PORTLAND, Ore. -- When the city of Portland began looking for a location to build a new baseball stadium, one jumped out.

The Memorial Coliseum seemed like a perfect place to many. "Tear it down," they said, and play ball.

But the cry galvanized a group of architects who want to save the building. And they knew exactly where to put pressure.

City Commissioner Dan Saltzman is proud of Portland’s reputation as a green, sustainable leader.

Tearing down the Coliseum would reveal a lack of will to follow through on catchy slogans, architects argued.

Architect Stuart Emmons helped state the case at a public meeting.

"Here we are, we're the green capital and all of a sudden the headline in the New York Times, ‘Portland poster child for unsustainable building practices because they tear down one of their best modern buildings,'" Emmons argued. "I don’t think we want to do that. I don’t think that's a wise move."

Portland's architects often operate out of the public eye but they are well connected.

Peter Meijer is one of those architects who stepped up to help protect the Coliseum.

“We care because we are connected through our clients, through property owners. Portland's a small town in one shape or form; we can get support for issues that resound well," said Meijer.

Their protests prompted others to turn out and voice their concern. Veterans and citizens worried about city finances and the speed of the decisions and the process packed a public meeting.

The Portland Trail Blazers basketball operation also was quietly concerned it would ruin their plans to revitalize the area.

Both in public and behind the scenes, much of the pressure focused on Commissioner Saltzman and the sustainability argument.

"Obviously we targeted so there would be a 3-2 vote,” Meijer said. “And like everyone else...we focused on the swing vote, but we were able to do that with our own justification, our own pieces, and really tried to focus in on where the critical votes would come."

But there never was a vote.

Saltzman let Mayor Adams know he had concerns about tearing down the Coliseum, and the mayor, in charge of city's sustainability policy, moved the focus to Lents Park.

That astounded Oregonian columnist Steve Duin.

“I think the fact that it got to Lents is absurd," he said.

Duin ripped the plan to build the stadium in Lents Park in Thursday's paper.

“And the City Council has said 'OK, you're going to argue?' We can't afford an argument right now. Let's wander off to Lents where people might not be paying enough attention to realize we're gonna steal their park from them," he said.

Duin says response to his column has been nearly unanimous. Most can’t believe the Coliseum is being spared. Many think it's common sense to put the stadium near downtown.

“The coliseum, if the mayor had any guts ... if the City Council had any discipline, we'd still be talking about Memorial Coliseum. But instead we're wandering in six miles, seven miles east out, in poor Lents Park," said Duin.