DAVIS WANTS COMMUNITY TO DECIDE ROBERTS STADIUM’S FATE

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Rick Davis

Democratic Candidate for Mayor takes the CCO up on our offer to Publish Position Papers

Rick Davis, Democratic Party nominee for Mayor of Evansville, said Monday that the community deserves a final say in the ultimate fate of Roberts Stadium.

“The facility is paid off – it does not have a mortgage – and I feel that we can find a useful purpose of Roberts Stadium once the new arena opens,” said Davis, 42, who is the current County Treasurer. “Taxpayers spent $17 million to refurbish Roberts Stadium in 1990, and they deserve to see that due diligence is exercised before a final decision on the fate of this building is made by City leaders.”

Davis made his comments less than a week after it was announced at a Parks Board meeting that the City had scheduled Aug. 3 as the day to begin mothballing the stadium, which opened in 1956 but underwent an extensive $17 million remodeling in 1990.

Davis said he went door-to-door in the neighborhoods surrounding Roberts Stadium during the last six months “and I did not talk to one single person who thought the building should be demolished.” He noted that he held 8 Town Hall meetings earlier in the year, and the subject of Roberts Stadium continually came up, “and I have said from the very beginning that we need to have a community discussion on how our community can “Reinvent Roberts.”

Davis pointed to other local municipal buildings that have been saved when the community felt their previous usefulness had expired, including the Old Post Office; the Old Jail; the Old Courthouse; and The Coliseum. He also noted how past city leaders had demolished other iconic buildings to the dismay of Evansville residents, including the L&N Railroad, the old Central High School, and the old Community Center.

“Obviously, the Stadium cannot compete with those other old buildings whose fate met the wrecking ball when it comes to architectural beauty,” said Davis. “But the fact remains: Roberts Stadium is and remains an icon in the Evansville community and deserves to be ‘reinvented.’ We have invested $127.5 million in a new Downtown arena, and I understand it would be counterproductive to keep Roberts Stadium in its existing manner, which would compete with the new arena. But I fail to see the value to spend good taxpayer dollars to tear down a 21-year-old, $17 million investment. What a waste of construction materials and taxpayer dollars. We can do better with our investment.”

Davis said he also felt the stadium should be left alone for until local leaders are able to determine the new arena is equipped to handle annual Roberts Stadium events, including whether sufficient parking exists in Downtown to accommodate patrons, as well as to allow time for the community to help decide the stadium’s ultimate fate.

“Once you lose a convention for one year, it gives that group of people an opportunity to look at other communities to host their events, and they may never come back,” said Davis. “It just makes good economical sense to keep the stadium available as long as possible as a life raft to potentially cater to these important conventions, which boost our local economy year after year, in the event that something unexpected arises after the arena’s opening.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. I cannot wait to see what is done with Robert’s Stadium. This building is part of Evansville’s history, why not “Reinvent” it? Why throw the taxpayer’s money away with tearing it down. There are many options for this building and I do not think tearing it down is the best one.

    • NOBODY shall cast one single ballot this year until they have read this post by RailOverAuto….It speaks volumes about the differences in the candidates…. Well done!

  3. Rick wants to know what I think ought to be done about Robert’s Stadium and what you think too. AND he actually cares what we think. Pick Rick for a better Evansville.

  4. Seems kinda like St. Mary’s keeping Welborn open after they bought it. Most of us don’t buy a new car and then take our old one and park it in the yard (I am aware that in certain areas of the city that this is a fashion statement) and leave it there. Out with the old and in with the new. Yes, we spent 20 million on it 20 years ago. So what? We should have dumped it then but the “will of the people” aka the anti-change crowd screamed murder when it was even suggested. Blow it up, burn it down, make it a freaking Menards for all I care. We will not need it when the new arena opens. It’s time for it to go.

    • Your car analogy is silly.
      When your car is paid off, and you buy a new one, do you immediately take the paid-off one to the crusher?
      Most people would find a use for that paid off car like selling it, or giving it to children, relatives or even charity.
      You wouldn’t just straight up destroy the wealth that has been invested in it.

  5. I appreciate you posting that link, Rail.

    I’m in total agreement with Mr. Davis and his thoughts about Evansville’s habit of basically destroying its own history.
    I’ve always been puzzled by this, and it really stood out when I was flipping through Harold Morgan’s book “Hometown History”
    How much beautiful architecture has this city flattened in the name of progress? I wonder if the opponents back then who might have had ideas for possible uses for those buildings were made out to be some sort of anti-change neanderthal nut-jobs.

    I also like that Mr. Davis is going to make reviving the parks a priority. I think that will go hand-in-hand nicely with the Greenway being completed in a few months.

    • Thanks Todd,

      It’s amazing how many great buildings we have had that were demolished and only an empty field is there now such as the old Sterling Brewery, the old L&N Building, or the house formely at the corner of the Lloyd Expressway and Avenue of Flags. That is exactly what would happen if they demolished Roberts.

      I’m excited about Rick’s campaign and I hope everyone else gets onboard as well!

  6. Tear down Roberts Stadium and expand Wesselmans Park! Im tired of driving down the Lloyd Expressway and seeing a huge empty parking lot

    • Jason,

      Drive down Highway 41….you can see a huge empty parking lot in front of the old Whirlpool plant. Drive down Martin Luther….you won’t see an empty parking lot.

  7. Thanks Rick for supporting Roberts Stadium! If the citizens of Vanderburgh County want to keep it open it should stay open. I can think of only a few people that wnated the new arena and one of them will not be mayor next year!!!!

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