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Page l of'1 Curti, Carolyn From: Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 1:45 AM To: carolyn.curti@ci.roseville.mn.us Subject: Comments regarding a community center for Rosevi�le We strongly support the concept and implementation of a community center for the city of Roseville. We realize there will be upfront costs associated with this undertaking, but we believe the expenditure will be money well invested in the future of our community. We would be wi{ling to pay higher taxes to support this project. A community center would serve as a gathering place for individuals and groups of all ages. It would serve as another resource to engage the minds and bodies of our youth in a constructive manner. It would also serve as another resource (along with our excellent parks and the Rose Oval) for young adults and seniors to get the exercise required for a healthy life style. The community center should have a large gymnasium that would hold seve�al basketball courts. I know the Roseville Youth Basketball Association perpetually struggles to find adequate court space for its boys and girls in- house and traveling teams. There would also be numerous other uses for the gymnasium space. The community center should also have an indoor track for walking and running. Typically, this would be an elevated track surrounding the large gymnasium. A weight training/aerobic exercise area would also be highly desirable (The expense involved with operating a weight training area properly might well require patrons to purchase a membership or pay a per visit fee). We would like to see an indoor pool as part of a new community center. The pool should have sliding glass doors in the outer waNs that can be opened in warm weather. The doors would fead to an outdoor lounge area so that the pool would in effect be an indoor facility in the cold weather and also serve the function of an outdoor pool in the warm weather. We would tike to see the pool be able to accommodate lap swimming. Aquatic exercise is an excellent form of exercise for everyone and especially for older individuals who cannot tolerate weight bearing exercise due tn health problems such as arthritis. Again, a pool would be a facility to serve all segments of the community (individuals, families, the young and the old). We must always remember that in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, swimming is a survival skill and not just a recreational activity. Another pool would provide more resources to the community for swimming instruction. Roseville's two existing pools are heavily used at present. I had an opportunity to visit the Bloomington, MN Community Center located on the Kennedy High School Campus this past winter (the center was hosting a basketball tournament for community traveling teams). I was impressed with this facility and Roseville would do well to study this facility. We believe that a community center will be a very significant investment in maintaining and increasing the quality of life for all Roseville residents by providing more resources for physical and social activities. In the long run we as taxpayers will see our investment returned to us in the form of increased value of our property due to adding this important resource to our community. Thank you for the opportunity to express our views about a proposed community center for Roseville. We should do this and we should do this properly. The cost may be high, but we really cannot afford not to proceed with this project. Sincerely, John and Nancy O'Brien 2103 Cohansey Blvd. Roseville, MN 55113-6629 7/ 16/2002