this is pretty much what i suspect for many years. that tempe town toilet was built not for the people of tempe to enjoy as a park but to be a place for the city of tempe to raise revenue by putting on concerts and events.

former tempe mayor Neil Guliano in a letter he emailed to me bragged that tempe town toilet would have more visitors then the grand canyon. at the time it seemed like a stupid boast for a chunk of desert under the flight path of sky harbor airport which at peak landing times your hearing can be deafend twice a minute by 747 landing. but with the amount of concerts and events the city puts on in the park it probably does get more visitors then the grand canyon. and all of them pay $5/$10/$20 buck to enter.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/0416lakeevents0416.html

Events packing Town Lake park Some locals feeling shut out

Jahna Berry The Arizona Republic Apr. 16, 2006 12:00 AM

Chandler resident Cheryl Ziemer loves walking her dog in Tempe Beach Park, but you won't catch her there on the weekends.

"No, it's always too many people," said Ziemer, 47. She sticks to weekday visits. "We pretty much assume weekend nights they are doing something."

Others are starting to feel the same way. As thousands of people descend on Tempe Beach Park for waterfront concerts, festivals and sporting events, some Tempe residents are beginning to complain they rarely have a chance to have a weekend family picnic or a stroll in the park.

Others worry that community events, which are less lucrative than tourist-drawing attractions, could eventually be pushed out of the Tempe Town Lake area altogether.

Officials acknowledge that the popularity of the lake - and limitations of the Beach Park - is starting to cause scheduling headaches for the city and event organizers.

And it's a balancing act that could be faced soon by Valley cities such as Mesa, Glendale and Phoenix that are investing millions of dollars in state-of-the-art entertainment venues.

Longtime Tempe resident Gordon Cresswell remembers when Tempe Beach Park was a humble community gathering spot with a swimming pool, not the spot for events like a music festival that recently attracted 20,000 fans.

He said the city needs to make its own residents -- who paid for the lake and Tempe Beach Park improvements -- a higher priority.

"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. While he's pleased with the park's success, the growing list of events effectively 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 homegrown 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 the blockbuster events such as Ironman Arizona, the Tempe Circle K Music Festival, and an upcoming beach volleyball tournament that all 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 east side of the Mill Avenue bridge. On that Saturday, organizers are setting up for a Sunday concert in Beach Park, there's a foot race and, on the north side of the lake, a rowing competition, he says.

It's the ongoing juggling act for Tempe: accommodating large events, community needs and the limitations of space and time. Nearly every desirable weekend, except for the hottest months, is just about booked solid, city officials say.

Travis Dray, a city official who helps coordinate Tempe events, says he's already turned away a few groups who wanted to use Tempe Beach Park but could not change the dates of their events.

There's no question that the 7-year-old lake and adjoining Tempe Beach Park have become the toast of the Valley events scene. The large grassy park, water and easy freeway access put the area in demand, said Kevin Koziol, a longtime Valley event organizer.

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 music festival, which recently drew 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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