“South Valleys Regional Park Not the Site for Professional Soccer Facility”
Washoe District 2 Commissioner Mike Clark went on a dais rant at the Tuesday, August 20, 2024, Board of County Commissioner meeting inquiring, “Do I have to lawyer up here?”
Clark was pointing out that he had asked for public records and had been advised by Washoe 311 and the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office with the response “Tech Services was not able to develop a search that provided any response emails listed within your request.”
No records of conversations that Marc Radow, BattleBorn Futbol Club, who is developing the North Valleys/Parr Blvd. soccer stadium says he had in 2022 could be found. Mr. Radow spoke at the July 24, 2024, Open Space and Regional Parks Commission Meeting and he seemed pretty certain he’d had meetings with former Commissioner Bob Lucey and county employees from the Parks Department back in 2022 regarding the South Valleys Regional Park being used as a soccer stadium. When he was told by Washoe County that it was unfeasible. That’s why Clark had asked for the records.
We reached out to Commissioner Clark for a comment, and he said, “There was no doubt in my mind there had been meetings, and emails between Mr. Radow and Washoe County, and I have no idea why Washoe County refused to turn the documents over to me. I assure you I’m going to get to the bottom of it. Not letting this go, and the county can’t hide behind it being a hiccup, or a glitch which are two words I’ve been served up from the county managers office since January 2023, when I was sworn in. I’m lied to on a regular basis.”
We asked Clark why these records were important to him, and he told us, “For the residents. They need these records in South Reno. There are hundreds of people living in the area who are against this proposed soccer stadium, and some of them have no idea how to request a public record from Washoe County. I simply wanted to get the records and turn them over to several of the groups who are gathering signatures and leading the effort to defeat the soccer stadium. Pretty simple.”
It is pretty simple, and we were amused by Commissioner Alexis Hill trying to dissuade public comments about the soccer stadium, assuring people it was not on the agenda. The Washoe County propaganda team event took to social media assuring residents that “public comment is always welcome, but if you want to address this particular topic, please be aware that it did not progress beyond the Parks Commission and is not being addressed by the Board of County Commissioner.” A couple of county employees from Manager Brown’s office were ‘informing’ residents attending the meeting that the soccer stadium wasn’t on the agenda, so they didn’t need to make a public comment (should taxpayers be paying county employees to stand in the lobby dissuading residents from public comment?) Heck there was even a sign at the security check in.
We all need to ask ourselves with the hype around this item NOT coming before the commission as an appeal, what is being kept from all of us silly voters?
Why is Commissioner Alexis Hill, County Manager Eric Brown, and others making the South Reno soccer stadium appear to be a non-issue.
