Letter to the Editor: Lights at Westside Park
Posted on May. 18th, 2010
In a letter to the editor, an anonymous reader wrote:
"Suggestion for investigation: Since the city is laying off people, short on funds etc. why are they leaving the lights for the ball fields on all the time at Westside Park? One night recently they were left on all night, during the recent storms in the evenings they were on. I seriously doubt that they are still playing ball during the lightning and rain."
Jeff Stewart, Director of Gardner Parks and Recreation, responded:
"We are not aware of the lights being left on all night, but will look into this
with staff. Prior to league games starting, we have teams scheduled to practice
on the fields. Our computer system is set to turn the lights on and off for fields
1-3 and we manually turn on and off the lights for field #4. Now that games have
started, this program has been turned off and the lights are operated by the facility
supervisors that are there during the games.
This was the first year we tried the computerized system. Our only concern was the
perception if a storm moved in and/or a team didn't show up for practice and the
lights were on. The only way to eliminate this would be to have a staff person on
site during practice times or to not allow practices after dark. With limited facilities,
option 2 would not work well for us."
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The Patriot wrote on 5/23/2010 8:57 am
"The only way to eliminate this would be to have a staff person on
site during practice times or to not allow practices after dark. With limited facilities,
option 2 would not work well for us."
Really this is only option you can think of? If you have an automated system, you can access it from anywhere. How about wifi or web access and remote video? A park official could turn the lights on and off from his home or office or even from Tokyo.
This is a cheap solution and could be paid from the savings of not leaving the lights on all night.
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