DCA tickets

[joefanalum]

DCA 2008 Championships tickets now on sale…

I would have like DCA in its VIP plan to included parking

That big lot on Oak Street (P1) on the parking guide would done the job.

This lot is called the Club Lot for the soccer fans.

Maybe in 2009

[Big Bad Bari]

We better buy a huge block of them for this upcoming DCA! We're gonna need the FINALS tickets again this year! ^0^

[lp1955]

Not going this year for the first time in a while family vacation oh well.

[Gary Matczak]

I sent in my order the same day the form came...........great idea on the parking!

[MDempsey]

Im a ST Joes and CRU alum that was BORN in Rochester. I was at DCA in 2007 and trust me...Id park as FAR away from the stadium as possible(I was SHOCKED at how Roch has taken a dive!) not being negative...just honest;-)

[TomPeashey]

don't be so hard Mike... trust me, the stadium did IMPROVE that neighborhood... I worked just a few hundred feet from the front 50 for over 17 years... as a matter of fact, they are now using my old parking lot for the stadium on the west side of Broad St... (between Broad and Orchard St.) but like most places in Rochester... it's pretty safe - you just have to use common sense... but you must admit, for the championship - the local police do a bang up job in all categories... they have - for two years in a row, done a great job...

Ironically, during those same 17 years, the boss (Vince Bruni) taught school at #17 school just 2 blocks away... I'm sure he's smiling at having the show so close to his stomping grounds...

[Bigdrum73]

Hey Tom, I don't trust you... The stadium is ground zero in some of the worst that humanity can be. The "city" of Rochester is in trouble and getting worse. They are currently breaking the budget with a program called "zero tolerance" attempting to stem the tide of violence. However the daily shootings, stabbings, and assault's continue. As a matter of fact, recently just a short distance from the stadium, a group of women attacked, beat, stabbed, and murdered another woman in the middle of an intersection, in broad daylight, with 40 people watching, and the police have yet been able to make an arrest. "Common sense" ???? OK.....

[wishbonecav]

Hey Tom, I don't trust you... The stadium is ground zero in some of the worst that humanity can be. The "city" of Rochester is in trouble and getting worse. They are currently breaking the budget with a program called "zero tolerance" attempting to stem the tide of violence. However the daily shootings, stabbings, and assault's continue. As a matter of fact, recently just a short distance from the stadium, a group of women attacked, beat, stabbed, and murdered another woman in the middle of an intersection, in broad daylight, with 40 people watching, and the police have yet been able to make an arrest. "Common sense" ???? OK.....

This is truly an unfortunate post because it strikes at the most basic of human needs and is difficult to diffuse in a society that has adopted fear-mongering as its mantra. If we can find one event in a thousand to be fearful about, we declare the system irretrievably broken, cast doubt over others decision making, claim some form of moral high ground and "harrumph" when things actually go well, claiming that it would be "just a matter of time" before something else goes wrong.

It's difficult to take an opposing position when the language of fear overtakes the argument...but I'll give it a try...and from the perspective of a DCA '07 attendee.

I went to DCA Finals on Sunday night and parked my car on Grape Street. The sun was still up. It was a pretty darn comfortable night. Know what I saw? Kids in the street. Oh, by the way...they were all black kids. Know what they were doing? Riding their bikes, bouncing balls, chasing each other, playing tag. Know what the adults were doing? They were in chairs on the lawn or on the porch...supervising the kids. I waved. I said hello to some of the kids and one asked me what was going on "over there." I gestured to the adults as if to ask if it was ok to stop and chat and one of them nodded their approval. I stopped for a minute or two and pointed out some of the people in corps jackets. I told them what to look for and listen for throughout the night. Without realizing it, I found myself tossing their ball while I talked with them.

To be honest, they weren't really interested in the "show" so much as the "event". After a few sentences, the only response I got was "throw me the ball!" as the kids all went out for a pass. I threw kind of a duck. They threw it back. The second one was a little tighter. We did this for about 5 minutes. I bet I could've played for a half hour with them and they were a little disappointed to see me leave. I told them I might see them after the show.

I walked the 200 feet to the stadium and saw DCA unfolding. There were no cars up on blocks. There were no oil drums burning. There was a convenience store doing a pretty good business on one corner and there were 4 uniformed cops shooting the breeze and helping the visitors cross the intersection near the will-call area.

The stadium looked great. It was super clean. The brick sidewalk was well swept and the smell of Italian sausage was making its way outside the gate. There were a couple of houses bordering the stadium that were boarded up, but there were others where a little entrepreneurial spirit was in vogue to provide some parking on lawns (my street spot was a freebie and under a street light). Was it a dynamic downtown environment? No. That was Friday Night when I & E lit up the Main Street area near the best of Rochester...the Convention Center, Broad Street, the Gennessee River, the Blue Cross Arena, the Federal Building and some good Irish Pubs. That is where the GRVA shows itself off...and DCA benefitted from that immensely.

This was a little different. Paetec Park is a mile or two from Rochester's best. Physically and metaphorically. A kind way to say it is "it ain't the suburbs." If it was a pocketful of change, Paetec looks like a shiny penny next to some pretty dull nickels. But I am here to tell you that I didn't do anything differently than I wouldn't have done at Seabreeze or the local motel. I put my valuable stuff on my person (phone and cash), locked the doors and went to the event. And I didn't give it a second thought. The "out-of-towners" that parked in front of me and behind me (I could tell by their plates) did the same thing (though they didn't stop to play catch.)

I got inside early so I could visit with my friends and waited for my "date" to buzz me on my cell (my stepsister Shelly who was arriving a little later). Turns out she parked on the street, too, and walked to the stadium. Imagine? A grown woman, with her purse in hand, walking by herself? Amazing!

And it looked like about 7500 others had a similar experience. It was a celebration. From the Crusaders to the Bucs. It was a glorious night.

Need a litmus test for how it turned out at the end? We walked IN THE DARK to our cars. The smallest kids were nowhere to be found (the streetlights were on) and there were only a few of the neighbors standing around talking on the sidewalk. On a Sunday night. On a Holiday weekend. We said hello to them and good-bye to each other and could hear the sounds of the Bucs victory performance behind us. Awesome.

Am I going to DCA 2008? You bet I am. I need redemption for that first pass.

I only hope I get the same parking spot.

[AlbionNY Drum Line]

Im a ST Joes and CRU alum that was BORN in Rochester. I was at DCA in 2007 and trust me...Id park as FAR away from the stadium as possible(I was SHOCKED at how Roch has taken a dive!) not being negative...just honest;-)

I guess Florida softened you up a bit :P

[JimF-LowBari]

Thought and question from a person who doesn't know squat about Rochester but knows what areas of Harrisburg, PA to stay away from and what times of days to do it....

We drove the "scenic" route past the Gentlemens Clubs (can't remember the names but asked one of our folks if he wanted dropped off and picked up after the show :P ), Chinese Place (Yum-Yum?), discount meat next to the drug store (how convinient :P ) to the stadium. Later we were told by a stadium person "OMG! You didn't go the other way? It's quicker to the highway." Saw some people walking around but nothing that made me too uneasy with the doors locked. Had handicapped placard so did not have to walk though the residential area.

What is the status of the neighborhood the other side of the entrance of the stadium? Wife has a pinched nerve so we spent a lot of time out of the seats and on the upper deck walkway that faces that way. In daylight saw kids out with someone watching and people driving by who stopped and talked to the residents. Worst thing was a house with a dog (dogs?) that were supposedly tied up and left alone outside (I didn't see this). Night time area was a ghost town with only a few cars going down the street behind the stadium. Reminded both of us of the house my sis bought years ago that the city of Harrisburg condemned and fixed up. Place was in a working class neighborhood that depending on which houses you looked at was either a slumlord delight or trying to make it back as a family area.

Edited November 13, 2007 by JimF-3rdBari