2.
On January 12, the very next city council meeting, council will have three options available to them: strike a deal with National Swim Center, extend negotiations with National Swim Center because a deal has not been agreed to, or cease negotiations with National Swim Center. If they cease negotiations with National Swim Center, then they are tearing down the coliseum (as voted for on Nov. 17).
So: National Swim Center or not?
I say not.
Here's a recap to the bring urgency of our city's situation:
On Nov. 17, city council voted to pursue two parallel tracks with the coliseum: begin the process of tearing it down WHILE AT THE SAME TIME negotiating publicly with the National Swim Center to renovate the coliseum into a competitive swimming venue with a 325 room hotel and parking garage. The deadline for those negotiations, for now, is January 12 which happens to be the next council meeting.
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1.
There's a lot to discuss today so I'll be keeping all calls short and to the point. If you don't stay on topic we'll have to say good bye.
We have a new producer but doing his on air interview will have to wait. As promised from last week I did find definitive proof rather or not the Memorial Coliseum was created for that purpose or if it was dedicated after the fact...has to wait until next week when I'll be presenting a huge collage of archived articles about the Memorial Coliseum on my blog from the 30s, 40s and 50s. In fact I need someone to do a research project for free at the library. Someone with a lot of free time and an interest in history. Email me if you're interested: joe@keysweekendmagazine.com
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I have a joke for you:
A man walks into a doctor's office with a huge boil on his face. "Doctor, I've got a huge boil on my face and I have cancer. Give me some medicine for it."
The doctor, confused, asks, "Do you want medicine for the boil or the cancer?" The man scratches his head and says, "You don't have one medicine for both?"
The doctor says, "The boil is a symptom of the cancer. You have two options. Option One: I can make the boil look pretty that does nothing to help the cancer OR I can remove the boil and, with a lot of hard work, we can tackle the cancer."
The man scratches his head, thinks, and finally says, "Option One sounds easier let's go with that."
On January 12, council will be making the most important decision in recent memory--a decision that has the possibility to change CC forever.
Boiling it down and getting to the point, as King Sausage would demand: at the very next city council meeting, January 12, a motion will be made and that motion, one of four possible motions, boils down to having faith in the swim center as the best use of the Memorial Coliseum or not, the swim center's ability to finally create the magic pixy dust 'growth' the city needs. As early as the very next council meeting the decision will be made: NO Coliseum any longer OR the swim center.
Of those two options, which is better?
Using the Memorial Coliseum for a Swim Center is such a bad idea that it's better to tear the Coliseum down.
Repeat: Between the Swim Center and having no Coliseum at all, it would be better to have no Coliseum.
We have made our way to the Swim Center as a desperate last resort.
And although there are thousands of people listening right now, I know six of you are city council members: If your answer on January 12 is to go with the swim center because SOMETHING is better than NOTHING...because ANY structure is better than NO structure...If this is the way you're thinking--that ANYTHING there is better than NOTHING there--then you're thinking incorrectly. You're thinking short-term with SERIOUS long term problems.
And I'll repeat my joke because it's funnier the second time.
A man walks into a doctor's office with a huge boil on his face. "Doctor, I've got a huge boil on my face and cancer. Give me some medicine for it."
The doctor, confused, asks, "Do you want medicine for the boil or the cancer?" The man scratches his head and says, "You don't have medicine for both?"
The doctor says, "The boil is a symptom of the cancer. You have two options. Option One: I can make the boil look pretty and we ignore the cancer OR I can remove the boil and, with a lot of hard work, we can tackle the cancer."
The man scratches his head, thinks, and finally says, "I'm sick of the boil. Option One sounds easier let's go with that."
Hilarious.
We're so desperate for medicine that we'll take ANYTHING. Even if that medicine doesn't solve our problems.
The swim center gets the memorial coliseum issue off the back, temporarily, but doesn't solve our cancer.
We incorrectly want the coliseum issue to solve this long list: Economic Growth, Gaining jobs, Drastic rises in tourism, improving quality of life, attracting white collar population and a retiree population, and to fix downtown.
The coliseum is ONE project...it's not THE project.
People keep saying this council was elected as a pro-growth council and their actions with the coliseum (not pursuing brass, etc) has not been indicative of lack of growth-mindedness. The problem with that argument is that it's speculative and rewards short term progress over long term progress. It assumes that council can, in 8 months, create a growth plan.
Now, they do need a growth plan. If we as a city are here and want to get there, whatever THERE is, then a plan must be in place to get there. I don't think there's that plan and that disturbs me. Rather we're short term goal oriented and we've allowed it, with the Memorial Coliseum issue get us to a place where we could potentially be cutting our throats.
Fixing the memorial coliseum is a short term goal with so much fury in it that we've landed on AN solution rather than THE solution. The National Swim Center gets us to that short term goal: "Look, everyone. We made a decision. You can get off our backs now about the Memorial Coliseum now. Swim Center for Everyone. Yayy!"
It's not THE solution. Hear me: City Council is poised (if they have the vision and fortitude) to create the CC of the future beginning this January 12--one that every citizen can be proud of and every visiting tourist will spread the word about. This is the most important city council meeting in years \.
How do you fix downtown? According to the experts we need residents. Downtown begins to thrive and develop by getting residents nearby.
How do we do that? The swim center doesn't do it.
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If the Memorial Coliseum is demolished, an amazing, world-class Memorial needs to go up there or nearby. Look at what real memorials look like around the country. The Coliseum is such a 'big issue', but we're not thinking big enough. Saying Memorial Coliseum is a fitting memorial is short changing those we want to memorialize.
lso:
http://www.caller.com/news/2009/dec/18/petition-to-save-memorial-coliseum-fails/
Madrigal’s request for a recount is for the 9,040 signatures he turned in Nov. 17. The city verified 3,402 of the signatures as belonging to registered voters in Corpus Christi. Madrigal had needed at least 7,362, a number that represents 5 percent of registered voters and is required to put an issue on the ballot.
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