Memorial Coliseum advocates weigh their options

The talk of tearing down Memorial Coliseum is still just talk. People who regularly use the arena for sports, trade shows and graduations say they’re not panicking because nothing’s final yet. Still, resignation has crept into their voices.

“We see there’s a lot of momentum,” said Doug Piper, president of the Portland Winter Hawks hockey team, the coliseum’s major tenant. “How much momentum it has, and how much political will is on it, we’ll see. But all the parties that have a stake in it are showing signs of being cooperative. This thing has real potential to come together.”

One measure of that political will could arise tonight when Portland Mayor Sam Adams and other city leaders convene an “open house” to discuss their plan to overhaul PGE Park for Major League Soccer and build a new baseball park in the Rose Quarter on land now inconveniently occupied by the 49-year-old coliseum.

– Excerpt from The Oregonian, April 14, 2009