Feature Missing From Parks System

The question isn’t whether the city of Coeur d’Alene needs a community center. It does. Nor is it a matter of whether an advisory vote for a community center will pass. It will. The key questions to be decided Nov. 2 are: What will be the margin of victory and will the new City Council respect it as the will of its constituents?

Anyone who attended the stirring rally for a community center Wednesday - and many did with babes in arms - realized the project has broad grass-roots support.

Speaker after speaker underscored the need, from swimmers who pay $50 a month to use the Whitworth College pool in Spokane, to corporate executives who said it would be an important tool in business recruitment, to teenagers with 500 signatures, artists, cross country runners, a middle school principal, and even a personal trainer who sells exercise equipment.

It should come as no surprise that The Idaho Spokesman-Review endorses this worthwhile, $6.3 million project. We believe parks and recreational opportunities are as much a part of community infrastructure as streets, sewers, fire and police protection, jails, and government buildings. For 16 years, a community center has been the one feature missing from a city parks and recreation system that has improved dramatically. We urge Coeur d’Alene residents to ignore an 11th-hour negative campaign by the health clubs, and to support the community center advisory vote on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The funding package for the center involves a private-public partnership that should be encouraged rather than undermined by a few business leaders. For its part, the city will provide $640,000 in tax revenue per year for the next 10 years to help pay for construction. That sounds like quite a tax hike, but it boils down to about $2 per month for the average homeowner. Meanwhile, The Center Project Foundation will solicit donations to raise another $1 million for construction and will fund annual maintenance and operation costs by selling memberships.

In most communities, making the financial package work would be a tall order.

But Coeur d’Alene has proven it will find a way to do things, if it has the will. Remember. Organizers raised $1 million to launch the successful Jobs Plus program, seemingly overnight.

Community donations helped build the North Idaho Cancer Center, Lake City Senior Center, Rotary Club Bandshell, Fort Sherman Playground, and Skate Park.

In the 16 years since the old community center closed, Coeur d’Alene area voters have spent millions of dollars building jails for adults and juveniles.

Downtown businesses constantly have tried to drive young loiterers away. Youth clubs have been tried and failed. It’s past time Lake City provides organized, indoor activities and recreation opportunities for its youngsters. And for itself as well.