The unhappy dissenters part of it, anyway.
Today Southhampton, tomorrow the world!
The planned development of the city’s last piece of open land would turn the abandoned Imperial Sugar site – the very genesis of the city – into an $800 million urban space with museums, parks, luxury apartments, restaurants and a theater.
“It represents our evolution,” said Doug Adolph, a city spokesman, “where we’ve been and where we’re going.”
Yet the project has stirred vocal and passionate opposition. More than 2,000 residents signed a petition against part of the plan and homeowners formed a committee – complete with study groups, a website and an email distribution list – to track the project’s progress since 2007, fighting various components. Tuesday, before the City Council tentatively approved the project, many among the crowd of about 150 residents voiced emotional appeals against it.
The crux of their opposition: No more apartments.
Yeah, as Greg notes, the kid of apartments that will be built on this location are probably not what the folks who were speaking out against them have in mind. If they really want to put a “No Vacancy” sign up at Sugar Land’s city limits, I suppose that might be good for the other places that people would move to instead, but it’s not a good move for them. In the end, I suspect this will all blow over.