Tuesday LNA Meeting STILL ON!

One, two, three strikes they're out, with their dumb plan to build a pro stadium in our park!
Following on the heels of Merritt Paulson's announcement last Friday that he was withdrawing his Lents Park stadium proposal, Monday has brought yet more nails in the coffin of the Lents Park stadium plan. First, the Urban Renewal Advisory Committee has announced they are canceling Thursday's voting meeting and will not be allocating ANY urban renewal money to a stadium, based on the lack of a private sector partner. (See their letter, attached to the end of this message.) YOU all accomplished this, with your brilliant and eloquent testimony last Thursday, so give yourselves a hand! Second, Randy Leonard has finally woken up and smelled the coffee, and has announced he is asking PDC to look at other stadium sites besides Memorial Coliseum and Lents Park. The Oregonian reports "Lents Park is now firmly out of the running...." (Read story at
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_will_search_for_yet_a.html.)

YOU did this too, and even Commissioner Leonard is finally listening! So is it all over? Well, not quite. Friends of Lents Park is STILL asking Lents neighborhood residents to turn out for Tuesday night's Neighborhood Association meeting, at which a formal vote will be taken on the Lents Park stadium question. Why? So that there can never be any doubt that our neighborhood decisively rejected this proposal (as opposed to the Leonard theory, that an "uncivil" minority ruined it for everybody). So that our neighborhood will never get sandbagged again, as in March and April of this year, when the stadium was taken off the table and then put back on. So that we can finally put this behind us and move on as a neighborhood. The details of the meeting again: Lents Neighborhood Association General Meeting Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:00 p.m. Lents Seventh-Day Adventist Church 8835 SE Woodstock Blvd. Bring picture ID to prove Lents neighborhood residency, and bring ALL adult members of your household. Boundaries of the Lents neighborhood are: Powell to the north, Clackamas County line to the south, 112th Ave. to the east, 82nd Ave. to the west. Then afterwards, let's celebrate with the Friends of Lents Park victory party/potluck, Saturday, June 27, noon - 3:00 p.m. at the gazebo in the park!

See you Tuesday night!
--The Friends of Lents Park Steering Committee

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Here's URAC's letter:

Mayor Adams and Commissioners,
> > After conferring individually with members of the LTCURAC, I regret that the LTCURAC can not, in good faith, make a recommendation to allocate funding to the AAA Ballpark at the Walker Stadium site.
> > A key component to the success of any project is the presence of a willing and enthusiastic development partner, public or private. As of Friday, June 19, 2009 we were informed that key component is no longer a part of this proposal. This makes any further deliberation on the opportunities and challenges associated with the project difficult to conduct in a manner that addresses the project rather than the current circumstances. In addition, without additional input and details from the project proposer, we can not make an adequate and informed recommendation.
> > In order to allow our volunteer committee time to recoup and prepare to address other strategies for advancing the goals of the LTCURA plan, I am canceling the special meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 25. The next meeting of the LTCURAC will be on the regular meeting date of July 14, 2009.
> > Thank you, and City and PDC staff for your support during this process. The LTCURAC looks forward to exploring additional project opportunities in the future and to continuing to work with you on advancing the goals of the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Plan, and the East Portland Action Plan.
> > Sincerely,
> > Cora Lee Potter
> Chair, Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Advisory Committee