Former President Ronald Reagan was fond of saying that the nine most frightening words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
A key component of Lawton’s 2019 Capital Improvements Plan was an indoor youth sports complex. The 86,000 square-foot facility will house multiple basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, a walking track and kitchen/concession area.
The concept is commendable: Build a sports facility designed to lure Lawton-area kids away from their video games for awhile and toward some physical exertion.
But the proposed location leaves much to be desired.
The City Council appointed a committee that performed a supposedly exhaustive search before concluding that the best site for the complex would be Elmer Thomas Park, overlooking Lake Helen.
They were wrong.
Other sites are available. Plenty of undeveloped, vacant property lies south of the Days Inn in the vicinity where the Coca-Cola bottling plant sat until it was bulldozed for the 2nd Street redevelopment project. But that location was either discarded or utterly ignored in favor of the last green space in town: Elmer Thomas Park.
Elmer Thomas is the site for the outstanding “Holiday in the Park” Christmas lights display, a major holiday attraction. If the sports complex is built in that park, will there be enough room left to accommodate the display?
As one critic of the city’s plan wondered: If the sports complex is constructed in Elmer Thomas Park and later is enlarged, where will additional parking be built? Would Elmer Thomas even continue to be a genuine park if that were to occur?
Elmer Thomas Park should be preserved for outdoor recreation, including its playground and splash pad, reunions, family events, festivals and community celebrations, a venue for which it is perfectly suited.
In February 2020, Lawton residents endorsed the 2019 CIP by a margin of 64% to 36%. Had they known that City Hall planned to construct the sports complex in Elmer Thomas Park, would the voters have turned thumbs-down on the proposal?
Lawtonians should bombard City Hall and their council members with telephone calls, electronic messages and letters expressing their opposition to this appalling idea.