>>Valley Patriot>> |
Soccer Field Proposed
Three years ago, however, Lawrence leaders put aside their adversarial relationships, competing political interests and petty squabbles to work together and plan a construction project that would completely rehabilitate the crumbling structure. Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan reconstituted the Stadium Committee (after disbanding it briefly), worked with the council and received approval for a multimillion dollar bonding measure. He put the project out for bid, and carefully monitored the progress of the construction once the project was finally underway. Last week,
Mayor Sullivan, Michael Teller of CBI (the architect),
City Councilor Nick Kolofoles, Michael Teller of CBI said that the main entrance walkway will be lined with flags and plaques honoring each branch of the military service. Once completed, the World War II Veterans Memorial Stadium will hold more than 7,000 people. Underneath the massive bandstand will be a food court area lined with street lights to simulate the atmosphere of an old town square. Mayor Michael Sullivan said that the city can expand the playing field for regulation soccer tournaments at the cost of approximately $1.5 million and asked members of the stadium committee for their input on the idea.
“We
would be taking advantage of the downtime now, while the
bandstand is being fixed and the cost Mayor
Sullivan said that there is enough money left over from
the $5.5 million bonding measure to pay for the field
expansion and though he was not required to get council
approval he said he will “present the plan to the
City Council so everyone is on the same page and we can
continue to get this done as a group effort.”
Sullivan said that the field expansion will begin
immediately as phase II of the construction project,
which officially began July 1st. *Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
LAWRENCE - For more than thirty
years Lawrence’s World War II Veteran’s
Memorial Stadium has been neglected by city leaders and
decayed to the point of being condemned. 
Thomas Schiavone and Fred Carberry
(from Community Development) gave Lawrence residents a
forty minute tour of the construction site. Though the
project is only half completed, considerable improvements
were evident as once crumbling concrete beams were
stripped and reinforced. Construction is scheduled to
continue until January of next year when the seven
thousand seat bandstand will be opened for public use. 
Lee Balcom, Stadium Committee
Chairman and President of the Lawrence Historical
Committee, (pictured bottom right) said the city would be
foolish to pass up an opportunity to expand the field
while the stadium is under construction. The Stadium
committee originally tried to include a regulation soccer
field as part of the construction project but the costs
quoted to the city by Flansburg and Associates were too
high. 
we are being quoted is far less
than Flansburg’s original quote. A larger
field will attract semi-pro soccer teams to the City of
Lawrence and the revenue generated from tournament play
will pay off the bond for this expansion a hundred
fold,” said Balcom