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Retired soccer star David Beckham and his investors first wanted a site at the Port of Miami, which was flatly rejected by county commissioners in a solid 11-1 vote against the location. Then they looked at Plan B, eyeing an unused boat slip behind the AmericanAirlines Arena in what is being developed as Museum Park, but that was flatly rejected by City of Miami leaders who said it was an inappropriate site.
Now, plenty of folks are afraid Beckham is going to take his ball and go play someplace else.
Related post: Go West Beckham — Strike 2 for waterfront soccer stadium
Beckham et al have already said they would not consider the Little Havana site, although the certainly did consider it in 2007 when a soccer stadium was floated as part of the original Marlins Park development. They say they have to be 
downtown, but Marlins Park sure is close enough to downtown. You can see it, smell it, taste downtown from the 17th Avenue location.
But some malas lenguas are suggesting that this is a cynical plan by some of these city leaders to help the owners of those “several small parcels of land” that would need to be acquired sell their properties at an inflated price.
Suarez told Ladra that he was told there were between seven and nine properties involved and that one of them might be a child care facility. He also said that he knew of no ulterior motives and that there better not be any.
“Anyone who knows me knows that if you have any kind of agenda, you better clarify it with me first,” Suarez said, adding that he would ask former Mayor Diaz about the rumors when they met tonight.
“The footprint sits mostly on city-owned property,” Suarez added.
He also mentioned that the city and Beckham group could go through eminent domain proceedings if the property owners did not want to come to a reasonable agreement.
“It could be a quick take, even though they may not like that because the court sets the price,” Suarez told Ladra Wednesday afternoon.
The petition online was written by someone calling himself or herself “Cane Fan” and has 468 signatures. It states:
There’s a heated debate underway in our community about the location of a potential soccer stadium for David Beckham’s new team. It’s an important discussion with many points of view, but one clear choice is emerging. By selecting the former site of the Orange Bowl, our community can accomplish many things at once, including the creation of a place where futbol and football can live side-by-side!
We believe in the following principles:
- We DO want professional soccer in Miami and believe David Beckham will make a great owner for our community. We should roll out the red carpet for this global icon, just not at the expense of other key constituencies.
- We’re a community of Canes fans, with tremendous pride in our football team. That said, we’re tired of driving an hour to catch a game and miss the days when we could root for the home team in the heart of our community. University of Miami has expressed interest in the potential to play home games on the very land it built an iconic history of success.
- We believe in fiscal restraint, and this site would save the taxpayers up to $125 million in impact fees due to already-existing infrastructure, parking, water and power base.
- We envision a booming entertainment central combining two beautiful stadiums, symbiotically connected and attracting amazing performances from across the globe.
Please sign this petition to encourage Beckham to choose the former Orange Bowl site, support something that finally makes sense, and bring a winner back to our community.
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Xavier Suarez draws plans for Little Havana soccer stadium added by Ladra on
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