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Stadium Commission is NO More!
(published 06/20/02)

The City Council has leaned a valuable lesson from the debacle of the Weatherbee school project where former Mayor Patricia Dowling sold the wishes of the people to developers. Now they are taking a proactive approach towards making sure the same type of back room deals are not made over the Veterans Memorial Stadium. Lawrence has a stadium commission, which has the full authority over the use of the stadium, the deed to the property and the ability to knock down that structure if they so choose.

After learning of the stadium funds being misused to pay a private developer and wincing at the possibility that the stadium commission does not need council approval to demolish the structure the council decided to act. Tuesday night they voted to disband the stadium commission and put the control of the land and the bleachers back in the hands of elected officials.

Former Council President Frank Kivell who is on the stadium commission objected to the stadium commissions demise saying he had no idea this was about to happen and begged the council to table the issue. But councilor Nunzio DiMarca and a number of colleagues were not buying it. One councilor detailed the life of the proposal to do away with the commission saying that the item had been on the agenda for over a month and at no time did any member of the commission attend any meetings or express any concern about the issue.

Kivell said that disbanding the commission would actually make it easier for the stadium to be demolished but the facts show differently. At any time the stadium commission has the authority to take a vote to tear down the structure and their vote is legal and binding. No amount of outrage by the community or members of the council can reverse that decision once a vote is taken.

" As one member of the audience said here tonight, that commission has complete autonomy. They can do whatever they want and they are not answerable to anyone. We need to take back control of that property and get this renovation project underway," Councilor Blanchette told the crowded council chambers.

Lee Balcomb from the Lawrence Historical Commission said tat he was "appalled that the stadium project has still not begun after all these years. If we used all the money that has been set aside by the city over the last few decades that stadium would be fixed already." Balcomb told the council that the city is losing millions in additional revenue from the loss of business the stadium could be bringing in. "Lowell has told the City of Lawrence that their stadium is two years overbooked and they would be happy to send us their overflow at no cost to the city. The problem is we still don't have a facility to hold concerts and sporting events because city leaders have continued to allow the condition of that stadium to deteriorate."

Councilors said that a new commission will be established but will be answerable to the city council and will not have final authority over the land or the physical structure. "I'd like to see veterans and other interested people on the new commission who are interested in fixing that stadium as quickly as possible."

I think it has been made perfectly clear by the people of this community, I don't know how it can be made any clearer, the people of Lawrence want the stadium fixed and they want something done now. This shell game of moving money around and taking care of political contributors has to stop. The reason Lawrence is in the condition it's in is not because of lack of funds it's because of incompetence and outright corruption by city officials.

A sub committee of the city council will meet next week to discuss the makeup of the new stadium commission and what limited authority they will have. One Councilor, Julia Silverio from District "B" voted against disbanding the existing stadium commission. Not surprisingly, Silverios' husband was just placed on the Community development block grant list to receive city funds from the mayor to run the Dominican parade.

Was there a Quid pro quo? Watch Silverios' voting patterns on the budgets and the current budget director's fate and you will see for yourself. In the mean time, the City Council has taken the reigns and has made it clear to the Sullivan administration that the deals of the Dowling administration are not going to be tolerated.