Hillsboro Resident Matt Rabe Shares Sollman Exchange Over Stadium Funding Push And Equity For Youth

By now, most citizens of Washington County and Hillsboro, Oregon, understand that there is a massive divide in our citizens over the tens of millions of public money being spent by our local officials to get the new Hillsboro Hops Stadium project done.  This past week, the Washington County Commissioners voted to use 8 Million dollars of future County lodging tax, also known as TLT, to help fund this controversial project.  Until that vote, the Hillsboro Hops were 20 Million dollars short of getting the new stadium deal done.  The organization is putting in $82 MIllion. The Hillsboro City Council has already voted to commit 100% of our City TLT dollars to the project, and this new $8 MIllion from Washington County gets the total to $108 million by my count.  They need $120 to 125 Million committed by the end of March.

As of today, Senator Janeen Sollman (D), who represents Hillsboro, has been the biggest advocate for this project and has pushed, cheered, and carried water to make this happen.  Sollman is a huge Hops fan and often features selfies on Social Media from the Senate floor and elsewhere with her Hops shirts, mugs, etc.  The busy Senator finds herself in a position of having to deliver the last $12 to $15 Million from the State coiffures, or the Hops may be moving.  People in the organization and the baseball community are relying on her.  Having said that, 1/2 of her constituents, or maybe more, want safer streets, a long overdue homeless shelter, and help with runaway utility bills and the cost of living.  She also finds herself in the sights of people like Hillsboro Resident father Matt Rabe, who has attended hearings and meetings and continued to point out the inequity created by the impact of the new stadium.  Three of the current six softball and baseball fields will be torn out, and the Hops have not confirmed how they and the City will replace these lost fields.  In the current Loss of Use plan, the fields are expected to cost 20 Million dollars to rebuild, and they will be put thousands of feet away from the current stadium complex.  One of them will be along some powerlines, and one will potentially displace sensitive wetlands.  A highway overpass is also planned, forcing girls and boys playing on these fields a long way from vehicles and potentially in busy traffic patterns.  There is also no plan for who will pay for them, putting the total project costs near $150,000,000.  The same price that remodeling the current Hops stadium could have been done for which would have avoided this entire debacle.

Rabe sent an email to Senator Sollman and Representative Nathan Sosa.  Sollman has a staffer respond to Rabe, and Sosa has not yet responded.  At issue is the whole concept of Equity and fairness.  Now, these politicians, like so many, use these terms in nearly every meeting and public address, and the words are thrown around so much that one has to wonder if they mean what they say.  That is precisely where Rabe is coming from in his short but well-worded exchange in the three emails below.  According to these emails below, it turns out that Rabe’s concerns over girls’ youth sports and the equity of taking away their current fields expose one undeniable fact.  Equity for our kids ends when a for-profit business, a Minor League Baseball team, needs money and a new stadium.  A stadium that will provide the team with a venue for Rock Concerts and corporate gigs.  Girls softball?  Yeah, step back to the end of the line.  Boys baseball?  Same thing.  I have to respect the simplicity of Rabe’s questions and be ashamed at the lack of an answer.  Sollman and others have taken their stand.  Local kids, the legacy of the great Hillsboro Mayor Gordon Faber who conceived the world-class stadium complex, and the alteration of these fields all take a back seat and don’t get to have equity when money and influence call.  We all want the Hops to stay in Hillsboro and succeed.  But some things come at such a great cost that they should just not happen.  The entire matter is playing out this week and next in Salem as shuttle diplomacy is happening to find these needed Millions.  I think Sollman will hit a home run on this, or the City of Hillsboro will dip back into the coiffures.  The kids will be thrown at the 2nd base.

Matt, thank you for your deep concerns.

Welcome to Hillsboro, everyone!

Below is the City of Hillsboro Map showing the new Stadium, the two proposed new softball fields, and the new proposed Freeway overpass.

Here is Matt Rabe’s email to Senator Janeen Sollman, the response from her staffer, and Matt’s reply.  Both sides made good points but the lack of equity is very evident here for all to see.  It is undeniable.

—–Original Message—–
From: Matt Rabe <…..>
Sent: Monday, January 8, 2024 8:10 PM
To: Sen Sollman <Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov>
Subject: Hillsboro Hops: Take Care of Our Youth

Sen. Janeen,

As you and the Oregon Legislature consider the request to provide funds to support the Hillsboro Hops, please keep in mind the impacts this project will have on our community’s youth.

The proposed new Hops stadium will require the removal of three valuable youth softball/baseball fields.  At this time, the City of Hillsboro only plans to replace these three fields with two, plus modifications to Ron Tonkin Field.  On paper, this may appear to be reasonable mitigation, but when you look at the redesign of RTF and the geographic impacts of the replacement fields in relation to the rest of the complex you see how our youth are made to pay a price for this professional, for profit enterprise that only support male athletes.

Who is looking out for our youth?  Who is ensuring our daughters are being made whole throughout this process?

Please add a condition to any legislation that provides funds to this project requiring a 1-for-1 (or in this case, 3-for-3) replacement of the youth ballfields.  It is the right thing to do for our youth.

Thank you,

Matt Rabe

On Mon, Feb 5, 2024 at 3:47 PM

Sen Sollman <Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov> wrote:

Good afternoon Matt,

Thank you for reaching out to our office to voice your concerns regarding the Hillsboro Hops stadium. Senator Sollman greatly appreciates hearing from constituents, and I have shared your message with her. The Senator asked me to relay to you that she is supportive of this request because she feels that this is not just about the stadium, but the additional programming and use it will bring for the City, County and other community partners.

The Hillsboro Hops have been working with the City of Hillsboro to build new fields on site. This was always part of the plan but took a while to design. The new stadium will be publicly owned by the City of Hillsboro, meaning the Ron Tonkin Field will now be 100% exclusive to community use which is a huge community benefit. The new ballpark will also be available for community use giving our youth to opportunity to access quality fields.

We really appreciate your input on this project. The process for funding requests the legislative assembly receives work a little differently than a formal piece of legislation. Since this project is specifically requesting funding from Capital Construction, there is no formal bill to add a provision around the replacement of youth ballfields. This $15 million request is a one-time state investment that is being proposed to come from lottery bonds. Economic analysis shows that this investment will return more tax revenue to Oregon than what is being requested. The state will recoup its investment within a 6.5-year time frame. The next 34 years of the lease are revenue positive for the state. The only sources of county and city funding being considered for this project is $18 million of lodging taxes. Revenues made from the lodging tax are required to be reinvested in tourism-related projects. The city is not considering any tax or fee increases to support the construction of the ballpark. Funding for Police, Fire & Rescue, or other City services will not be used for this project. While this makes very good economic sense, Senator Sollman also believes this project is about community development and quality of life, bringing opportunities for affordable entertainment.

The Hillsboro Hops have been enthusiastic supporters of many of our local non-profit and community organizations. Since 2014 the Hops Fund has provided over $750,000 in funding to local youth sports organizations, community partnerships, and Dream Big Scholarships. In 2023 alone, the Hops hosted nine free baseball and softball clinics for over 1,000 youth athletes. This includes a Girls baseball and Softball clinic and seven clinics in partnership with MLB’s Play Ball Weekend initiative. The Hops are committed to being present in our community, and for these reasons, Senator Sollman continues to be in support of their request.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact our office and share your thoughts on this issue. Please continue to keep in touch with any questions or other issues that are important to you.

Sincerely,

Maria

Maria Gomez | Legislative Assistant

Senator Janeen Sollman, SD 15

503-986-1715 Office

Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov
Pronouns: She/Her/Ella

IMPORTANT: Please note that all emails sent to and from this email address are shared among Senator Sollman and her staff, and may be subject to disclosure under Oregon public records laws

To: Sen Sollman <Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov>

From: Matt Rabe –

Feb 7, 2024, 11:05 AM

Re: Hillsboro Hops: Take Care of our Youth

Maria,

Thank you for the email and clarification on how the funding request works.  It appears your response to me was informed, to some degree, by talking points or conversations with the City and/or the Hillsboro Hops.

To be clear, I am not looking to derail the Hops’ efforts to remain in Hillsboro and to meet their MLB obligations.  I am committed, however, to ensuring our community youth are taken care of in the process.  To date, I don’t feel that is the case.  Yes, the City plans to build two replacement fields to mitigate for the loss of the three existing fields.  Yes, the use of Ron Tonkin Field will revert back to City use, and the city has plans to use that facility for future youth baseball and softball games.  But, when I look at the City’s plans for RTF, the realignments (specifically with respect to softball) are not fully supportable.  Overlapping field markings and tight out-of-bounds lines could make the use of RTF less desirable to some.  Were softball coaches even consulted in the design?

Additionally, the City’s plan is to push the two replacement fields (they have room for a third) to the outer corners of the complex and place the new baseball stadium on the prime land at the center of the site.  While this is in the best interest of the Hops, it comes at the expense of the youth programs and our community’s youth who now must trek across the complex — including interacting with traffic — to play.

I am not focusing on any valuation of the economic value of the Hops to Hillsboro, Washington County, or the State.  I am 100 percent focused on my community and its youth…and their future.  It seems there are few people — who should be focused on the same — who are actually advocating for our sons and daughters.

All I am asking is if the State of Oregon provides this grant to either the City or the Hops, that it comes with the condition that the City install a third youth field.  It is only fair to our youth and the community that paid for the initial installation…and is now paying the price associated with this project.

cc: Dirk Knudsen (Hillsboro Herald)

Matt Rabe