9 April 13th–April 19th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | Field of No One’s Dreams The Diamondbacks’ Chase Field is both the best and worst in baseball. BY ELIAS WEISS T he future of Chase Field is shakier than the rattler on the tail end of a diamondback snake. The downtown Phoenix superstructure has become a landmark over the past 25 years. Now it’s playing host to another Major League Baseball season — the Arizona Diamondbacks played rival the Los Angeles Dodgers in their first homestand last weekend — while also offering blockbuster concerts by music legends throughout year. But even with a booked calendar, the future of the building is uncertain as it comes under fire for being one of pro base- ball’s lousiest venues. And with the D-backs’ lease on Chase Field ending in 2027, there’s talk of setting up new digs elsewhere. Let’s cut to the chase — the Diamondbacks’ home has some flaws. As the fourth-oldest ballpark in the league, it routinely ranks among the five worst of 30 MLB venues. Rattled Snakes For fans who remember the stadium’s glory days, the attitude has gone from, “Take me out to the ballgame!” to “Put me out of my misery!” Chase Field had a promising start. It was the first MLB stadium with a retract- able roof in the U.S. and saw the fastest new expansion team to ever win a World Series when the D-backs won in 2001 in just their fourth season. But since then, things have gone down- hill. That retractable roof is in need of repairs and can only be opened or shut when the stadium is empty due to a broken pulley. The roof leaks, a phenom- enon that soaked some fans at the World Baseball Classic in March. “We have continued with our routine roof inspections with plans to address the roof issues in the off-season,” Jaci Brown, the D-backs senior vice president of communications, told Phoenix New Times. “When there is wind blowing in a certain angle with heavy rain, it can push the rain into the ballpark through the spacing between the panels. This is part of the roof design and is not necessarily a repair issue.” Still, there have been grease fires in the kitchen, burst pipes, faulty scoreboard lights, and other problems at Chase Field in recent years. In 2019, the franchise swapped the field’s parched natural grass playing surface for synthetic turf. Recent rankings from USA Today and Sportsnaut place Chase Field at No. 27, or fourth worst, in pro baseball. Sports Illustrated ranked it a little higher at No. 25, noting that “the stadium just ends up feeling empty.” Despite being one of the largest stadiums in MLB, Chase Field was among the bottom 10 in attendance last season, according to ESPN. The atmosphere for fans isn’t helped by the lack of natural light in the stadium when the roof is closed. It can feel like a yawning airplane hangar. ‘Pretty Major Renovations’ A quarter-century ago, the Diamondbacks and Maricopa County spent $364 million to build the cavernous 48,519-seat stadium downtown. But the D-backs’ relationship with the county has become, well, complicated. In 2016, Diamondbacks leaders threatened to sue the county after it refused to collect $187 million from taxpayers to bankroll renovations at Chase Field. Since then, Arizona passed a law allowing for a 9 percent sales tax surcharge to help with stadium upgrades, but team executives are still mulling the tax option. | NEWS | Norm Hall / Getty Images The Arizona Diamondbacks hosted rival the Los Angeles Dodgers for the home opener at Chase Filed on April 6. Financial Aid Arizona increases funds to help mobile home owners facing eviction. BY KATYA SCHWENK A new law signed by Governor Katie Hobbs on March 30 increases the pot of money available to mobile home owners in Arizona who are being evicted. An emergency provision will allow the law to take effect immediately — in time to help residents of three Phoenix mobile home parks facing imminent eviction. The move comes after months of organizing by mobile home park resi- dents, who argued that state support was insufficient. A wave of development in Phoenix, fueled in part by wealthy investors and a private university, has put mobile home owners at risk of displacement. “Mobile home residents are our neighbors, and deserve adequate compensation when they are forced to leave their homes behind,” Hobbs said in a statement on Twitter after she signed HB 2381 into law. The bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the Arizona Legislature, passing the Senate with unanimous support on March 29 and the House 48 to 9 on March 30. The legislation makes changes to the Arizona Department of Housing’s mobile home relocation fund. It provides finan- cial assistance to mobile home owners forced to move — or abandon — their trailers. The new law increases the maximum amount that an owner can collect if redevelopment forces them to move a mobile home from $7,500 to $12,500 for a single section mobile home, and $12,500 to $20,000 for a multisection mobile home. For people forced to abandon their dwellings, the new law provides up to $5,000 in compensation for a single section mobile home — up from $1,875 — and up to $8,000 for a multisection home, which is up from $3,125. Most homeowners in the three Phoenix mobile home parks facing eviction have smaller single-section trailers that are too old to be moved — meaning that most expected only the $1,875 payout before Hobbs’ signed the new law. >> p12 >> p12
