Yes, I feel the pain of the Little League proponents, but the economic climate is not favorable, and the money -- if it existed at all -- surely would be better spent on outdoor recreational opportunities suitable for all residents, not just the ones playing and watching baseball. Community Park is a commons, and should remain one.
New Albany Little League eyes new home; Idea has been discussed, but move to Community Park is unlikely, by Chris Morris.I'll hand this one to Heavrin, because he's right. A county solution, while not free, makes the most sense to me. It's where the land is.
... “We don’t have a master plan yet. We are just trying to see what will work,” (Troy) Striegel said. “Maybe we can come up with a couple of options” ...
... Floyd County Council President Ted Heavrin said he understands the need, but said it would be difficult to build a Little League complex at Community Park.
“It would take a lot of the park to build that kind of complex. And you can’t build under those power lines out there,” he said. Heavrin also said there are better options in the county, “but nobody is going to give it [land] to them.”
At the same time, today's article is another wake up call for the city of New Albany. All of us need to begin the mental re-education process of identifying Community Park as an iconic green asset that stands to grow in value as the years pass, not just as a remaining collection of land suitable for better use as something else when the mood strikes.
One last brief consideration, and I'm off to Indy for my guild meeting.
Seeing as my business lies just around the corner from the current Mt. Tabor Road baseball complex, I've had many years to observe the Little League phenomenon of parking cars on the street to be as near to the field as possible.
Road widening evidently would "squeeze" the diamonds and cost a few parking spaces used by parents and followers, and yet within a few hundred yards, there are parking lots aplenty -- at K-Mart and Kroger, among others.
If I'm reading this correctly, the fields already there are usable, if not state of the art (some of the places I played growing up resembled glacial moraines more than ballfields), and to require folks to walk a hundred yards does not seem out of the question. It's a sport, after all, so walk.
County solutions, anyone?
There is ample space for fields and parking at Binford Park. The Parks Department even commissioned a master plan that would include using nearly the entire park as a ball field. The ball park, as designed would be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThe park is rarely used and would be great for that part of town. Plus there are a lot of young kids within walking distance that would have short walking access that rarely have transportation to get to Mt. Tabor.
Sadly, the thing that killed it is that baseball mom's couldn't bring themselves to go so near to the Housing Authority. They'd rather ignore and avoid than acknowledge it exists.
Or walk a block to where the game's being played.
ReplyDeleteDamn. I didn't know about the Binford proposal.
Too often, park space is raided, being viewed merely as "free" land available for other purposes.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the Binford idea.
Why is a largely residential section of Mount Tabor being widened in the first place?
ReplyDeleteWith the widening of Mt. Tabor, the park's fields will be mere feet from the road. That land is owned by the school also. Land that has been considered in the past is behind Home Depot up the hill, the junk yard on Grant Line Rd., and near Northside Church on Charlestown Rd. I was not aware of the Binford Park proposal and would love to take a look at it. Jeff and Clarksville have left us far behind in this area. They have even incorporated some green space and family areas at their sites. Their parks also bring economic activity to their towns with the multiple tournaments held there each year.
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ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I understand why it would take $10 million to build a complex that when finished would still mostly consist of dirt and grass. If the "big wish" is five fields for softball and five baseball, that's $1 million per field.
ReplyDeleteThe Jeff complex is pretty simple and has about half that many fields.
Jeff, the main cost is for land. Difficult to find 40 acres in this county. The Jeff facility was already there and was totally rehabbed. They removed tennis courts and changed the set up. Meijer corporation was a big donor for that. Crawford County also has a nice park with the bulk of the money coming from the boat.
ReplyDeleteHow is Jeffersonville able to host regular leagues and travel tournaments with roughly half the fields NA says it wants? Is New Albany's participation that much more?
ReplyDeleteBinford Park is about 19 acres. Jeff's facility is about the same size, if you include the original Shannon Field used by the high school.
Sorry to pump you for so much info, Daniel. I just haven't seen explanations for any of this anywhere and it's been a long time since I played ball.
I had a well thought-out and highly informative post. Blogger stated that it could not perform my request. The post is lost. I am going to sulk now.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Blogger is really ticking me off lately!
ReplyDeleteJeff, the New Albany plan is a wish list that I believe includes 8 fields. Jeff is able to pull off their schedule by playing from early morning to late at night on the weekends.
I am not sure of the participation numbers compared to Jeff, but New Albany has the premiere program in this area. Jeff has one softball field, 3 baseball, 1 tee ball, and 1 large baseball field. I have been there numerous times while games were being played on every field.
With traveling teams and all stars, the sport has become very competetive and almost year round. That has made the economic impact considerable.
I would still like to see the Binford plan. I feel that it has been overlooked somehow.