Despite pushback from some aldermen and residents, the Aurora City Council recently approved the purchase of new jumbotrons for RiverEdge Park during its current renovation project.
With the purchase of these two new jumbotrons, which are large screens typically seen at concert and other event venues, RiverEdge Park is set to have seven when renovations are complete and the park starts hosting concerts again next year.
While the other screens will be near the stage or on the beverage pavilion, these two new jumbotrons are planned to be situated in the grassy area beyond the beverage pavilion so there would be more places for people to sit during concerts.
The current renovations at RiverEdge Park are expected to increase the capacity of the park by about 2,500 people, with current capacity at about 7,300 for events and 6,500 for concerts, according to past reporting. A new backstage building, a new beverage pavilion, a new restroom building and a new south gate entry are also being added to the park.
Like all the renovations taking place at RiverEdge Park, the new jumbotrons are supposed to help make the park more profitable and help it attract bigger acts by increasing potential attendance, officials have said. But the purchase saw some pushback, including from residents who spoke during the Tuesday meeting’s public comment period, as the city faces financial troubles and possible staffing cuts.
The two jumbotrons will cost just over $534,000, past reporting shows. Alongside the purchase, the Aurora City Council also approved roughly $266,000 in construction work both to build the jumbotron-supporting structures and to do some other work on the park’s pavers.
Aurora officials have said both those costs are within the renovation project’s existing budget, which is being funded through bonds
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taken out by the city. This money can only be used to pay for projects set out in the bond issue, so can’t be used for normal city operations, Mayor John Laesch previously said.At a meeting on Oct. 14, the Aurora City Council voted 8–3 to approve the purchase and associated work. Alds. Daniel Barreiro, 1st Ward; Jonathan Nunez, 4th Ward; and Javier Banuelos, 7th Ward, voted against. Ald. Will White, at-large, was not at the meeting so didn’t vote.
Jim Jarvis, RiverEdge Park’s general manager, told the City Council that just three sold-out shows per year with these new jumbotrons will bring in around $260,000. The park hosted two sold-out shows last year and four sold-out shows the year before, he said.
Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, said she believes the city would be “selling ourselves short by not finishing this project.” The point of the renovation was to bring in bigger acts and more revenue, but by cutting out the jumbotrons, it would cut that revenue, she said.
Aurora is going into its budget cycle with “a lot of red flags, a lot of uncertainty going into next year,” Nunez said, so he urged aldermen to consider the cost of the jumbotrons as compared to that of bringing in a temporary screen for sold-out shows like the park did previously.
Barreiro said he wanted city staff to look at things differently when it came to the jumbotron purchase, just like he had to when he was a city employee and hit a wall with an alderman over a proposed project. He suggested the city look for sponsors for the jumbotrons, put the purchase through a completive bid process or just generally look for other sources of funding to pay for them.
The city could go ahead with building the support structures for the jumbotrons, he said, then move the screens near the stage to the back when needed. Jarvis said that idea would impact viewers near the stage, so he wouldn’t advocate for it.
Barreiro also suggested pushing back the jumbotron purchase until, at a later date, the council could get an update on how all the projects being funded by the bonds were coming along with their spending.
Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, said he was disappointed when Jarvis told the council it would take four to six months for the jumbotrons to be delivered after they were purchased, since he was hoping to wait until maybe early spring to make a decision, but it doesn’t seem like the city can “kick this down the road a little bit.” For that reason, Bugg said, he was voting in favor of the purchase.
After a short presentation from Jarvis, Barreiro made a motion to just consider the work associated with the jumbotron purchase, which was the construction of the jumbotron-supporting structures and some work on the park’s pavers, but not the jumbotron purchase itself. That proposal failed in a 4–7 vote, with Alds. Barreiro, Jauny Garza, 2nd Ward; Banuelos and Keith Larson, at-large, voting in favor.
Barreiro had brought that idea up at an earlier committee meeting but didn’t formally make the motion until the City Council meeting on Oct. 14. However, the City Council’s agenda listed the purchase of the jumbotrons and the work as separate items, which caused a lengthy discussion.
Eventually, council then considered the proposal as one item again as it was presented at the committee meeting, at least until Barreiro formally made the move to not consider the jumbotron purchase.