[Vision2020] Playfields

Wed Dec 7 14:52:11 PST 2005

Tom,

 We already have a skate board park,  soccer field, baseball field, frisbee golf course and rock climbing  wall in this town. Why not build something NEW that we do not  have?  How about a  go-cart track,  bowling ally, a  miniature golf course, or how about a virtual reality arcade, bungee  jumping tower, a larger senior center with a track of land for  gardening? Why not a arts and crafts center for the community to learn  about and share their arts and crafts, a place where community members  can come together and spend  time together talking about something  other  than politics? Or how about a  senior day care center,  they are popping up all over the US, places where younger than school  age children get to spend time with senior citizens. This has proved to  be beneficial to both the children and the seniors. How about a  cultural teleconference center where we can talk to people from around  the world via the internet in live video conferences and learn about  other !
 societies?

 I will not support another ball field or  playground before we start doing somethings for other members of our  community. I am tired of everything being about the young athletes in  our community who are limited in Idaho only by their imaginations. So  many, the majority of people in our community, are limited in what they  can do by outdoor conditions, aging bones, joints and minds, and  limited resources, yet we give them virtually nothing. It is a shameful  reality. 

 The City of Moscow does not need to build another  climbing wall, we you can go climb a wall, tree, or go use the one in  SRC. The City of Moscow does not need to build another park, ball  field, or athletic facility, we got PLENTY. It needs something for  those that are not young or athletic those that have nothing but the  library which is understaffed, under-booked, and underfunded. 

  Why can't the disabled, poor, unathletic, uncoordinated, dorkish,  nerdy, wobbly jointed, elderly, non-sportsman and women be given  something besides the bill for the multi-million dollar athletic  facilities with a large side of guilt for not supporting another new  multi-million dollar athletic facility for athletes?

 I live  next to four parks in Moscow, East City, Whitman, St. Joseph, and  another little one in the next neighborhood over. Of I all the times I  driven, walked, or seen them, they are hardly, if ever full or crowded,  and if they are, it is for a short event. 

  I think there are so many better ways to spend city dollars than on a place for the moving of a ball back and forth.

  -Take Care,

  Donovan J Arnold

Tom Ivie <the_ivies3 at yahoo.com> wrote:  Jeff, 
  A  couple of points you made stood out to me.  Specifically, in  number 3 you mention skateboarding.  I don't remember there being  a skateboard feature to this big park, but it is an excellent  idea.  Maybe even a rock climbing feature (Moscow Rocks!) and a  frisbee golf course. We should remember that not all athletes play  soccer, baseball, football, etc.  Many do, but they also  cross-over, ie. football and rock climbing, or, soccer/baseball and  skateboarding for example. It has been awhile since I saw the plan for  the park, did it have any basketball hoops? If not, it should. The park  would be made even better by your recommendation in number 4.  A  trail that off-shoots from the main Paradise Path to the park would  give better access, and probably safer access, for kids and adults  alike. -Tom

Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com> wrote:
  After watching the "playfield issue" for several weeks now, some observations:

1. Youth sports activities are an important element of a family 
oriented community. Having survived youth soccer for several years 
(as a licensed coach, licensed referee, soccer association board 
member and co-founder of the Palouse 5-a-side soccer tournament), I 
can easily attest to the importance of additional playfields to meet 
the demand for youth and community activities. Hours and hours of 
negotiation with Parks and Rec, U of I, and churches were necessary 
to find marginal practice and play areas for youth soccer. Similar 
negotiations were necessary for community members involved in 
softball, baseball, cross country, etc. There are more youth 
involved in those activities today than there were when I was 
actively participating.

2. With youth soccer, the N. Idaho league is very-well established 
(Coeur   d'Alene, Post Falls, Tri-Cities, Lewiston, Spokane). Our 
facilities are not on a par with those communities against which the 
Moscow teams compete. New soccer fields would help to increase the 
number of venues we are able to host here. That not only benefits 
our local businesses (and gets young folks in proximity to U of I, 
but also helps our local parents - additional fields could make it 
possible for our teams to host a few more venues so our parents and 
kids have a few less trips out of town. I have heard from numerous 
parents, whose kids are involved in other active team sports, 
expressing similar views.

3. My former residence (Conestoga Dr) is just up the hill from the 
proposed location and I am quite familiar with the terrain/proximity 
issues. The proposed location would seem to be ideally suited to 
allow the hundreds of young folks and active adults in the Frontier 
and adjacent neighborhoods easy access to a !   large   playfield. It would 
be a site well-suited to anecdoctal frisbee playing, tag, pickup 
games, skateboarding, etc. in addition to active team sports. It 
also has great visibility from Palouse River Drive so activities of 
the young folks would be observable. Coincidentally, I vividly 
recall how important the development of the small park - just east of 
proposed site - was to the neighborhood. Dozens of neighbors worked 
to make that small strip park happen. But that site is ill-equipped 
to handle the more active youth team sports.

4. The site location would lend itself to development of a bike trail 
extension - connecting with the existing trail system - this would 
likely have great appeal to the community.

5. Moscow is very well suited to handling a couple of hundred 
visitors for a youth team event. After all, our community hosts a 
number of athletic events weekly that attract thousands of visitors 
(UI team sport!   s)- and   it doesn't seem to affect the overall ambiance 
of our life here in a college town. Quite the contrary, it seems to 
energize our community. If there are concerns about traffic flow, 
then bring some of our local civil engineers in to reframe the 
access/egress issues. But the limited amount of traffic involved, 
relative to the traffic issues that are presented in that 
neighborhood during football weekends is seemingly trivial.

6. The sound system issue seems quite easy to resolve. We have 
numerous sound engineers in the community - engage them to design and 
test various configurations and measure the decibel levels in the 
neighboring areas. I am quite confident that the sound level can be 
designed to specifications that would produce sound at levels far 
below other noise systems (Greek Row, Kibbie Dome, etc.).

I cannot help but think about the success of the LCSC participation 
in baseball and the benefits that venue!    has   provided to the Lewiston 
area. I have visited their baseball stadium (a far more extensive 
facility than proposed here) and have walked the neighborhood around 
their facility. The noise emanating from that facility is far less 
than the noise levels imposed on East City Park neighbors numerous 
times a year. But, the benefits of all those folks having fun far 
outweigh the costs imposed by their facility - it seems likely that a 
similar experience could be had here.

7. I am quite surprised by the "Arboretum issue". The Arboretum is 
not a private park intended for only a designated segment of the 
Moscow community. It is a public facility that is intended to 
educate the public about the importance of managed green space 
areas. Providing visitors to our community close proximity to the 
Arboretum, especially young people, helps to expose them to the 
importance of the green-space resource. A playfield space adjacent 
to !   the   Arboretum provides an opportunity to extend the Arboretum into 
the playfield area. This may be our best chance to develop our own 
version of a "Julia Davis" resource.

But, bottom line, the Arboretum is a shared resource and the more we 
can share it, the more people will learn from it and respect it - and 
more than likely provide resources to continue its development. The 
proposed athletic facility would offer the Arboretum an opportunity 
to extend the managed "green space" to include a river/stream ecosystem. Wow!

8. Finally, consider the long-term development of the Palouse River 
Drive area. It is not a matter of whether that area will develop, 
but how and what will find its way into that corridor. Placing a 
large "green space" there can be a significant footprint that will 
impact that neighborhood in very positive ways. For example, if the 
95 bypass can be constructed just west of there (along the ID/WA 
border)!   , traffic   issues are now routed away from this site. Access 
would be convenient for all. Industrial development would be 
curtailed or at least divided/segmented.

The proposed project warrants approval - amend what needs to be 
amended to deal with pertinent issues - and get the facility into play.

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