COEUR d'ALENE - When the new mayor of Coeur d'Alene is sworn into office Jan. 7, 2014, it will mark four years since park planners proposed their vision of a new and improved McEuen Park.

By the time the new mayor raises his or her right hand during the first City Council meeting of the new year, the playgrounds, basketball courts and waterfront pavilion will be in place, and the park project will be mostly completed.

The $20.2 million transformation - applauded by supporters as visionary and lambasted by critics as excessive - is one of the biggest legacies departing Mayor Sandi Bloem leaves behind as she steps away after three terms.

It's also one of the biggest controversies of her tenure.

McEuen was the central theme of the 2011 City Council elections, where two park opponents won seats. The next year, 2012, it was the driving force of a narrowly unsuccessful recall attempt on the four incumbents, including Bloem, who voted in favor of the project.

Yet, four years and two political cycles behind it, it's still a major focus for three mayoral candidates on the Coeur d'Alene campaign trail.

Mary Souza, Steve Widmyer and Joe Kunka are running for mayor.

They say the community is still abuzz about the project, and wants to know what the candidates think about it.

All three told The Press they realize there isn't anything that can be done to change the park now. Rather, the key will be moving forward.

All three also said they supported a public advisory vote on the park project, which never was sent to the ballot but could have gauged the level of backing in the community. Instead, the City Council determined the fate of the project.

All three mayoral candidates sat down with The Press and discussed how they felt about the entire project, from planning through construction, and what they think needs to happen in the future.

Mary Souza

Souza, an organizer of the recall effort, has been critical of the park planning process since it first went forward.

"I stood up and held up signs, and said we need a public vote," she said.

Without a public vote, she said the public was "left out of the process" because the level of interest and the price tag on the project warranted it.

She said as mayor, one of her goals would be to protect the Third Street Boat Launch, which is a part of the park, from ever being removed.

City officials have said they don't have any intention of removing the boat launch as the park's design was incorporated with it. Even the deal that was going to set up the spot where a replacement boat launch could have gone has fallen through. But Souza said based on what's happened and how citizens feel about the project, she can't take the city at its word.

"It's that lack of trust," she said, adding that the breach can only be remedied by a governing body that acts respectfully toward the public. "They just don't trust what's going on."

She said nearly every component of the project could be improved, including engineers' progress reports, which she calls too vague because they don't include budgetary updates. She didn't like how the project was funded, from urban renewal dollars to the city using various revenue streams.

An example would be how the city allocated all of a year's worth of overlay funds - money aimed for street overlay projects - to the Front Avenue portion of the park project.

The city said it did so because it had held off paying for upgrades to Front Avenue in years past knowing a park project could be coming down the line so they could do the two at once. But Souza said it's an example of downtown and the park getting too much attention, and would have favored paying for the project with a voter-approved bond. She said $20 million is too much for a park.

"I'm torn between a D and an F," she said when asked to give the McEuen Park project a letter grade. "D minus, because I want it to succeed or pass or be acceptable as an end product. I think it's going to be beautiful. I think it's going to be a gorgeous spot. But the process that was used was not good and was not acceptable at all ... I'm a real big believer in, 'The end does not justify the means."

The park project has divided the City Council. Souza identified Dan Gookin as the council member she most often agrees with politically. Gookin opposed the project.

Steve Widmyer

Widmyer, also asked to assign the project a grade, gave it "an incomplete."

The grade is "based on building back the people's pride in the park," he said.

The final grade will have to come down the line when the park is being used and hard feelings over its creation have dulled.

But, he said, "There's no chance it's going to fail."

"We need to restore people's confidence in the park," he said. "That's going to take some doing - you showcase it, you have events there."

He said his goal would be to finish the park on budget and develop a management plan for it, but a key would be to attract as many events there as possible, such as Car d'Lane and the farmer's market.

When park designers were pitching the idea of a redesigned McEuen Park, putting in as many uses for as many events was one of the main goals.

Capitalizing on that will go a long way to healing the community, said.

"I think the more people that come down there and see what it is - and you can see what it is now, it's kind of taking shape now, with the parking structure coming along, you see the basketball courts, you see the playground equipment, it's kind of taking shape - I think when all is said and done, people will be very proud of it."

Widmyer supported Decline To Sign, the group who opposed the recall effort.

His restaurant, Fort Ground Grill, was the spot where the group and targeted incumbents hosted their inaugural rally. He called the recall in the spring of 2012 the most heated political time in town he's seen in 50 years. But he also said he supported a public vote, as did many recall supporters. He didn't support the recall effort itself because he said recalling officials should be reserved for malfeasance.

"I don't see a downside to having a public vote," he said. "It would have cured a lot of people's bad feelings."

Is $20 million too much for a park?

"I don't know," Widmyer said in response to the question. "All I know is I'm going to be responsible that $20 million is all that is spent."

He also said he's looking to the future, when asked with whom on the council he agrees most often.

"I'm my own guy," he said. "And I'm kind of just interested in future decisions. I'm not looking back at past decisions, and so I'm looking toward the future and working with whomever is on the council."

Joe Kunka

Kunka, like Widmyer, supported a public vote, but not the recall.

He said the planning process seemed too quick for what was being done, and that showed a lack of concern for what citizens thought. A public vote could have alleviated that.

The majority of the City Council said at the time that public votes aren't how parks are developed, and with two dozen proposed amenities on the park, the ballot language would be difficult to craft.

"I'm sure when it's done, it'll be an amazing place to go," Kunka said. "But I don't think it was a necessity and anytime it's not a necessity, the people of the community should have a say."

But he also agreed with park supporters by saying the public had ample opportunity to weigh in, as the McEuen topic stretched over years with dozens of meetings with ample public testimony given.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people in the community chose not to go visit those meetings," he said.

Now, he said, the best way to move forward is for the community to utilize the park.

"I think at this point we just move forward together. We make sure the park, that we get our money's worth, that we make sure that it is one of the gems in our community," he said. "I think the time for conflict and discussion is over and now it's time to move forward as a community and make the best use out of the gift we have received."

He said $20 million is too much to spend on a park, and wouldn't be surprised if the project comes in over that. He referred to it several times as a $30 million project, which he said could have gone to streets, the wastewater treatment plant or public safety.

"We don't know that's going to be the number," he said of the city's $20 million price tag. "That thing has changed five or six times."

If the project exceeds its budget, the City Council would have to approve the extra money.

Kunka said his biggest issue with the project was the removal of the American Legion baseball field. Its $300,000 replacement field at Ramsey Park isn't equal or better, he said.

That was a major sticking point for incumbent Ron Edinger, with whom Kunka said he most often agrees out of the entire council.

But Kunka also called the park process, from planning to construction, "professionally" done. He gave it a B.

"They did their jobs proficiently, but I really don't like the way it was pushed at us," he said. "But the overall process from conception to construction, I think that was done professionally. There were ample opportunities for the community to follow this, from conception to reality."

Part 1 of a four-part series

n On Wednesday Coeur d'Alene, mayoral candidates weigh in on urban renewal and a proposed event center.

n On Thursday, the trio of mayoral candidates will discuss the anti-discrimination ordinance adopted by the City of Coeur d'Alene on June 5 to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

n On Friday, the mayoral candidates will discuss the issue of city employees' salaries and how the city's salary structure, staffing and responsibilities could possibly be changed.