This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
News / Politics Architect Stuart Emmons On Coliseum
Posted by Matt Davis on Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Architect Stuart Emmons of Emmons Architects addressed city council on the Memorial Coliseum during the open testimony this morning. He was moderately less distracting to look at than right-wing radio host Victoria Taft, so I managed to capture most of what he said. 
"We are teed up to become a leading sustainability capital and design capital, but it will take more than just talk," he said. "We will be judged by our actions. Everything we do and are involved in should back up our words physically. We are not doing this in a coordinated, thorough way right now."
"Let's preserve Memorial Coliseum. Not only say 'preserve' it, but really preserve it. Preserve its design integrity respectfully and make it into a sustainable best practice," he said. "Good sustainable practices call for building reuse. We will be nationally chastised for tearing down Memorial Coliseum, or marring its design integrity, no matter how we spin it. We will be a poster child for what not to do. It's the wrong message to send."
Emmons offered three arguments about money. He said 1.Restoring Memorial Coliseum is a perfect shovel-ready project, and restoring it is likely to be more aesthetically pleasing, and cheaper, than building a replacement. 2.The $200,000 to $500,000 the coliseum is losing is "peanuts relatively," he said, "and clearly under a new deal and new management, Memorial Coliseum can easily pay for itself." Lastly 3.Consider the economic value lost. "The assessor values the Colieseum at $57.1million, which is a fraction of its replacement value. Has the Paulson team added the $57.1million to their $55million?" he asked.
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Nice. Finally some actual constructive input rather than hand wringing and crying foul. Not that I don't like crying foul from my armchair.........
Team Common Cause: 1
Team Philistines (Sam-Randy soulmate buddies): 0
Team Common Cause: 1
Team Philistines (Sam-Randy soulmate buddies): 0
I don't like how Paulson is trying to pressure us into destroying the MC or else.... I think that alone is reason enough not to do it. But the arguments in favor of keeping the MC are pretty funny. Sustainable best practices? WTF does that even mean? How about "where are the Winterhawks going to go?" or "what about the concerts that won't be booked becuase of conflicts with the Rose Garden..."
Bottom line, it seems the MC still has some merit, just needs a bit of upkeep and perhaps better management. And it can always remind us to recall that time when boring glass boxes were all the rage.....
Demondog. Good point. I put what you said in my handout for the Commissioners and listed many uses that needed homes. Here is the preliminary list I compiled:
Current Events at Memorial Coliseum (usable all seasons)
ice hockey (winterhawks)
high school graduations
grand floral parade
high school basketball tournaments
state dance contests
children’s events
ice capades
music concerts
political rallies
tennis tournaments - davis cup
future tournaments and events that a creative manager could imagine
Stuart
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