December 10, 2004
Final Coffin Nail For Wrong-Headed Ice Rink Proposal
Fundraising For Project To End, Money Collected Returned
One of the earliest development-related stories we ever covered here was the almost universally derided scheme cooked up by downtown business people to install an ice rink upon the bulk of the floor of Pioneer Courthouse Square for four months out of every year.
In fact, our first item on the subject was posted on December 22, 2002 -- the second day of this site's existence.
Since that time, as we followed the story, we've reported on the gradual disintegration of that plan, and its evolution into a more broader and properly-framed discussion of various ways to build upon the Square's usage.
With all that in mind, then, it's with great pleasure that we pass along an item from today's "City Matters" column which acts as a sort of last footnote to the entire sordid affair.
Francesconi also plans to bring a resolution that would end the collection of money for a seasonal ice rink in Pioneer Courthouse Square, as well as returning the $375,000 to $400,000 collected so far from downtown property owners on behalf of the project. Francesconi spokesman Michael Harrison called the ice-rink effort "well-intentioned" but said it's time for those fees to be returned. Harrison said it's clear the project is not going to happen any time soon.
As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. In this case, even if we take it for the sake of argument that the proposal was well-intentioned, it was also hare-brained, ill-conceived, and demonstrated a remarkable lack of creativity if not an outright spate of lazy thinking.
We note that the resolution is scheduled to come before City Council on December 22 -- precisely two years to the day after our first item about the proposal.
Farewell, seasonal Pioneer Courthouse Square ice rink. We hardly knew ye, and thank goodness for that.
Comments (1)
The One True b!X on 11 Dec 2004
By the way, I'm told that December is the last month of Henry Stern -- who covers local Portland politics and writes the "City Matters" column for The Oregonian, amongst other things -- covering City Hall.
If I recall correctly, he'll be working Washington County or some such thing. No, I don't know why. And no, I also don't know if anyone will be taking up the "City Matters" approach. But I figured I should mention it here at some point since we've so frequently linked to "City Matters" here.