[Vision2020] Playfield

[Shawn Clabough]

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of James Reynolds
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 7:13 AM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Playfield

Matt,

I wasn't part of the committee but judging from the makeup it seems that
the 
interested parties were all engaged so I am allowing their compromise to

stand for me also. Of course some folk wanted lights or it would not
have 
been an issue but the final thought of the committee was that the lights

would cause more harm than good. I think that this was driven most by
the 
fact that the UI has the observatory on the golf course hill and the 
southern sky is very important to that program. It seems reasonable that
the 
lights not be put up if they would impinge upon an existing use of that 
horizon.

I am also not so sure that the lights would be much utilized by the 
children. It seems as if the lights were more wanted by the adult league

teams and the new fields are supposed to be for the children.

James Reynolds

-------------

As I do the scheduling for the Cal Ripken league (8-12 year olds), I
will speak to this.  I will first say that I am happy that there was a
compromise reached and happy that the number of fields was kept and the
committee acknowledged that there is still additional need and for some
location to have lights.

As for the kids using the lights, I would have to disagree that they
would not use them.  I could put them to good use.  As it is now, during
the first half of the season, I schedule games at 4pm and 6pm so that
the later game can finish by 8pm just as the sun goes down.  This is not
the best because the 4pm games causes parents to have to leave work
and/or have someone else take their child to the game and they miss most
or all of the game.  For the 6pm game, the shadows do get long towards
the end of the game and it becomes hard to see the ball.  For the second
half of the season, I switch to 5pm and 7pm game times to make it easier
on parents, but lighting during the 7pm game would still be beneficial.

I would like to thank the committee for their work on this and look
forward to having the fields ready for use.  There are 19 teams (over
200 children) in the Cal Ripken league this year and finding fields to
get everyone a fair amount of games can be difficult and these new
fields will help.  The league has been expanding every year, so having
them acknowledge need beyond these fields is appreciated.

Shawn Clabough