Give Civic A Fair Shake!

Civic Stadium is not getting a fair shake. And the 4J School Board is trying to get a free pass. The disposition of this property is too important to our community to be ram-rodded through with insufficient study and minimal public input.

The 4J School Board is moving very quickly to hand up a death sentence for Civic Stadium. After two years of dragging its feet and pushing aside public concerns for the future of Civic, suddenly at its upcoming February 17 meeting, 4J will unilaterally push to remove the stadium’s historic site designation, to apply for a demolition permit and to rezone two income-producing pieces of the property for potential sale.

With fiscal blinders firmly in place, 4J may indeed be focused sharply on its own needy balance sheet. But the school district’s balance sheet is not the only bottom line that matters here.

Let’s put the blinders aside and take a long, hard look at the community balance sheet and the real value of this unique property. To do otherwise is to display short-term greed and arrogantly refer to it as responsible action. It won’t wash.

To be frank, Civic Stadium and its acreage were gifted to the school district. It was a gift of land, labor, materials and grand foresight; a gift to benefit youth sports and recreation; a gift of great pride from hard-pressed Eugene community visionaries made in the depths of the Great Depression; a gift that assumed good stewardship; a gift for the price of one dollar.

4J has been derelict in its trust and stewardship of this property. It is complicit in the current shabby condition of Civic. Where was 4J’s sudden rush to responsible action when Civic needed attention?

4J would lay blame at the feet of the Eugene Emeralds. If overall maintenance was, in fact, a clause in the EM’s lease, why wasn’t it enforced? Where was the sudden rush to responsible action then? Granting a demolition permit now amounts to giving the defendants a chance to destroy the evidence against them.

The 4J board members would do well to imagine what it might be like to stand for reelection now by a show of hands from those trusting Eugene souls of 1937.

Disposal of this “surplus” property cannot be a matter only of what’s in the immediate best interests of 4J. 4J is an integral part of a larger community and needs to act like it.

At this point, I’m sure my prose is sufficiently purple to make the point: Let’s Give Civic a Fair Shake!

How to do that?

First, let’s slow down and get some straight, informed answers. We’re only going to get one chance to get this right.

We’re overdue for some due diligence. It’s important to know exactly what this property might honestly be worth both to 4J and to the greater community in the future. It is 4J’s responsibility as steward of this gift thoroughly to evaluate the possible options for this asset that will result in the greatest community good.

4J’s responsibility regarding the Civic legacy is not merely financial and certainly not limited to the bottom line of the current fiscal year. It must be one of thoughtful, carefully considered stewardship.

Involvement of the community is essential. The future of Civic should be determined by a fair and open process that allows for public input BEFORE decisions are made about next steps–especially the next steps being put forward at 4J’s February 17 meeting.

For the public to provide informed input, they must be given the full range of facts:
  1. Financial accountability in the form of a line-item report of REAL costs of maintaining the stadium in the absence of a major tenant, plus any income associated with the property
  2. A professional and independent re-use assessment and feasibility study that analyzes possible uses, potential costs, funding options and potential buyers
  3. An analysis of long-term financial impacts of various options including possible long-range financial benefits that might outweigh short-term gains of property sale
  4. An assessment of community support for a possible bond measure to support preserving and improving Civic
  5. An assessment of the City’s potential for opening its arms to enfold the Civic property into its parks system
  6. Analysis of the success stories from other similar stadium projects nationwide
  7. Explicit input regarding use and value from specific interested parties including City Council, the Mayor, Chamber of Commerce, youth sports organizations, the YMCA, Lane Community College, Neighborhood organizations, U of O sports, Eugene Historical Society, etc.


In the meantime, 4J needs to table its current proposals. With all due respect, please:
  1. Slow down, a little time invested is due a 70 year old asset
  2. Show the public the numbers
  3. Honor our past
  4. Hire professionals
  5. Don’t rezone for sale the two north parcels
  6. Don’t apply for removal of Civic’s historic site designation
  7. Don’t apply for a demolition permit

Obviously, Save Civic Stadium is focused on preserving and enhancing the gem that once was Civic Stadium. But we sincerely and strongly support the best possible outcome for the community as a whole wherever that might lead.

In fact, there is a national organization that conducts feasibility studies for the preservation of historic ballparks–the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, founded by Ripken’s son, Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.–which can provide exactly this kind of in-depth analysis. The cost of this study would be $40,000.

The timeline for such a study is 60-75 days–in other words, a very rapid turnaround considering the magnitude and long-term implications of 4J’s decisions regarding disposition of the Civic property. A study like this would provide the 4J board and the citizens of Eugene a wealth of information in a timely fashion, which would help determine potential best-case scenarios and next steps.

The Ripken study is only one option for analyzing and envisioning the possibilities, and Save Civic Stadium is completely open to supporting the best viable alternative for a thorough analysis and exploration of viable outcomes.

While we have a definite preference for a particular outcome, we are committed to advocating for the greatest community benefit and welcome both the informed input of the public as well as objective analysis by an outside party–either of which might suggest a different outcome than the one we prefer. But that’s a risk that must be taken to arrive at the best-informed, most fiscally responsible and civically minded outcome.

To that end, Save Civic Stadium pledges to contribute $10,000 toward funding of this much needed re-use and feasibility study. We call on the city to partner with us and match this funding. We strongly encourage the 4J board to consider the value of such an objective analysis and to explore potential funding options to make up the balance.

We call on all interested parties to help us fund this crucial glimpse into the future and Give Civic a Fair Shake!