Most community members say they want the Joe Albi Stadium rebuilt downtown, according to results of a survey Spokane Public Schools conducted over the last few weeks.David MacLeod, the CEO of the company that conducted the online conversation said a little more than 7,700 people participated and the ratio of those who supported the stadium was about 4.5 to 1.
“There was a lot of common ground thoughts that arose out of this. There was people who felt very strongly it should be downtown, and we discovered some common ground at that point, around parking being free and access, equitable access for students and being student centric," MacLeod said.
Though most said they wanted it downtown, both sides rated parking as very important. Some who said they wanted the stadium downtown had other concerns, such as the district striking a one-sided contract with business interests over the new stadium and negative impacts to the Spokane Civic Theatre.
Several Spokane Civic Theatre volunteers and performers called into the meeting to voice their opposition, saying it would create noise and parking issues and said they felt left out of the process, and discussion.
The School Board has not yet set a date for a vote on the proposal and is set to start construction on the new stadium at the Joe Albi site this month.