Selling McNeilly to Fund Mellon Turfing/Lighting
November 17th, 2008Selling McNeilly to fund Mellon Turfing/Lighting
Hi Everyone,
The various sports groups collectively represented by Chip Dalesandro and Scott Hagy presented to the Commission a few weeks ago and indicated their highest priority was putting artificial turf and lighting in Mellon Field and that the Municipality should sell McNeilly field (as a source of funding). I think the Commission made progress with respect to McNeilly field last Monday evening when they requested Steve Feller (with the appropriate individuals in the Municipality) to come up with a plan to put McNeilly field up for sale.
Mt. Lebanon’s debt (via bond issue) has increased by 64% over the past 5 years and I am not in favor of issuing further bond issuance this year unless there are specific circumstances that warrant this. My philosophy has always been to ask every individual to treat any organization’s money like it is their own whether it is in the private sector (ex: if you are working for a for-profit company or non-profit group) or the public sector (ex: if you are either overseeing or working for a Municipality). Especially with the current economic environment, would you not be extra careful with your finances when your savings have been impacted and possibly facing job insecurity also? I think it is prudent to watch bond debt particularly in this current economic environment.
Selling McNeilly is a good option to fund Mellon turfing/lighting and other capitals needs of the Municipality. Also, McNeilly can help generate tax revenue to Mt. Lebanon based upon usage (residential, commercial, etc). This is the first time I believe that the Commission has made a formal step with regard to the sale of McNeilly (this is just an initial step; this may have to come up for a formal vote sometime in the future). We can take now an asset (i.e. McNeilly) that is unused and fund Mellon Turfing & Lighting and other important capital needs of Mt. Lebanon.
I would love to hear your thoughts in this regard. Please feel free to call (412-341-7252) or email (raja@mtlebanon.org). Thanks.
Raja
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Turf must be replaced every ten years for safety reasons. How do Chip and Scott propose to fund this $1,500,000 in ten years.
Also, bonds are left outstanding meaning the public has been flim-flamed by the sports network into funding turf with outstanding bonds and leaving no solution to the funding problem 10 years from now.
Turfing Mellon field won’t solve the drainage problem because a football field has a crown that will still drain into the baseball field.
The football and baseball interests forget they had a joint committee and agreed on Mellon’s construction.
If the sports network caused the problem - let them solve it