Tempe Town Toilet was supposed to be a park for Tempe residents. But it has turned into a place that the City of Tempe uses to raise revenue, The end result is that Tempe won't let its citizens use the park when it interfears with the City of Tempe raising revenue.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/0415tr-lakeevents0415Z10.html

Some consider popularity of Town Lake a problem

Jahna Berry The Arizona Republic Apr. 15, 2006 12:00 AM

Tempe built it - Tempe Town Lake - and now they come in droves.

In fact, so many people descend on Tempe Beach Park for concerts, festivals and sporting events that some residents are beginning to complain they rarely have a chance to take a weekend lake stroll with the family dog.

Some worry that community events, which are less lucrative than tourist-drawing attractions, could eventually be pushed out.

The popularity of the lake - and limitations of Beach Park - is starting to cause scheduling headaches for the city and event organizers. Nearly every desirable weekend, except for the hottest months, are just about booked solid, city officials say, and soon they will have to steer events to other Tempe locations.

At a recent meeting, the City Council asked the city events staff to form a panel of business, tourism and community members to draft a plan that would guide future decisions about which groups use Town Lake and Beach Park.

The city needs to make its own residents, who paid for the lake and park improvements, a higher priority, said longtime Tempe resident Gordon Cresswell, who remembers when Tempe Beach Park was a humble community gathering spot with a swimming pool.

"The original intent of the park was that the public would get to use it," said Cresswell, who also sits on the Rio Salado Advisory Commission. Although he's pleased with the park's success, the growing list of events discourages Tempe residents from using it, he said.

"When you have gated events that charge admission, those people are not going to be down there," he said.

Jim Lemmon worries that home-grown traditions, like the Tempe Rio Salado Rotary Club's 7-year-old cardboard boast races next Saturday, will routinely be nudged to other city locations to make room for blockbusters - such as Ironman Arizona, the Tempe Circle K Music Festival, and an upcoming beach volleyball tournament - that bring more money and foot traffic to downtown shops.

"The reason we started the boat races was to get people acquainted with the lake and Rio Salado," he said.

This year, his event was moved from Tempe Beach Park to the eastern side of the Mill Avenue bridge. On that same Saturday, organizers are setting up for a Sunday concert in Tempe Beach Park, and there's a foot race and a rowing competition on the northern side of the lake, he says.

Travis Dray, a city official who helps coordinate Tempe events, acknowledged that the city will have to steer events away from the lake to other Tempe locations. But other city venues are in demand, too.

Kiwanis Park, a popular spot for corporate picnics and weekend dates during Arizona's mild weather months, can be hard to come by, city officials say.

It was inevitable that Tempe Town Lake and Tempe Beach Park would go through some growing pains, said Kevin Koziol, a veteran Valley event organizer. The 75-year-old Tempe Beach Park was renovated in 1999 to coincide with the opening of the lake.

Around 2003, the city asked Koziol to organize a "Live at the Lake" concert series with local bands, to help draw people to the lake. After a year, the lake was so popular he had trouble scheduling consecutive weekend dates for the series, he recalls.

Fast forward a few years and he now brings bands that are household names to the lake for the Tempe Music Festival, which recently drew about 20,000.

So far, he said he hasn't had scheduling problems with the festival, but newer events may have a tougher time.

For Tempe, though, "It's a good problem to have."


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