5Qs About McEuen w/Sandi Bloem

DFO: Where do things stand now in terms of timeline with the McEuen Field upgrade?

Sandi Bloem: The next public meeting will be a special call council meeting Tuesday, May 24, at Woodland Middle School at 6 o’clock.

• DFO: What will happen at that time?
• Sandi Bloem: Team McEuen and the steering committee will present to the council their concept vision. It’ll be a regular council meeting. We will take regular public input. The council could make revisions. They could accept or not accept the vision as presented. They could wait two weeks to make a final decision. It could be accepted that night.
• DFO: Has there been anything so far that would give you pause re: public sentiment to go ahead with this project?
• Sandi Bloem: We have invested a lot of time and effort. We’ve had over 50 public meetings (including presentations to clubs). I believe the council will definitely want to accept some vision for McEuen and move forward.
• More below

• DFO: As I eavesdropped last evening, I heard 2 themes surface in terms of main concerns. Those were removal of the boat launch and increased taxes. How would you address those concerns?
• Sandi: The removal of the boat launch is in the vision being presented. The launch won’t be removed until there is an equal or better facility (elsewhere). There is no intention from this council to increase taxes to accomplish this vision. This is a 20 or 30 year vision. There are urban renewal dollars (which are tax dollars) that’ll be involved in first stage. As we’ve done with all of our parks, we’ll be looking at other funding methods which we’ve used successfully in the past.
• DFO: Are you concerned that the McEuen Field upgrade could lead to significant challenges against incumbent council members this fall?
• Sandi: My feeling is that the council will make decisions that they feel is best from everything they’ve heard. They won’t be basing their decisions on whether or not they’ll be re-elected. The council has heard numerous comments. They will weigh all of those in their decision.