Mary Souza’s Newsletter
February 26, 2014
Is Memorial Field in Danger?
Dear Newsletter Readers,
**Before we get to Memorial Field, there’s hot news from NIC!**
The air in this town is sizzling with messages and phone calls right now because of the possible change in the athletic conference for the NIC teams. The idea is to change all the teams, except wrestling, from the national competition of the SWAC (Scenic West Athletic Conf) to the regional NWAACC (Northwest Athletic Assoc. of Community Colleges) to save about $600,000 per year. There are strong arguments on both sides of the issue and, personally, I have no opinion either way on the decision.
I do, however, have an opinion on the process… it’s all about the process! Seems that college President Joe Dunlap and Athletic Director Al Williams are doing an end run around normal procedure. They are going behind the scenes to ask faculty to support changing to the NWAACC. I’ve also been told there were threats of job loss if coaches or athletic staff talked with anyone about their opinions, and that the Booster Club was caught completely off guard by this proposal.
But, surprisingly, the Editor of the Press must have been consulted because he wrote an editorial in last Sunday’s paper in which he supported the change. (How could the Press write that editorial without waiting to hear both sides at the Trustee meeting?) All of this finagling was done outside of the public eye and before the issue has even been explained to the Board of Trustees.
The Board will finally hear an official presentation from Pres. Dunlap today, at their regular meeting.* I’m hoping they will not vote on the issue now, but will take time to accept input from all sides and seriously consider this decision.
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Ok, back to our main topic: Now that McEuen Park is nearing completion, the city is turning its attention to the Four Corners project. What is it and where is it?
The center of the Four Corners is the intersection downtown where Mullan Ave. and Government Way crossover NW Blvd. It’s where the ugly old warehouse sat for years near the northwest corner, the Human Rights bldg is on the southwest corner, the condos on the southeast, and a smaller building, now owned by the County, (used to be a pizza place) is on the northeast corner.
The Four Corners has been discussed, off and on, for more than 10 years. The current project encompasses far more now than just those four corners, however. It includes Memorial Field (watch out!), and the Museum (that might go too), and 29 linear acres of the old railroad land (200 ft wide) all the way along NW Blvd up to Riverstone. It’s a wonderful piece of land that the BLM (Federal Bureau of Land Management) will give to the City with only two conditions: First there must be a Master Plan created and, secondly, there can be NO commercial anything on those 29 acres…ever. It must be public open space. That part is fabulous.
At last week’s City Council meeting, the acting director of the Parks Dept, Bill Greenwood, was asked about Memorial Field by Councilman Dan Gookin. Bill seemed to tap dance around, saying the old grandstands are not in the best of shape, and they might want to reposition the field…etc. (In other words, they have plans to seriously change Memorial Field.) It sounded like the same old style from the recent past, of having a back room plan in place before talking to the public. So I was glad to hear new Mayor Steve Widmyer tell Bill Greenwood that the grandstands hold great historic value for people, and much of the history of the Fort Grounds has already been taken away, so he hopes the grandstands will be preserved. (In other words, no way Bill.)
This is good news because remember the Field of Dreams group that was going to have a semi-pro baseball team out on the Cherry Hill land the city bought for $440,000 a year or so ago? Well they couldn’t seem to raise enough money to outfit the field. Rumor was the baseball community here was unhappy with how the city treated the American Legion kids on McEuen, so they wouldn’t give big dollars to this semi-pro group. But whatever the reason, that project was a no-go. Then new rumors swirled about them looking at Memorial Field as a location for the new semi-pro baseball field because it’s within the urban renewal district and they could ask LCDC for help. Who knows if there’s any truth there, but if you care about preserving some shred of local history, keep an eye on Memorial Field. It might be one of the last chances.
And so, dear readers, these are just a few of the important bits you will never find in the local paper. Stay tuned, there’s a lot going on!
Hope you have a great rest of the week. –Mary
*The NIC Board meeting is tonight at 6:00pm in the Edminster Student Union Bldg.
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Mary Souza is a 26 year resident of CdA, local small business owner and was recently a candidate for Mayor. Her opinions are her own. To sign up for the free weekly newsletter, or access a free archive of past columns, visit www.marysouzacda.com Comments can be sent to marysouzacda@gmail.com. Please visit the local issues web site www.OpenCdA.com for more discussion.
Mary,
“So I was glad to hear new Mayor Steve Widmyer tell Bill Greenwood that the grandstands hold great historic value for people, and much of the history of the Fort Grounds has already been taken away, so he hopes the grandstands will be preserved.”
This is the same Steve Widmyer who took an oath of office to serve a multi-year term on the NIC Board of Trustees, then quit after seven months. This is the same Steve Widmyer who, while serving as a City parking Commissioner, was more than happy to see one of his cronies from Tinkertoy Tech appropriate City-owned on-street parking spaces for Stevie-Boy’s restaurant and put up signage to discourage lawfully permitted parking. This is the same Steve Widmyer who decided it was all right to deceive voters in his campaign literature by misrepresenting that he was still a CPA when, in fact, his license had lapsed years earlier.
So tell me again why you think now-Mayor Steve Widmyer should be believed when he’s talking about preserving Memorial Field.
Comment by Bill — February 27, 2014 @ 11:12 am
Bill,
Could be in the operative words “preserving” and “field”. Alot of wiggle room.
Comment by Old Dog — February 27, 2014 @ 4:39 pm
I personally lean towards giving Mayor Widmyer the opportunity to live up to his word. However, somewhat like Bill, I think the operative words leave a lot of wiggle room. In fact, I would go further in identifying the wiggle room than Bill who limited them to “preserving” and “field”. I suggest that the wiggle is in the words attributed to the Mayor by Mary–“the grandstands hold great historic value for people” and “hopes the grandstands will be preserved.” In short, maybe the “field” will be gone but the “grandstands” preserved…and moved. I guess if Memorial Field is to be destroyed if the grandstands are saved that would be better than what happened to the amazing and stately grandstands that graced Person’s Field back “in the day” when the CDA Vikings played football there.
Comment by up river — February 27, 2014 @ 6:03 pm
Old Dog and up river,
Having needed to interact with the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, I am very concerned that Widmyer and others here have absolutely no idea of what they’re really talking about when they use “preserve” or some variation of it. True historical preservation is characterized by the effort undertaken by the CPWH, the Architectural History and Historic Preservation Division of the Smithsonian Institution, or by the curators of the various Presidential Libraries. It is a combination of science and art practiced by people specially educated and trained to do it so that the preserved item or structure or document is truly preserved in the historical sense, not just temporarily saved for appearance.
If Widmyer and crew are at all interested in truly preserving various historical artifacts in Coeur d’Alene, I’d suggest they contact Ken Reid, State Archaeologist and Director of the State Historic Preservation Office, Idaho Historical Society in Boise. His telephone number is (208) 334-3847, and his email address is ken.reid@ishs.idaho.gov. He can connect them with someone who may be able to help.
Comment by Bill — February 27, 2014 @ 7:14 pm
Some years ago I was in contact with the historic society in Boise. They told me they were happy that someone was interested in saving some of the history of North Idaho. I brought this up to community members as well as various board members to be chastised and told that no one should have the right to tell someone what they can or cannot do with their property. This is now why we have condos going into the “HISTORIC” Fort Grounds.
RE Memorial Field and the new administration. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Comment by concernedcitizen — February 28, 2014 @ 8:09 am
Bill,
I sincerely hope “all interested in preserving various historical artifacts” are serious. If not, all we are left with is another Brand-X city–a city whose history can me measured by how many historical places fell way to the dozer and the stories told the few remaining “elders.”
Comment by Old Dog — February 28, 2014 @ 8:10 am
I agree with you all about the value of preserved history in our city. When we travel, we choose places that are interesting and have a character of their own, not someplace that looks like a wannabe sun valley or aspen. Let’s be ourselves and celebrate our roots!
Comment by mary — February 28, 2014 @ 1:33 pm
Mary,
You said it better than I. People came to Coeur d’Alene because it offered something distinctively different from where they left. Now, they come to Coeur d’Alene thinking they will see Coeur d’Alene, but instead they see miniature plastic replicas of Seattle, Oregon, and Boise.
Comment by Bill — February 28, 2014 @ 1:59 pm
Since it’s kind of a funny Friday–I think if there was a specific time when CDA turned its back on heritage in exchange for peaked brass-like gables was when Gibbs Tavern on Northwest Blvd was dozed to build Century 21. The last bar to sell fresh battered chicken gizzards and have a parking lot full of traffic calming mud-puddles.
I now go a great distance to enjoy that old-city charm and at the same time find it hard to remember the last time I spent more than $20 south of the freeway in CDA (with exception to property taxes that is).
Comment by Old Dog — February 28, 2014 @ 3:33 pm
Old Dog,
Every community is unique. I lived in Alexandria, Virginia, for eight years. Alexandria is an example of a city that has worked hard to preserve its history in Old Town Alexandria east of Quaker Lane. At the same time, Old Town Alexandria has modernized while faithfully preserving its history. Coeur d’Alene could and should have learned the lesson, but it was too interested in letting a local guy build a nice but definitely not first-class hotel.
Comment by Bill — February 28, 2014 @ 3:53 pm
Bill
What are you talking about, haven’t you read the articles in the local paper that everything is five star and first class? 😉
The only thing five star, first class are the prices.
Comment by concernedcitizen — March 1, 2014 @ 6:49 am
concernedcitizen,
I believe a crude quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt appropriately describes the condition Coeur d’Alene is in: “If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”
Comment by Bill — March 1, 2014 @ 7:42 am