>Citizens Park is slated to have a full-sized field created, once the Village finally stops dragging its feet and moves the house on South Monroe. There are NO full-sized fields on the west side of town, so this is an opportunity to balance the load a bit. The “natural slope” allows many of the soccer parents to have a great view of the action. This will continue to be utilized once the field is expanded, allowing for older grades to use this location as well. No need for bleachers… natural beauty, and less impact on a residential neighborhood.
Habernickel is smack in the middle of a tight residential neighborhood as well, and the planned parking there would never be enough. And NO, I dont live anywhere near these spots! Most people agree that the whole Habernickel purchase was a load of pork, but at least let it be developed with some passive use in mind, rather than an ampitheatre and more parking.
While Vets has grown beyond its design… One strong advantage of staying in that location: A tremendous amount of visitors walk from town… eating at local restaurants, spending $$$ at the wine and grocery stores for picnics, etc… and then walking over to the concerts, etc… Evening events at Vets also draw many people from within walking distance on the east side…who either live nearby or park and walk from BF, Somerville, and the HS. This is why a consultant was hired.. to help residents and village officials understand the strengths and weaknesses of our current structure. Lets drop the conspiracy theories and perhaps plan wisely for the next 20+ years!
>Full size field for what sports?
Citizens can’t accommodate 90′ base paths for baseball above age 12 yrs old.
Without including any room for spectators or required safety margins around the field area…
football needs 60yds X 120yds
soccer needs 70yds X 110yds (min)
lacrosse needs 70yds X 110yds (min)
Is there that much room at Citizens?
>lets hope that they will fix up habernickel farm.it would be a nice place.
>Why all this talk about existing fields anyway… havent the Glen School neighbors shown what torture this can be… soccer til 9pm, temp lights in their backyards, etc…? We want to spread that chaos into another neighborhood? I thought one of the focuses of this study was to find NEW locations which didnt impact existing property values and quiet family streets?
Ever wonder if we’d still be talking about the Great Habernickel Purchase if not for the new Village Hall Underground Aquatic Center? Tax dollars, hard at work! Habernickel hasnt been much of a topic lately… yet ntg has been done, and the young soccer kids played on some dumpy, bumpy pasture this fall. All this and more… for $7mio! Who is financing that debt? You, me, and our own Fly on the Wall…
>This thread is a continuation of the 9 posts below under “Village Council Work Session, 12/6/06 – Meeting Highlights.” For some reason PJ thought it made sense to post it as a new thread. The ENTIRE discussion, UP UNTIL 12:13, was about the current location of the shell at Vets and whether a new shell/amphitheater should be built at another location on Vets or at a different site altogether.
What does the above post at 12;13 have to do with this topic??? Why is it so hard for so many of you to stay on point with a relevant discussion?
>Everyone in Ridgewood wants to hear your lecture…. please, teach us all.
Maybe these topics are all tied together? Maybe we are concerned with rampant abuses by our Village gov and those who seem to always be in the know and work so closely with them? Maybe we dont want our tax dollars tied to another $7mio waste of money?
Sorry.. was that not relevant?
>the Great Habernickel Purchase was a major league screw job ,spending a lot and doing nothing for nobody ,I know its fun to blame the sports groups but they got squat and got blamed for everything on this one
>Everyone in Ridgewood wants to hear your lecture…. please, teach us all 5:31…
Yes, these topics are all tied together by the establishment of a Master Plan. However, there are several OTHER threads talking about the fields. There is no need to have EVERY SINGLE blog discuss the same thing.
In another blog, I would love to hear about the “rampant abuses” you allege have been perpetrated by our village government.
So, to answer your question, NO your comments were not relevant to the discussion about the shell at Vets. If you have an intelligent opinion on that, let’s hear it.
>”rampant abuses” ,ever hear of the village hall…..its a sh*t hole that floods after ever time it rains….
>Being a moron or taking the “easy way out” to avoid public backlash do not qualify as “rampant abuses.” While I believe that many of our elected officials, particularly on the BOE, don’t belong in their roles, I doubt that any elected officials are purposely “abusing” their positions for any reason.
>I haven’t seen the Habernickel tract but I can’t believe it’s not a worthy locale for new fields.
Gerry Clark
Hawes are resident
>I doubt that any elected officials are purposely “abusing” their positions for any reason.
you mean like crashing village cars drunk and hitting kids on bicycles?
>He may be a moron and I’m not defending him. But, how exactly is does a drunk driving accident equate to “rampant abuse” by our elected officials.
You are abviously angry about a number of issues. This goes back to what was said initially. You and others need to focus you attention in the right direction. You have taken this discussion so far afield that it is no longer relevant to the original topic.
BTW, instead of constant complaining and ranting & raving about abuses by our elected officials, how about offering some CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions about how to solve the issues we face:
-fields shortages
-late evening use of lights at fields
-imrproved effieciency of current facilities
-funding the continued preservation of our undeveloped areas
-funding of current field maintenance
Did you speak up BEFORE Habernickel was purchased to explain why it would be a major screw up? Or, did you speak up BOEFORE Village Hall was renovated to point out that the new design might flood and how it could be prevented? There are a small handful of people speaking up and acting NOW to offer thoughtful solutions about the issues above. You don’t seem to be one of them. Why not start being a part of the solution. Constantly complaining about what doesn’t work, without offering viable solutions makes you part of the problem.
>Did you speak up BEFORE ,YES and so do a lot of people you should pay more attention
>James…the resident meeting about the Master Plan and last week’s Village Council work session were standing room only. However, if you go back and look at the recording/transcript, you will see that the VAST majority of comments from residents were about what the village “cannot” or “should not” do. Only 2-3 people actually offered viaable suggestions about what “could” be done.
If you are one of those people, then, “thank you.” But, I have paid attention and most of the people who voiced their opinions in those public forums and on this blog did NOT advocate solutions…they complained.
>trying to stop the village from doing STUPID things and in some cases dangerous things is doing something ….like puting all our first responders in a flood plane
>James 11:15…I would agree with your comment. But, I am sure that you would agree that, when one is trying to solve a specific problem (such as a lack of field space and offensive usage of lights at some locations), simply complaining does not help.
The difficulty has always been that, when these issues come up, too many residents dig their heels in and insist that they will not tolerate one thing or another. Furthermore, they refuse to propose viable alternatives or consider viable alternatives proposed by others.
I don’t know how or why the renovation decisions at Village hall were made. Frankly, I am amazed that village engineers did not implement measures to address the flooding issue…like installing submersible pumps in the parking lot drains, which could automatically remove water when it reached a certain level, before flooding. I wonder if anyone proposed that.
I am not interested in rehashing an old Village Hall controversy…I AM interested in positive long-term resolution to the field related issues before us NOW. Do you have constructive suggestions regarding those? If so, I am sure that everyone would like to hear them.
On this blog in the past couple of months, a few people raised ideas about how we can maximize field layout efficiency, how to address fooding and poor field conditions, how to improve the usability of our current fields and how to address the noise and light polution with portable lights. Generally, the ideas have met with unrelated and unproductive rants and raves. Do you have recommendations about how to address these problems?
>I think the main problem is the precieved lack of credibility of the village hall and the BOE .NO ONE BELIEVES ANYTHING THEY SAY so solutions are not forth coming because the problems them selves; It is not clear weather they are real or hype ?
>Correct you are James Rose; everything, and I mean everything, they say is suspect.
>James 1:41…I am inclined to agree with you about the BOE. I am less inclined to agree with you about the Village Council. There is one council member who is frequently unprepared for meetings and wastes a lot of time with unnecessary discussion. However, I have been very impressed with how Pfund and Harlow (in particularly) conduct themselves. Personally, I think they both have a great deal of credibility.
>I believe Pfund might be in bed with the Sports Council, so just watch him carefully.
He must ensure his 2 boys are taken care of when they start playing. You know, one hand washes the other . . .
>Anonymous 4:34…that may be the dumbest comment I have ever seen on this blog, for a number of reasons. I’d love to tell you why, but I have already wasted to much time responding to it. Even if your comment deserved an explaination, your ignorance would prevent you from appreciating it.
>pfund does not have my support he is a kiss arse
>i like pork dont you .
>they have to they have no brakes