Leadership Redondo’s Class of 2010, an 18 month leadership program for community members, received approval the City Council Tuesday night to replace the Veteran’s Park band shell.
The 54-year-old band shell was taken down in early April after the city contributed $58,000 to the demolition.
“It wasn’t a decision we made to ‘demo the band shell,’ the structure was unsafe and unsound. It had to be torn down,” Councilman Bill Brand said.
The new design is a scaled back version of a previous sketch, which was estimated to cost $100,000 more than the current $111,000 plan.
Several options were discussed during the meeting, including building a cheaper, pre-fabricated gazebo, or extending the project to the class of 2011 to allow time to raise enough money to build the original, more costly design.
“The solution (to go with the scaled back design) is a great decision for us and the city. We are delighted,” said Larry Rosolowski, the project leader, “We would have loved to build a bigger structure, but can only build what we can afford and are very pleased with the council’s decision. We are thankful to our donors for donating so much money in a tough economy.”
Some residents have expressed concern about the acoustic qualities of the new design, but fears were calmed at the council meeting when members of the council discussed alternative venues in the city for musical events.
Leadership Redondo solicited $90,000 from private donors and raised $16,000 at a dinner, dance and silent auction.
“We are thankful to our donors,” said Deborah Fehn, a member of the class of 2010. “We look forward to a successful project.” The new band shell will be completed by the first quarter of 2012.
For more information please visit- http://veteransparkbandshell.com/
