Why are soccer fields sacrosanct?

The numerous soccer fields around here lie fallow, 5 of 7 days. They can't be used for anything else but soccer.
 
IMST said:
Did I disagree with the location objection? I said I don't know the area and couldn't possibly comment.

Hiking (at least in nature) requires transportation, cycling requires a bike, equestrian requires a damn horse. Soccer requires an open space and one in 22 people having a ball. Soccer's a team sport, which gives peer pressure to work hard where hiking, cycling and equestrian often don't. I would love to see the reaction from a poor parent when you suggest that they have their kids take up equestrian instead of soccer.
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And kids don't have to be transported to the soccer field and back? The soccer field does not require watering, treatment with herbicides to keep it only grass, gopher abatement etc.?

Not all of us, even a children, are that well suited to team sports. What I remember from them was being chosen last in desperation and kept from the action to whatever degree was possible, thus insuring that I remained out of the loop.

As to hiking etc., parents could actually take their kids hiking, and no, I wouldn't suggest to parents that their kids get a horse. My enthusiasm for hiking has kept me fit, even though I had bypass surgery in 1999 and am approaching my 69th. birthday. Oh, BTW, before you seize on my coronary problems as a sign that I wasn't taking care of myself, I should point out that I was hiking before the surgery and that, considering that my mother and two older brothers also had coronary problems, the likely culprit in this case is heredity.
 
TjW said:
One common method of mosquito abatement is to drop some "mosquito eater" fish into any large puddles. Unless you happened to come across them while they were doing it, you wouldn't really notice anything out of the ordinary.
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They do apparently use mosquito fish in the creek (which isn't entirely seasonal) at Hahamongna. Do you know what the cost is for maintaining a population of such fish, or do they maintain themselves?
 
I know that soccer fields in the larger cities (I speak only of OK and TX from experience) are reserved for soccer. Period. Any other activity on them draws a visit from officialdom--even if they are NOT in use, and are not scheduled for use...
 
I Ratant said:
The numerous soccer fields around here lie fallow, 5 of 7 days. They can't be used for anything else but soccer.
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I'm rather surprised at that. At the public meeting, they were talking about various established fields being used for soccer, football and baseball. However, as far as I know, the fields the city council want to put in a Hahamongna were for soccer only.
 
I actually live across the street from a high school soccer\football\running track and I see people out there all of the time. It's one of the reasons that I asked about them charging to use the facilities because the school does just that for other local schools that don't have the facilities to use it during the week for practice and games (and the high school itself doesn't have its own soccer or football teams, just a track team) and local soccer and football leagues (kids and adults) use it on the weekends. Just last week there was a pee-wee football match of about 6 teams in a row. There's also the occasional event like the breast cancer walk-a-thon and so on. All of those organizations rent out the facility from the school.

It's set up to be maintenance free with astroturf. All I've seen is the occasional weed whacking on the hillside surrounding it.
 
TimCallahan said:
They do apparently use mosquito fish in the creek (which isn't entirely seasonal) at Hahamongna. Do you know what the cost is for maintaining a population of such fish, or do they maintain themselves?
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If the creek dries up, the next time it's wet they'll probably throw in another bucket of a hundred fish or so. I don't know what that costs, but feeder goldfish are sixteen cents apiece retail, so I'd guess way under twenty bucks. Maintenance is to ignore them, though I suppose someone might check on them if they weren't controlling the mosquito population. By the end of the summer, there may be thousands of fish.
 
swright777 said:
Did you stop to think that maybe the mosquito control program (if there is one) is working?
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These two later posts seem to answer your question. This appears to be a low cost solution.

Post # 43: They do apparently use mosquito fish in the creek (which isn't entirely seasonal) at Hahamongna. Do you know what the cost is for maintaining a population of such fish, or do they maintain themselves?

Post # 47: If the creek dries up, the next time it's wet they'll probably throw in another bucket of a hundred fish or so. I don't know what that costs, but feeder goldfish are sixteen cents apiece retail, so I'd guess way under twenty bucks. Maintenance is to ignore them, though I suppose someone might check on them if they weren't controlling the mosquito population. By the end of the summer, there may be thousands of fish.
 
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Yes but especially in California, wetlands are protected. Seasonal stuff is called 'vernal pools'. Seems any species in the pond is endangered- frogs, shrimps, weeds like Mesa Mint. The city will need an Environmental Impact Report. Look into it if you want to put a stop to the soccer field.
 
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Amplifying what casebro said, it appears that "no net loss of wetlands" is federal policy under the Clean Water Act, and possibly under other federal law as well. Anything that supports fish is surely wetland. Maybe cities get a break, but if this were a developer, they'd, at the very least, be required to replace the lost wetlands with new wetlands of (theoretically) equal quality. I don't think that cities do get a break. I think that, if they're doing this by the book, this will be a hard project to get approved and expensive because of the requirement for new wetlands creation. Has the EPA signed off on this? They're supposed to.
 
casebro said:
Yes but especially in California, wetlands are protected. Seasonal stuff is called 'vernal pools'. Seems any species in the pond is endangered- frogs, shrimps, weeds like Mesa Mint. The city will need an Environmental Impact Report. Look into it if you want to put a stop to the soccer field.
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The latest on the city's plans for Hahamongna Park is that everything is on hold pending an E.I.R.

I might note that in the later public meetings, nobody from the public has gotten up to speak in support the idea of soccer fields at that location. Perhaps those from the American Soccer Association (or whatever other group would be in favor of the fields) is afraid of being lynched by everyone else at the meeting; but this seems like a really unpopular idea. Of course, cutting down the mature shade trees on Colorado Blvd. was also extremely unpopular until the city council brought in their stooges at the misnamed and poorly publicized meeting at which they decided to butcher the trees. I have little trust in and less respect for this particular city council.
 
Looking at the master plan, it looks like they want to dig the existing wetland area deeper and smaller, using the dirt to make some higher, flatter places. The soccer fields may be the least of your problems.

If you want to have an effect on the process, the EIR is a good lever. You'll have to pore over a lot of dull text to see if there's something significant they missed, though. If there's some recreational activity that has historically gone on in the park, and they didn't mention it, get the people that do that together.
 
TimCallahan said:
And kids don't have to be transported to the soccer field and back? The soccer field does not require watering, treatment with herbicides to keep it only grass, gopher abatement etc.?

Not all of us, even a children, are that well suited to team sports. What I remember from them was being chosen last in desperation and kept from the action to whatever degree was possible, thus insuring that I remained out of the loop.

As to hiking etc., parents could actually take their kids hiking, and no, I wouldn't suggest to parents that their kids get a horse. My enthusiasm for hiking has kept me fit, even though I had bypass surgery in 1999 and am approaching my 69th. birthday. Oh, BTW, before you seize on my coronary problems as a sign that I wasn't taking care of myself, I should point out that I was hiking before the surgery and that, considering that my mother and two older brothers also had coronary problems, the likely culprit in this case is heredity.
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I think you're reading more into what I typed than I intended. I don't know enough about the soccer fields in question to know if the parents would need to transport their kids there. I always walked to practice and home matches when I was a kid. I know not everyone is well suited to team sports. I'm not well suited to individual ones, particularly non competitive ones. Too easy to quit on myself. I had no plans to give you a hard time about your coronary problems. I have danger zone cholesterol through heredity despite being a participant in sports most of my life and a vegetarian for my entire adult life. In the Seattle area where conditions are usually wet enough that the trouble with our fields is too much water, most of our recently installed fields are synthetic. No watering ever, obviously.
 
I Ratant said:
The numerous soccer fields around here lie fallow, 5 of 7 days. They can't be used for anything else but soccer.
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I played Ultimate frisbee for 15 years. I'd estimate that over 90% of the games I ever played were on soccer fields. When I was a teenager I used to ref Lacrosse for gas money. Every game I ever reffed was on a soccer field.
 
TimCallahan said:
The latest on the city's plans for Hahamongna Park is that everything is on hold pending an E.I.R.

I might note that in the later public meetings, nobody from the public has gotten up to speak in support the idea of soccer fields at that location. Perhaps those from the American Soccer Association (or whatever other group would be in favor of the fields) is afraid of being lynched by everyone else at the meeting; but this seems like a really unpopular idea. Of course, cutting down the mature shade trees on Colorado Blvd. was also extremely unpopular until the city council brought in their stooges at the misnamed and poorly publicized meeting at which they decided to butcher the trees. I have little trust in and less respect for this particular city council.
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Reading in "I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode or Not", the author mentions that doing odd things like unpublicizing important town meetings to keep the townspeople from interfering with the pre-agreed policies is the American Way, from way back when. :)
 
TimCallahan said:
The latest on the city's plans for Hahamongna Park is that everything is on hold pending an E.I.R.

I might note that in the later public meetings, nobody from the public has gotten up to speak in support the idea of soccer fields at that location. Perhaps those from the American Soccer Association (or whatever other group would be in favor of the fields) is afraid of being lynched by everyone else at the meeting; but this seems like a really unpopular idea. Of course, cutting down the mature shade trees on Colorado Blvd. was also extremely unpopular until the city council brought in their stooges at the misnamed and poorly publicized meeting at which they decided to butcher the trees. I have little trust in and less respect for this particular city council.
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You might want to look at how the city acquired the property, if it was a gift there might be restrictions written in the deed.
 
IMST said:
I think you're reading more into what I typed than I intended. I don't know enough about the soccer fields in question to know if the parents would need to transport their kids there. I always walked to practice and home matches when I was a kid. I know not everyone is well suited to team sports. I'm not well suited to individual ones, particularly non competitive ones. Too easy to quit on myself. I had no plans to give you a hard time about your coronary problems. I have danger zone cholesterol through heredity despite being a participant in sports most of my life and a vegetarian for my entire adult life. In the Seattle area where conditions are usually wet enough that the trouble with our fields is too much water, most of our recently installed fields are synthetic. No watering ever, obviously.
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Perhaps I over reacted. Here is a map of Hahamongna. It's outside most residential areas. The residential areas close to it are exclusive, pricey neighborhoods. Most of those using soccer fields there would have to be driven.

You certainly have my sympathies regarding your cholesterol level. Has your doctor put you on any statin drugs?

Feel free to beam any of your excess water to Southern California. Oh, wait; that only works on Star Trek. Drat!
 
tsig and TjW, thanks. I'll look into the Master Plan etc. Though I'm not really in the forefront of this fight, I know some people who are. I'll ask them about how things stand.
 
How can they possibly be considering putting soccer fields into such a hotbed of paranormal and demonic activity???





 
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