By Peter Downs
Filed Saturday, January 21 at 4:02 PM
by Peter Downs
January 18, 2006 -- An ambitious private plan to build a sports stadium to serve St. Louis Public Schools and St. Louis City residents has ground to halt.
The Community Stadium Project, the nonprofit organization that was to build and maintain the stadium, suspended development work after St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Creg Williams changed his mind about the plan.
The Community Stadium Project, backed by the St. Louis Rams, had proposed to build and operate a modern, multipurpose stadium to serve the public school system and the larger city community at no cost to the school district. The plan, formally proposed to the St. Louis Board of Education by Williams in May 2005, called for a 10-acre stadium, plus parking, that would include an artificial turf field for football and soccer; an 8-lane track; pole vault, high jump, long jump, discus, and shot put facilities; sports lighting; bleacher seating for 3,000; concession stands; rest rooms; locker rooms; and security.
Following Williams' recommendation, the board of education endorsed the plan eight months ago. After months of evaluating sites and negotiating options with city government, and meeting with community groups, the Community Stadium Project and city officials agreed to put the facility on 20 acres at the east end of Fairgrounds Park.
Then, Williams apparently changed his mind. He doesn't want one stadium, he wants two – one for the North and one for the South – and he doesn't want them to be a gift to the school district. He wants taxpayers to pay for them.
In a written statement, Ross Woolsey of the Community Stadium Project, Williams' plans, "while still evolving, apparently call for a city-wide bond issue to raise money for school improvements. We have been told that two stadiums, one on the North Side, one on the South Side, are to be included."
School board member Bill Purdy said that Williams dropped his bombshell in a meeting with representatives of the St. Louis Rams earlier this month. Purdy added that Williams has never brought the idea of a bond issue to the school board.
Given the superintendent's change of mind, the Community Stadium Project indefinitely postponed the survey and subsurface investigation of the Fairgrounds Park site that was supposed to begin last week.
1 Comments:
What is Williams thinking here?
The *original* Public School Stadium was located on North Kingshighway. People from the southside came there.
Sure, that was a zillion years ago. But we're talking about a school district whose student body is 80% African-American, and the rest is mostly immigrants and a few thousand magnet school students.
Why perpetuate the north/south split? This is ridiculous. Perhaps a more centrally-located site could be sought, but building two stadiums is a joke.
Monday, January 23, 2006 11:43:42 AM
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