Another Year, Another Stadium
Here are some selected highlights from the January 3, 2007, Park Board meeting. Because Liz was absent, I am subbing for her.
The first item of interest was the Park Board's voting to accept the $1,240,000 low bid for construction of the new Parade Stadium's artificial turf football/soccer field.
The Board also approved another $568,500 for stadium amenities, as follows: $51,000 for chain link fencing; $17,500 for a stadium sound system; $48,000 for an electronic scoreboard; $62,000 for stadium chair seating; and $390,000 for grandstands, ramp systems, concrete pads and press box platform.
The grand total for the new Parade Stadium is $1,808,500.
Funding sources are a $200,000 NFL grant and $1,709,000 in 2005 and 2006 CPI funds, which have already been secured.
Construction has been rescheduled to begin in the spring of 2007 and to be completed in the fall of 2007.
In other Board business, the Board voted to accept the low bid of Waste Management of Minnesota for $135,000 for waste and recycling services.
The Board also agreed to amend the Loring Park Master Plan to add an off-leash exercise area in Loring Park. There was no decision made on where this area would be. That will come later.
And in the last item of unfinished business, the Board passed a friendly amendment to send back to the Planning Committee the recommendation that the board approve the use of part of Victory Memorial Parkway as a Metro Transit bus route.
Now back to the subject of Parade Stadium and some additional commentary.
What is most interesting is that I and others who attended the Parade ground-breaking ceremonies in October were told that the stadium was for youngsters in youth sports. When I asked District Manager Paul Hokeness who the stadium was for, he told me that it was for youth sports and not for high school football teams like DeLaSalle.
But with a press box, a $48,000 electronic scoreboard and a $17,500 sound system, this stadium is obviously not just for younger players. So who is this other stadium REALLY for? The public needs to know more about this $1,808,500 Park Board investment.
At a time when the Board is cash strapped, where are the funds to maintain these expensive amenities going to come from? The Park Board is already supporting the development of DeLaSalle's stadium. How many more stadiums do we need in our park system?
It was my observation--and a disturbing one--that some of the commissioners were blind-sided by the misleading way in which this agenda item was presented for approval.
What is clear to me is that it's time now for a Citizens Advisory Committee to be created, as mandated by Park Board Ordinance. It's time that all Park Board Commissioners and the public have a clear understanding of why what was originally presented by staff as a refurbished artificial turf athletic field project is now being transformed into ANOTHER stadium project. And the public has a right to participate in the development of this project.
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Friends of the Riverfront have a 5-minute clip from the study session where the Parade Stadium and "Crystal Palace" event center are presented at this linked story.
Although this was a "public" meeting by state law, the Park Board did not see fit to televise or record it.
Posted by webmaster | Fri, 01/05/2007 - 2:22pm | Login to post comments