What in the world does a political speech have to do with the parks? Three answers: logistics, logistics and logistics. As Monday's Tribune and Missourian report, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden will be speaking at the Activity and Recreation Center (ARC) at 9:30 am Tuesday morning. Over 1,000 tickets have been distributed so the department is expecting a huge crowd.
Getting ready for this event has kept parks and recreation (P&R) staff busy since Sunday afternoon. The speech will be held in the ARC gym so protection of the gym floor is a must. Floor covers were brought over from the Armory Sports Center and were put in place Monday afternoon. Banners are being hung from the railings, ceiling, and walls so the ARC aerial lift has been kept busy.
Parking is the critical issue. The ARC has 295 parking spaces plus there's about another 100-110 at the Farmer's Market site. If we could talk all attendees to come 4-5 to a car that would be ideal. However, knowing that won't happen, we're encouraging everyone to park at the Gerbes parking lot and walk on over to the ARC. The doors open at 7:30 am, but because of the bus parking for all of the West Junior High students, we are asking the people refrain from arriving until 8:00 am. This will allow all of the buses time to vacate the ARC and free up valuable parking spaces.
For a map of the ARC and Farmer's Market parking lot, go to our ARC website.
There will be a few other traffic issues as Tuesday's Missourian indicates. We won't even begin to discuss the security issues with the Secret Service as well, you know, they're secret! It's just safe to say that there will be significant security and that attendees should follow the rules as posted on the tickets: no coats, bags, back packs, etc.
Unfortunately, there will be some inconvenience for ARC users. The gym closed at 1:00 pm on Monday and will be closed until 3:00 pm on Tuesday to allow for set-up and take down of the stage, electronic equipment, chairs, banners, etc. During the speech, the running track around the gym will be closed, but a shorter alternate route will be available. The pool, cardio, weights, aerobics, and meeting rooms will operate as usual.
This is a great chance to show the nation a P&R facility that Columbians are proud to call their own. The ARC is an excellent example of how a municipally funded facility can operate and cover all of the related expenses through fees and charges. And for those of you that are wondering, yes, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is paying for all of the rentals and any extra work above normal rental rates. The staff of the DNC has been great to work with and we appreciate their understanding of our need to recover costs.
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