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Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 507
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 3:31 pm: |     |
I thought someone would have posted about this by now so I figured I'd do it. I was wondering if anyone thinks we need an electronic scoreboard in Maplecrest Park?
Apparently, the town is planning on installing one but I'm not sure we actually need one.
The other thing is, that the one field (with the outfield fence) gets absolutely no maintainence whatsoever. The field is in horrible condition yet they just dumped about ten yards of dirt on Field #2 to fix it up and it's getting a scoreboard and I'm not sure why.
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Michael Turner
Citizen
Username: Resident_lune
Post Number: 6
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 5:20 pm: | |
Doesn't the majority of Baseball play happen in Memorial Park, anyway? Speaking from experience and running the equipment building in Memorial for a season.
This just seems ... well ... not worth it. I'm all for shiny things and adding perks that make Baseball in certain places seem more appealing. But if the fields in Maplecrest are as poorly maintained as you say, I'd prefer they work on overall quality of the area first, then consider special additions like scoreboards. |
max weisenfeld
Citizen
Username: Max_weisenfeld
Post Number: 20
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 6:20 pm: | |
I live across the street from where the scoreboard is being placed, and members of both the Rec Advisory Board and the Cal Ripkin Baseball committee have been very good about keeping me in the loop on this. Since Hank Zona seems to be out of town, I will try to field (ouch! bad pun!) your questions.
1) The town is not putting up a scoreboard, the Baseball organization is. They are doing it with money they raised, not money from the town. No, we don't need a scoreboard, but they have the money, they use all the fields in town, and they thought it would be nice to give something back. This will not cost us a dime; in fact, they are even offering to landscape around the scoreboard to mask it from the street side.
The scoreboard in question is small -- 3'8" by 5' up on 4' tall poles. From the street, it will look like a clump of shrubs at the base of Oakview Ave. From within the park, it will hardly be more obtrusive. I don't have a problem with it, and I will be able to see it from my front window.
Actually, that is not true -- I do have a problem. I kept asking them to have it face my house, so we can tell the score of the softball games. But they feel it is more important for the players to see it. The nerve. 
2) Overall quality of the fields is a town function, and the town is working on that. A few years ago, a drainage solution was tried on the three fields at Maplecrest that, while improving things, was not enough, particularly for field three (the one closest to the Hilton Library). The town has just finished a complete re-installation at field two (middle field) that should solve the problems there. I do not know a timeline on field three (the one with the fence), but until the drainage is fixed, it is good money after bad to do serious work on that field. |
Michael Turner
Citizen
Username: Resident_lune
Post Number: 7
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 6:47 pm: | |
In that case, there is a big difference. If it's a non-town organization doing this for the good of their sport and for the good of the park out of money they've raised, I don't see any reason to argue against it. And like you said, the quality of the fields is not within their control, but is instead the control of the town, and it sounds like they're attempting several ideas to handle field quality issues.
Play ball! |
Waxwings
Supporter
Username: Waxwings
Post Number: 83
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 7:24 pm: | |
The problem with the "Little League" field at Maplecrest Park is its swamp heritage; whenever there is a significant amount of rain or snow, it just doesn't drain and dry out very quickly. I'm not sure, but I believe there has been at least two major excavations of the area in order to install some sort of drainage pipe systems and special sub-soils that were supposed to alleviate the chronic swampiness. Alas, it seems that the attempts have not been successful. Years ago, during the winter months, the area was flooded and made a really wonderful ice-skating pond. Years and years and Years ago, my father and my uncle used to hunt, fish and trap there! Seems that the place wants to be what it is and I don't think an Electric Scoreboard will help much with the drainage! |
Hank Zona
Supporter
Username: Hankzona
Post Number: 5295
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 12:43 am: | |
Im back, but Max pinch-hit well...the sign is being put up by Cal Ripken Baseball...it is not a Jumbotron with fireworks shooting out every time Sbenois jacks one out, but a very reasonable and well placed sign. It's a small but nice touch and something good for the kids who play on those fields. Having helped coach a travel softball team last summer, I can tell you how impressed we were with some fields/complexes in other towns, but also how the girls we coached felt when they played on a field "with a fancy scoreboard with lights". It is a nice and many believe, including me, a welcome gesture by Cal Ripken Baseball.
Speaking of field conditions, as someone asked, a topic very near and not always dear to me these days, fields are being rehabbed little by little..last year DeHart, this year a field at Maplecrest...in the future, others need it as well...and not just rehabbing but proper maintenance. Some folks have worked to find cost effective ways of doing it, but alot more should be done, must be done.
The small field at Maplecrest, Field 3 it may be, could be regraded and I believe should be. A field expert said it can be made usable ("safe and playable" were his exact words). I may be wrong about this, but when the field was first re-done, it was botched by the contractor (combined with the fact that it is low-lying and used to be flooded for iceskating, back before global warming)...but a new drain was put in behind the backstop and with proper grading, it can be a good field.
We are faced with a problem in Maplewood-South Orange that is not unique but can be found throughout the state...there is an increased demand for fields because of more kids, more active (semi-active?) adults, more sports going 2 and 3 and 4 seasons when they were formerly one season sports, all vying for time on the master schedule. Between youth recreation and the schools, in peak season, the fields are scheduled back to back to back and more. Fields that were allowed to be fallow in the past are being used year round and being beaten to hell in the process. And again, if you think its only a problem here, its not. In fact, you'd be surprised what towns have contacted Maplewood the past couple of years looking to see if they can rent fields. But we are mature towns with little if any space to make more fields, so we have to do a better job taking care of the fields we have. A significant artifical turf project is in the works and ought to be supported because it will maximize the lay-out and the usage of some existing space. Other creative and smart planning needs to be done as well for other fields. Everyone has to have a role and a stake in it...the towns, the programs using the space, the schools, everyone.
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Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 10809
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 7:34 am: | |
Is the field with the fence and the tree overlapping right field called Field 3?
I was surprised when that field was rennovated a few years ago because of the drainage issues and because maybe ten years ago we were told that it wasn't a candidate for major drainage work because a major sewer interceptor line runs below it.
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Hank Zona
Supporter
Username: Hankzona
Post Number: 5296
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 8:06 am: | |
Bob,
The other two ballfields are 1 and 2, so Ive heard the small fenced field called Field 3 or the Little League Field or assorted other names. Again, I was told the field is "fixable" but it would take money, mostly for topsoil and grading. Last spring, work was done on the fields at DeHart...those fields were usually out of commission for a few days after significant rain, but with the new topsoil and grading and cutting back the berm (the grassy build-up around the edge of the outfield), those fields took water much better, cutting down the downtime to a day or less in most cases.
Of course, ongoing maintenance is most important...infield skins have to be dragged properly and water cant be swept off...that will create a berm again and water that falls in the outfield and foul territory will flow back into the infield. You'll notice a bowl shape to some fields where there is too much of a berm build-up. A field with good drainage and more importantly, proper grading, will allow the infield to absorb only the water that falls on it, not water that flows onto it additionally from around the infield. If that small field is graded towards the backstop, most of that water will run off the infield towards the drain. The field person also said the tree along the rightfield line, the issue of the moment when that field was being worked on, most likely helps because it is large and draws alot of water from the ground. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 6803
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 9:30 am: | |
Could part of the problem be the unofficial soccer games that take place in Maplecrest all summer?
I'm glad that the park get use, but it seems to me that we should have a proper soccer field somewhere and the "no soccer" rule enforced on the ball fields. Living in the neighborhood, I know all about the drainage problems. Several of us have managed to fix the problem in our own yards, so I can't imagine that it cannot be done in the park.
But it sure takes a beating from all the pick-up soccer games. |
Hank Zona
Supporter
Username: Hankzona
Post Number: 5297
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 9:50 am: | |
Greenetree...
Sure that is part of the problem...and other parts of the problem include field hockey, lacrosse, softball, baseball, "official soccer", ultimate frisbee, football, kids on bikes, etc. Other fields without the pick-up soccer games are also getting beat up...check out Memorial Park between Baker and Oakview. Probably the worst thing for all the fields was the drought-like conditions late last summer into early fall...what grass was on the fields was pulverized from over-use, then followed with a rainy period where it was all chewed up into mud. One benefit of artificial turf (and I am not advocating this for just any field) is that alot of weather factors that impact programming and field maintenance and health of the grass are eliminated.
Your idea on designated fields for certain sports isnt a bad one..but again, with so many sports being multi-season now, soccer being a very good example, it may not be so easy to do that. |
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