Sam Adams has told the Oregonian he plans to save Memorial Coliseum and put a baseball stadium in Lents. Not only that, but Adams’ office says it plans to listen to the public on the redevelopment of the Rose Quarter, now.
The city should complete the initial agreement with the Blazers within two weeks. But Adams said he hopes to set up a deliberative public conversation that gives people plenty of time to comment, with the goal of putting a revised plan for the Rose Quarter in front of the City Council by the first of the year. That would also include details on how to pay for the projects, he said.
“If it really is saved then I feel like the end of Star Wars when they blew up the death star,” says architecture blogger Brian Libby, who has resisted the destruction of the Coliseum since the idea was first floated, and has been meeting with the mayor’s office over recent weeks. “I’m sort of in disbelief, and so many times in the past we’ve thought we had a victory, only to realize it wasn’t over yet. But this seems like a reason to stop and smell the Rose City, as it were.”
Libby plans to meet with the Blazers in the coming days along with the American Institute of Architects, and an ad-hoc group of local architects and designers: Stuart Emmons, Rick Potestio, Randy Higgins, Don Rood and Peter Meijer. “No one has crowned us as the protectors of the Coliseum,” says Libby. “We’ve just been trying to do that because we love it. I don’t want to make it look like our group is claiming too much credit though. If the community weren’t on our side then our arguments would have fallen on deaf ears.”
The aim of meeting with the Blazers, says Libby, is to persuade them to make smart design choices and not try to “create Las Vegas in Portland,” with the re-purposed Coliseum as part of the new Rose Quarter. “There are plans that may call for the removal of the seating bowl, and I’d be very dubious about that, and the Cordish company does not have anything like a good reputation when it comes to architecture,” says Libby. “But at the same time, this is an affirmation for architecture, for David against Goliath, and for the city.”
“More than anything we want to open the communication lines and have them listen to the design community as well as developers and finance people,” says Libby. “We just want it to be a well-designed place, and through that, to be successful.”
“It’s not to say that you can’t change anything, but the integrity of the building ought to be maintained if it’s going to stay the treasure that it is,” says Libby. “But at the same time the Coliseum really needs help because it’s been deliberately neglected and left in disrepair.”
Libby says the city should look carefully at the re-purposing of the Coliseum, beyond “a Chilli’s or an Applebee’s.” But he doesn’t want to be a sourpuss about the victory, and gives credit to Adams for listening to his concerns.
“Other than Merritt Paulson, there’s no one who was more involved in the threat to destroy the Coliseum than Sam Adams,” he says. “But because of his willingness to listen, he is also a big part of the reason that it is going to be spared. So regardless of what faults he may have, I appreciate the fact that he listened.”
“One of the first things that needs to happen now is somebody needs to go into that building and open the curtain, so that Portlanders can see how special that arena is,” Libby says. “It’s one of the only places in the world where you can have an indoor arena lit by natural light.”
If this whole “let’s be impulsive fuck-ups and then back down at the last minute so you think we care”-schtick doesn’t stop soon, I’m totally signing Jasun’s sheet of paper.
Look…I’ve been nailed as some sort of troll for supporting tearing down the MC. All I have to say is that Libby had better work his ass off to nail down some sort of plan to make that site work for something. If it was important enough for Libby to save it had better be important enough for him to figure out how to make it worth something enough to save.
Cue the anti-Paulson folks to cry about how he’s trying to rip them off because he’s the son of someone famous. ahem…
P.S. Brian: I’m willing to talk to you to understand your views and I want to make a side bet. Balls in your court. What is your vision for the Rose Quarter?
Look…I’ve been nailed as some sort of troll for supporting tearing down the MC. All I have to say is that Libby had better work his ass off to nail down some sort of plan to make that site work for something. If it was important enough for Libby to save it had better be important enough for him to figure out how to make it worth something enough to save.
Cue the anti-Paulson folks to cry about how he’s trying to rip them off because he’s the son of someone famous. ahem…
P.S. Brian: I’m willing to talk to you to understand your views and I want to make a side bet. Balls in your court. What is your vision for the Rose Quarter?
A CAT, you do know that this is how this city works, it has nothing to do with Adams being mayor. Look at my picture, I was sitting in city hall back in 1997, when Potter tried to rename interstate ave, (the very angry guy next to me is the owner of the Alibi,) and then decided to rename 4th, and then decided that maybe this sort of thing shouldn’t be done overnight…
> If the community weren’t on our side then our arguments would have fallen on deaf ears.
The community is NOT on your side, elitist prick. You’re just the squeaky wheel.
Matthew D,
I was sitting in city hall yesterday and after an hour of BLATHER on the part of the commissioners I started to feel quite nauseated. Each one of these commissioners makes 110K, that’s .55 million a year to listen to the five of them BLATHER?
They were BLATHERING about all the reasons they ALL supported a website to promote volunteerism. Fuck.
Go promote volunteerism! Robert’s rules never said you had to digress about your childhood in England!
Fucking make a motion, ask for a second, and VOTE, if it’s about something so completely non-controversial. Then get on with something SUBSTANTIAL, like what to do with the Coliseum. Publish on your blog, later, in your own time, all the flowery reasons you voted to support voluntarism.
Ack.
Lents was always a better location to make the entire deal work. Now let’s see if they can scrape together the cash and work out that greenspaces swap or whatever.
Lents is not a better location. It’s an intact and heavily used park in an area that needs urban renewal funds for promoting economic development there.
Lents should be the less expensive option for a ballpark. It probably won’t be a better draw, but then a stadium at Lents shouldn’t have as much capacity as one at MC. Reno built a park with 6,500 seats and 9,187 capacity (standing room and grass berm account for the rest)… if Lents is where the ballpark goes, it really should blend a bit into the park, not use the faux old-time brick exterior, and run at less cost than the $40 million stadiums (not including land acquisition) completed this year in Reno, Columbus, and suburban Atlanta (all for AAA).
Thing is, Brian Libby has been duped. The interior argument isn’t about saving the Coliseum, it’s something making money for the CITY vs something making money for the Blazers. The Blazers, at this point, appear to have won. They already went to the “we’re not making enough money because we can’t use the whole Quarter” argument on March 11. (Repeat after me- paper losses based on accelerated depreciation of player contracts) They’ll now use a subtle, crafty method to partially accomodate and mostly brush aside the architects. The O article cites $100 million for the project OUTSIDE MC. Bet you it doubles.
> Lents was always a better location
Do you actually believe that, or are you just playing the troll? Lents is an abysmal location for anything except meth hookers.
“Blacked-out” is Paul Allen?
Does anyone but like 5,000 people in this town really care about the baseball team? The only reason the rabid Timbers Army is for trashing MC for a minor league baseball team is becauase it is tied to the soccer stadium. Why not just revamp PGE park for the MLS team, and let the Beavers figure out what to do on their own?
Blacked Out and everybody,
You’re absolutely right that getting the Coliseum saved from outright demolition was only the first in a multi-battle war. Now Portland needs to make sure the Coliseum is saved from being too bastardized by a renovation plan. If the Blazers and Cordish wind up ruining the Coliseum with live entertainment stuff, this struggle will have been for nothing.
To Mr. Voluptuous, who called me an “arrogant prick” for saying the community was on our side in the Coliseum preservation effort: What should I make of the hundreds of emails from people all over the community and region encouraging me to fight on with the Coliseum? You sound like a cranky baby who didn’t get his way and just starts throwing out insults. Waaaa!
Here is the thing – the people who fought for MC survival are the people who don’t use the damn facility.
If Libby wanted to actually do something he would say the hell with another committee and commit to season tickets and going to events there. Walk the talk kiddo.
I think Brian Libby is going to be in for an ugly and unpleasant experience once he comes up against “The Vulcans”. By the time they are done with the “remodel” he is gonna wish they just tore the place down.
And how much public money are the Blazers going to ask for for this “entertainment cube” versus the privately backed bonds Paulson was pursuing? Will the Mercury lead a campaign against money for the Blazers?
And, it must be pointed out, the City just walked away from $12.5 million in straight cash from Paulson for a stadium there. He aint spending that in Lents.
My only opinion on Lents is that anyone who tries to claim it is some jewel needs a swift smack in the head. I just played on the third soccer field that is slated to become a part of the stadium complex and both teams wrote a joint letter to our league commissioner saying we would never play on that field again due to it’s very dangerous conditions both on the field and the fact we lost two soccer balls to the undercarriages of TriMet buses. The whole park is a disgrace really and needs an complete overhaul – whether baseball stadium is part of it who knows.
The way this is going to go.
The architects temporarily saved the MC. The Allen Live project will move forward. One plan will be to keep the MC and the other will involve razing the MC. The one that involves keeping the MC will cost $100-$200 million more than the one that just knocks down the MC. They will choose to knock down the MC.
Architects will unite once again to save the MC. Enraged minority of the public will write their commissioners telling them to save the MC (but they don’t want to spend the money on it it needs). Blazers will come out and say that without the Live district their future in Portland is shaky. The majority of Portland will freak the fuck out and the Blazers will knock down the MC (cause we all know Allen wants it gone) anyway because no commissioner will want to pay the political price for running the Blazers out of town. Blazers get their way and the Coliseum is gone.
Why?
If you think for half a second there isn’t a loophole in the Blazers deal with the city you’re only kidding yourself. Allen is too rich not to have a lawyer get one written into the deal. If you think there isn’t another city out there that wouldn’t build the Blazers a brand new stadium, a Live district, and not expect a penny from Allen you’re kidding yourself. I guarantee you there are people in Seattle who are planning for this contingency right now.
In the end there will be no more MC because Allen’s group wants it gone and they have the money. What do the architects have to throw on the table? They certainly don’t have the $50 million to remodel the MC. Allen’s group does…except by remodel they mean knock it down and put a dance club there.
BlackOut, I’m once again dumbfounded that you rail against a vocal “minority of the public” for pushing this or that agenda.
That’s EXACTLY what the Timbers Army is. Frankly, architects outnumber the Timbers Army.
Turn it into a public health/fitness facility. Stairmasters and treadmills (on rolling pallets, so they can be removed for events) in the lobby, with indoor soccer/roller hockey/basketball (or any other use that fits in the footprint) in the arena space. This is more of a “go out and do” than a “sit back and watch” city anyway. Actually, I would like to see the same thing done with PGE park. The message would be fairly simple: If you want public funding, it should be open to the public.
@Blabby
Architects are in the Timbers Army. There are over 5,000 members in the Timbers Army. Both facts.
What happened is these architects were able to be organized and the anti-stadium folks like you hopped on board. You saved the MC (temporarily) but are losing the stadium battle. Lents=Saltzman is on board.
I was just saying it was inevitable the MC was going down. I’ll reiterate my point. Allen has money > you and your lot don’t. Allen will win.
PREDICTION! PREDICTION!
Some exemplar of all things great about our country and city will break out their really beyond-cool invention to reorganize the seating at the flip of the switch and MLS and stupid baseball will be able to SHARE the PGE space. Portland, you ravish me.
And then WE can say to Paulson you want your MLS?
Well, you can have your MLS as long as Zidane and Petit come out of retirement and re-enact the world cup they won so that we can have a near-orgasmic frenzy watching…..AND, as long as Mr Paulson ponies up many additional millions to remodel the MC into something a big majority of everyone will LOVE- Mcminamen’s Memorial Coliseum.
Toma ya, Mr Paulson.
Regarding Blacked Out’s comment above, the prospect of the Blazers going to Seattle in 2012 or something I think is, in fact, somewhat realistic. Might have been planned all along. Allen either gets what he wants in Portland or he takes things elsewhere. Happens all the time. He’s not going to do much compromising for city architects and bloggers, and The City can’t pass up what will be a huge private investment in the RQ. Bottom line is that its too expensive for municipalities to do great pubic works projects right now without the help of billionaires, so leverage will dictate direction.
Oy Blabby – from AIA Portland’s own home page:
“Founded in 1911, AIA/Portland currently serves over 1000 members in Portland and surrounding areas.”
http://www.aiaportland.com/aboutaia.asp?me…
So Timbers Army – founded in 2001 boasts over 2000 active members, over 4000 to date. Game nights see about 3,000 in north end.
AIA Portland – Founded nearly a 100 years before the TA and still is a 1/4 of it’s size.
Wanna retract that statement now?
The City of Portland has a lot more power than Paul Allen. We can condemn the Rose Garden any time we want.
Yes, David Stern and Paul Allen definitely have organized the Oklahoma two-step.
And Brandon Roy would be even more popular in Seattle.