
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I am reminded of my landlady (and later, good friend) who came down on a number of boarders at her farm wrt policies and procedures. (Indoor lights left on, ownerās horses removed from turnouts so boarder horses could go back out, etc.)
They organized a meeting to compile a list of ādemandsā, which one of the invitees told her about. She walked in midway, and gave them all 2 weeksā notice to vacate.
Gasps.
āYou canāt do that!ā
āI can, and I have.ā (she had just paid off the 2nd mortgage she took out for the indoor.)
The group left to lease an empty barn nearby, and run it as a co-op, because they were such a simpatico group,
It lasted less than 6 months, and they were at each othersā throats over management issues.
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Permits for putting in arenas, driveway and parking for a competition site e weigh substantial traffic in and out of the venue, and for the areas of disturbed earth involved in certain permanent features on an FEI cross country courseā¦ these sorts of things all likely require a site and grading plan. So, expenses involved will also require hiring folks who specialize in professional services related to various aspects of environmental studies, engineering and grading plans, environmental mitigation plans, traffic studies related to placement of driveway and entrance to the property, etc.
I donāt know about Chester County, PA. But if it is anything like Loudoun County, VAā¦ someone is going to have to be prepared to pay something in the six figure rangeā¦ just for all the professionally prepared studies required to develop a grading and site plan for something like this that the county would be willing to sign off on. And the site plan is necessary in order to get any of the permits.
After spending all that, then you have to spend on grading first, then putting in the driveway and parking areas, then comes putting in arenas and a full cross country course, and then repairing every part of the turf on the land that was torn up by all the construction (assuming it was good quality turf to begin with).
It wouldnāt surprise me if the bill for all that ran into the millions.
So yesā¦ a reality check is important. Venues like Plantation Field in locations like that take years and years to develop. And substantial capital (millions of dollars) up front. The only way it will be replaced, anytime soon, is if a different local property owner steps up and opens up their property for the purpose of hosting recognized USEF/USEA competitions.
Comments online have speculated about Chesterland filling that need for the eventing community. I donāt know how likely or unlikely that isā¦ I can look to the paragraph in Nancy Jafferās article about the Plantation Field loss though, to get an indication of Bruce Davidsonās feelings about the whole situation, and the possibility of him opening up his farm to the eventing community now that Plantation is gone
Eventing legend Bruce Davidson, who lives in the area, was angry at anyone in the sportās governance who āwas supportive of this problem,āĀ contending they, āshould be dismissedā¦and find new jobs.āĀ Their purpose, he said, should be āto promote the sport, not to interfere with it. To take some of the best sport we have in the country and do this to it is not a very intelligent thing to do.āĀ
Just some more food for thought for folks hoping a progressive property owner will step up and provide the whole eventing community with access to a similar venue in the near future, one with a more āacceptableāĀ name.
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And yet a problem that goes back more than a century persistsā¦
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So we just ignore all the problems that have been fixed and pretend they were never there to start with?
The point you are ignoring is that every generation has had a cause they have picked up and ran with. The point being made is not that there are not things that still need changing, but that this generation is not the only group to ever do this (grab a cause and run with it thing).
I think the āstop hating people who are differentā applies to all sides of this problem.
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Maybe you can ask Ellen to build a venue. Or is she not cool anymore? Martha has horses, ask her. Kim Kardashian? I mean thereās some hella rich women you can ask. Whereās Cardi B or Beyonce?
We all get it that the world is imperfect. Yet we still have to find ways to live in it together. Again, remember what obama said about cancel culture.
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Just curiousā¦do you believe that people with nasal allergies should not be allowed to have driversā licenses since sneezing is one of the top causes of motor vehicle accidents?
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Re: ācancel cultureāĀ ā¦ The only calls for ācancellationāĀ that Iāve seen from people not directly involved in the situation have been those insisting that EN should be ācancelled.āĀ
The event itself was (literally, not figuratively) cancelled not by public outcry or by EN or USEF, but by the people in charge of it. No one forced them to cancel.
Maybe itās just because Iām too young to understand the ways of the world, but Iām still seeing immature behavior from both sides of the dispute.
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