McEuen Field Part 1

After 9 years the topic of McEuen Field has risen again in the City of Coeur d'Alene. I don't think I could count the number of committee meetings, professional studies, public testimony, commuity workshops and Council decisons connected to McEuen over the last 20 years. I know because I have been closely associated with many of those meetings.

McEuen is Holy Land for many people. They want to keep it just like it is. Really? Then I want it just like it WAS. Let's put a sawmill back down there. Or low income housing. Or the County Fairgrounds. Or a whorehouse with a view. It's been all those things.

Note the above photo. The roads where McEuen is today? Yes, that was a neighborhood of small homes from the Faragut Naval Training days. What a waste of prime property you may be thinking. I look at McEuen today and think the same thing.

This Thursday night, Mar 25, there will be a public meeting on the topic of McEuen at the Lake City Senior Center. I will be there. No doubt the same old people with the closed minds and selfish thoughts will be there as well. I've seen all their efforts to let McEuen remain as it is. They even parade little kids in Rec. Dept. shirts up to play your smypathies. I've heard all the arguments, they're all weak and and don't hold water.

McEuen is one of the most important pieces of property in the City of Coeur d'Alene. It is vastly underused and misused. I am a supporter of improving usage, increasing green space and minimizing the pavement and parking footprint.

Don't let closed minds stop making McEuen into the gem it deserves to be. Learn the FACTS not the feelings. Listen to the arguments. Participate in any meetings that lie ahead. Stay tuned to this blog as I will continue this series explaining the history, the concepts that came from 9 years ago, the pros & cons and mostly, the truth about McEuen.

Next time and every time you are within a block of McEuen, please drive/ride/walk past and make note of how many people were actually using the area. Look at how the field is broken up with portable chain link fencing. Notice how the boat trailer parking lot sits on property where a parking lot would be the very last thing you'd want there.