A panel of experts from the Urban Land Institute thinks that maybe, just maybe, Pasadena's Central Arroyo and its biggest asset, the Rose Bowl, could be managed better. The ULI recently convened what they call a Governors Advisory Panel to make recommendations about how to leverage the ongoing renovations at the stadium--the Rose Bowl is in the middle of a $160 million renovation that is currently $20 million short. According to a press release from the ULI, the primary recommendation of the panel was that Pasadena take a page out of NYC's book and create a conservancy to manage the whole shebang: "The panel concluded that the most productive strategy for reviving the Central Arroyo area would be to establish a not-for-profit, professionally staffed conservancy to perform operational planning and management services. The group based its recommendation on the success of the Central Park Conservancy in New York City." According to Perlmutter, a Central Arroyo conservancy would "create a singular focus for the park's management, a clearinghouse for consistent policy and bottom line financial responsibility."
The conservancy would help consolidate the various agencies that oversee its management and the surrounding Central Arroyo. The Glendale News-Press reports that the "Rose Bowl Operating Co., the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and Pasadena's Public Works Department" all have jurisdiction in the area. According to panel chair Richard Perlmutter: "You have as many agencies managing this arroyo as Washington D.C."
The ULI also made enough recommendations to fill the stadium, including:
-- Create a Rose Bowl marketing program and offer guided tours, private events, and a retail facility
-- Create tiered parking pricing in the Arroyo Seco for residents and visitors
-- Expand the park's clubhouse into a visitors center with retail and dining
-- Unpave part of the Arroyo Seco's concrete channel to create a natural stream bed, and convert some of the paved and grass parking lots into multi-purpose sports fields
· Maximize Communitywide Benefits of Rose Bowl and Central Arroyo by Creating Conservancy to Boost Use and Attract Investment, ULI Tells Pasadena Officials [ULI Press Release]
· New vision presented for Rose Bowl [Glendale News-Press]
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