A Grip on Sports: Once again the Spokane School District’s board is about to head the wrong direction on stadium issue
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Many movies helped shape who I am today, but none more so than “Cool Hand Luke.” One scene in particular.
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• Paul Newman, playing Luke, participates in a boxing match with George Kennedy, portraying the power broker among the inmates in the rural prison. Luke gets knocked down dozens of times. But he won’t stay down. He refuses to acknowledge he’s lost. Finally, Kennedy, as the character Dragline, picks Luke up and carries him away. Luke, having earned Dragline’s respect, is a bloody mess. And yet he is still swinging as the scene fades.
As Tim Allen said, often, in another not-so-classic movie, “never give up, never surrender.”
Funny thing is, in real life you don’t always win. You can’t always get up. Even if, in your heart, you know you are right and a big mistake is about to occur.
Such is the case this week.
Spokane Public Schools is moving forward with its plan to build a new high school stadium at the Joe Albi site. The old stadium will be torn down, which is needed, and replaced on the same basic spot with a new one. Jim Allen, who has been covering this issue since the beginning, shared the news in today’s paper.
It’s the wrong spot to build this facility.
And yet the board will make a mistake tonight that will reverberate through this community long after most of us have been knocked down and out for the last time.
Let’s recap the recent debate:
The district came to the conclusion, correctly, a few years back Joe Albi Stadium needed to be replaced. It settled on two possible sites. It would either use part of the footprint of the current stadium or locate it downtown, in what is now an Arena parking lot. There were plusses and minuses for both, with the biggest plus for the downtown location is it would free space at the Albi site for more youth-oriented fields.
Designers originally felt if the new stadium were built downtown, a parking garage would be needed. The school district didn’t want to use bonds funds for such a purpose. The city was asked for a contribution. The city council, correctly, shied away from committing millions. So it decided to ask city voters, not all of whom live within Spokane Schools’ boundaries, if they wanted the stadium downtown, with a city contribution of $10 million, or at the current Albi site.
The Albi site won the advisory vote handily. Problem was, an in-depth parking study, done too late, showed no parking garage would be needed. There is enough parking near the Arena to handle the stadium crowds.
Despite not needing the city’s money anymore, the school district decided again and again its patrons had spoken, even though some of those patrons are not allowed to vote in a city election. The district is going to build the new stadium in the Northwest corner of the community, at a site that will continue to become more and more inaccessible to a majority of its patrons.
Like Luke, we’ve decided this is something to make a stand about. Over and over we’ve tried to point out the superiority of the Arena site, from the central location to the other opportunities it could open up to long-term ramifications of once again siting a stadium in the corner of the district.
It is somewhat ironic the Albi site wasn’t as out-of-the-way when it was built. Though never centrally located, it was built before the district’s population had migrated south – there was only one high school south of the river in 1950. And it has been used by the Mead School District as its home field for decades as well. At one time Albi was a perfectly reasonable location.
No longer.
Mead has its own stadium now and will no longer be a tenant. Most of the new homes in the district since Albi was constructed have been built south of the river.
In 1950, Spokane’s downtown riverfront was dominated by railroad yards and marmots. The marmots remain, but Riverfront Park changed the landscape in the 1970s and the Arena began transforming the north bank in the 1990s. With the millions invested in the Park recently, and an indoor sports facility about to open in the next couple years, a downtown stadium would have been a perfect choice.
As a bonus, the area where Albi is now, without a stadium looming behind a planned middle school, could allow the city to expand to a greater degree the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex, injecting more greenspace within the city’s footprint.
Problem is logic doesn’t always win. Neither does perseverance. Sometimes the punch is so powerful there is no getting back up. The school district’s board of directors will deliver that punch tonight.
And its damage will be felt in this area for years to come.
• Speaking of things that will be felt for years to come, today is the first day of the spring letter-of-intent signing period. Gonzaga, Washington State and others should have some basketball signings to announce.
If it were a normal April 15, high schools around the country would be holding ceremonies. It is not normal.
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Gonzaga: Corey Kispert is an excellent basketball player. And an even better student. The GU junior earned a national academic award this week. Jim Meehan has more in this story. … Two Zag women, Katie Campbell and Jenn Wirth, were named to the same award’s All-America team. Jim Allen has that story.
WSU: Around the Pac-12, speaking of basketball recruiting, Arizona is pushing hard for Paolo Banchero. Even if the school’s financial future is depressing. … Along those lines, it almost seems as taking a pay reduction is becoming a competition. Oregon State is at 7 percent. Anyone want to give me 8? … The most highly touted freshman basketball player to enter the conference last season is leaving Washington after one year and little impact. … Signing day may not have the impact at UCLA and USC it usually has. … Arizona State picked up another transfer yesterday that will help whenever he is eligible. … Sabrina Ionescu is ready for the WNBA. … In football news, lost spring practices won’t hurt as much at schools, like Oregon State, with a lot of returning players and coaches. … Colorado likes its new tight end. … Utah likes its new committed quarterback. … Where are Washington players headed in the NFL Draft?
EWU: Beau Baldwin may have been the most accomplished football coach in Eastern Washington’s history. At the very least, he is the only one who led the Eagles to a FCS title. He’s back in the Big Sky now as head coach at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and he’s hired a bunch of Eastern alums and former coaches to help. Ryan Collingwood checked in with Baldwin and has this story. … Ryan is also keeping up with current Eastern players. He has a story on a couple of them as they prepare for a season that is still not promised to anyone.
Whitworth: In the latest Press Box pod, Larry Weir takes a last look at the most-recent Pirate basketball season.
Seahawks: The Hawks are bringing back Mike Iupati, the former Vandal great. They also decided not to pay a wide receiver and may cut ties with Justin Britt, the former starting center who is coming off a major injury. It is all about the salary cap heading into the draft and the last gasp of free agency. … OK, when will the gender reveals stop?
Mariners: I missed this yesterday – sorry Larry – but Larry also spoke with Rick Rizz recently and has the conversation in this Press Box pod. … I find this interesting.
Sounders: The season’s restart date keeps getting pushed back.
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• We did our best, but we can’t win every battle. No reason to dwell on it anymore, though dwelling on issues and events are what we do. Speaking of that, spend a little time dwelling on this baseball graphic. It’s interesting and I know the guy who put it together. … By the way, today is Tax Day. Just a reminder. Until later …