Friends of Civic Stadium

The top of the second inning.

Saving Civic Stadium is the main goal, and for now, with the Ems being part of that deal. No ink has been laid down yet from the Elmore Sports Group, so there still is a chance to Save Civic Stadium for the Ems and not have them go with the U of O.

The announcer says that all the players are on the field but I can’t seem to see anyone for the Save Civic Stadium team! I can see up in the stands there are lots of people supporting the home team, but no players on the field. Is there some reason that the umpires won’t let these players on the field? Is it that they think the Save Civic Stadium team might spoil the game plan?

That is the way we are seeing it now. The Save Civic Stadium team seems to be permanently benched and isn’t even allowed on the field to play in the game. The City, U of O, Ems owners, and 4-J are not concerned with what the people of Eugene and Ems Fans want, but are dictating what happens to not only Civic, but also the Ems.

4-J doesn’t want to be the bad guy and demolish Civic, so they let it fall into disrepair by not being good landlords and doing their usual ‘deferred maintenance’. If 4-J would have been worthy stewards of Civic Stadium, it now would be in good shape to continue as the Home of the Ems and also be used as a multi-use facility by all of the citizens of Lane County. We can’t blame Mr. Kilkenny for his asking the owners of the Ems to come over to his new palace and we can’t blame Mr. Elmore for accepting. After all, it looked like no one would step up to the plate and fix up Civic like it should be for the Ems to continue to play there. Much less having 4-j put it on the surplus list, and the City of Eugene offering it as a potential Hospital site!!

Civic is a tradition and has many ties to the history of Eugene. It was the largest WPA project in Lane County. It was a collaborative effort by both the public and private sector of citizens in Eugene. This was done during the worst depression in American History! We feel that again, the people and businesses can rally together to Save Civic Stadium. We need to be heard and sit at the table in the room with these ‘leaders’ that we have placed in office. They need to hear that we all need to Save Civic Stadium through a combined innovative approach. This is an opportunity to bring all of the players together in an ambitious undertaking that will restore the feeling of goodwill and true sustainability to our community.

It’s time our collective efforts are heard. Communicate with those on the email list that you want the Save Civic Stadium organization to be a team player on the field! And at the table for a discussion on what our combined forces can do to Save Civic Stadium.