I don't think people should be alarmed that they're talking about this. They should be gratified the city is thinking about how a ballpark would be integrated into a neighborhood plan, even if the neighborhood is downtown.
When you design a ballpark in the context of a neighborhood, you're doing a dance. There are things you're responding to. When you're building in a parking lot, there's nothing.
Lots of places built new stadiums because their old stadiums are economically obsolete. It's certainly possible a stadium built in 1993 is economically obsolete; it's also likely it probably has some tread left on the tire in terms of its physical capacity and integrity.
I don't know of a single case of a ballpark that is integrated into a neighborhood that isn't doing well. Anyplace that's been done it's been a success.
