I love it when public officials seek to remove doubt about their commitment.

A bit of doubt removal has taken place at Amarillo City Hall, where the City Council and its appointed Local Government Corporation appear headed toward building a better future for the city’s downtown business district.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/31825077/amarillo-to-move-forward-with-bigger-costlier-mpev

The LGC has come up with a formula to build a baseball park downtown that won’t cost property taxpayers any more than what they’re paying now for municipal services.

The multipurpose event venue cost has been revised downward a bit, from $48 million to $44 million. Yes, it’s more than the $32 million stated on the city referendum ballot measure that voters approved this past November.

The payoff, though, well could be a AA minor league baseball team that would play in the shiny new MPEV set to be built across the street from City Hall at the site of the old Coca-Cola distribution center.

LGC officials are going to pitch the idea of hotel occupancy tax footing the bill, along with money There will be those who do not believe the city can support a AA baseball team.

I remain hopeful that the city is able to move this project forward and bring an Major League Baseball-affiliated minor league team to a city that has supported such an activity in the past.

As Mayor Paul Harpole has noted, there remains a lot of work ahead to make this deal come to fruition.

Some of us had concerns about the council’s commitment to continuing all the work that had been done to this point. Voters elected three new council members a year ago, all of whom had expressed some reservations about the MPEV and whether the downtown redevelopment proposals were worth the effort.

The LGC board, which bears the stamp of the new council, appears to be looking hard for ways to keep the momentum going.

As Harpole said: “When we look at the economic impact of this in our city and what it could bring,  it’s really an important way for us to move forward. I think we are looking at a bit of an historic day this day and next week when this is ratified.”

Let’s keep moving this project along.