Can something positive come out of the recent vote on stadiums? Absolutely.
There is an unprecedented level of political support for making sure that War Memorial Stadium and the surrounding area gets the attention it deserves. Turning that support into an actionable plan is the next step. At last night's City Council meeting there were many comments about important WMS is. Good for them, but what about 25 years from now?
The Aycock Neighborhood has been working behind the scenes with the City Staff for the last year to bring our Master Plan to the City Council for adoption. If the Council adopts the plan, it then becomes city policy and will be funded over time. We will bring this plan to the Council at the first meeting in November, shortly after the upcoming election.
The one piece of our plan that is undefined is the future of War Memorial because there was doubt about its future role before this past Tuesday... it's role is now defined.
Although there appears to be much interest in renovating and maintaining War Memorial Stadium on the current City Council, we all know that Councils change over the years and priorities come and go with those changes. What is politically important now may be of little interest to future Councils, but there is a way to insure that WMS never goes through a period of neglect as it has for the past twenty years or so.
Today, with the help of other Aycock neighbors, I am starting the process to create a foundation for the perpetual upkeep of WMS. The place is a Memorial to Veterans and deserves such perpetual care. As an adjunct to the ebb and flow of City taxpayer funding for the Memorial I propose to create an endowment so that WMS will never again be termed a "dump" as it has been too many times in the recent stadium debate.
My first call this morning to begin this process will be to the various Foundations. Mr. Melvin et al have been demonized throughout the stadium debate by some, but ultimately they are Greensboro boosters and truly have this City's best interest at heart. I am confident that they will welcome an opportunity to reach out to the 40% of Greensboro's citizens who strongly support War Memorial Stadium.
I will keep you posted as the project progresses.
8:35:48 AM 
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