There's no rush to change McEuen Field

I like what our city leaders and Lake City Development Corp. have done in helping to improve Coeur d'Alene from Northwest Boulevard through downtown and up 4th Street. Their next objective is to deal with the McEuen project.

The sense of urgency for this project to get something going on it right away must be to use LCDC's taxing tool for financial assistance while they still have it; otherwise, why the hurry? Nothing is broken. People who visit me here from around the country haven't said, "Why do you have a baseball field and boat launch in such a great location?" Instead they think our waterfront city is one of the most beautiful they have seen and see nothing wrong with it. That isn't to say that it cannot or should not be further improved.

We have been debating this project's prospects for many years and have reached an impasse on the need to remove the baseball field and boat launch. As a former McEuen Field American Legion baseball player, softball player and a person who uses the Third Street boat launch, I would like for my soon-to-be-five grandsons to use them both like I have been blessed to be able to do.

Many of us do not want to watch the removal of many years of history in the name of doing so for the good of the many, when in fact keeping them is good for all of our citizens by blending some other amenities with them. We need to find common ground that works for all of us here in Coeur d'Alene.

I, like many of my friends, thought the McEuen project presentation at NIC recently had many good ideas. Why not find common ground and incorporate with the many new proposed amenities by retaining the Legion Field and Boat Launch into the design while eliminating the softball fields and their lights as an effort of compromise?

Also, we need to find a way to have reasonable off-site boat trailer parking or include it into the proposed parking garages. For just day use, the trailers typically are not very large. Saving a 110-foot wide boat ramp of shoreline shouldn't be that difficult instead of adding the proposed amenities in its place. These proposed amenities could go on Tubbs Hill shoreline next to the McEuen Park.

This is a concession that Tubbs Hill admirers can offer, then leave Third Street open to the launch for just boat/trailer and service access to the park to help deal with any safety concerns that have been brought up while closing off the remainder of Front as proposed in the NIC presentation. These boaters are downtown visitors too. Their money is spent with our businesses just like any other needed downtown visitor.

Actually, it almost appears the Legion baseball field is still included in the new proposal with the retention of its grass and stands. Why not just leave the baseball diamond and field lights and still use the grass for the other events and sports activities proposed when there is not a Legion game?

Try to schedule more Legion daylight games to prevent too much use of the lights so the tower residents can be appeased.

Since the NIC meeting, I have been told that they would like to eliminate the baseball field lights. Just leave the Legion field lights while reducing as many night games as possible. In addition, these lights may come in handy for other types of events. Coordinate scheduling so that concerts can be reasonably scheduled. August is typically a good month for these events, because of the good weather, especially when Legion games are just about over by then for the season.

The money saved in retaining the baseball field and boat launch could be used to help add the other amenities. How much time and cost will it take to acquire enough comparable land and add the needed improvements to replace them before you could start the proposed McEuen improvements? This could take years and the costs could reach as many as 7 digits. What a waste!

Borrowing a high school field from the school district isn't the same as the city owning and operating its own field as the majority of the City Council has required in their public statements. Hopefully, our elected officials will take all of this into consideration because they have the final say. If Sandpoint can have events on football and baseball fields, then why can't we?

We need to work together and stop wasting any more time and money. The designers of this project are talented enough people to make these needed adjustments to their plan so everyone one in Coeur d'Alene can be included.

Don Murrell, Sr., is a Coeur d'Alene resident.