file photo Boyd Loving
Reader says it only fair that the Sports Groups step up and contribute to maintenance and depreciation of the turf fieldsÂ
If the sports clubs have gotten so much value out of the fields, I would think it only fair that they step up and contribute to maintenance and depreciation. It shouldn’t always be the VC or BOE (the rest of us). Given that maintenance seems to be running about $100K year and depreciation another $200K for $1.5M to replace the carpets after a flood-shortened 7 year life, the sports clubs should be contributing on the order of $100K.
Raise dues if you have to — it’s part of the true cost of doing business.
And did they ever contribute everything they had promised for the lights?
Absolutely that is called putting skin in the game.
Let our council members be told. They like sports: what about putting skin in the game.
Those decision makers, council members, who are responsible for putting plastic turf in a flood zone should foot the bill. They put their foot in their mouths when they ordered plastic turf in a flood zone.
If they won’t replace it, they the council members should foot the bill.
Cap’n Jack and Fast Eddie sold a bill of goods and the powers that be bought it. In fact, why is Fast Eddie still on the ex board of the RBSA?
Sounds like a very good idea pay to play.
The “sports groups” already have more “skin in the game” than any other organization or group of organizations in town. They privately raised the funds and paid for the renovation of Maple Park, (A million bucks, the Council didn’t spend a dime and until recently they haven’t spent a dime on maintenance either.) they annually pay for upgrades and renovations to both BOE and Village owned facilities including baseball fields, gymnasiums, and other fields. They have paid for installation of sprinkler systems, drainage, seeding, backstops, backboards, padding, bleachers, scoreboards, lights, and the list goes on and on. The problem with the support is that the BOE and the Village have become dependant on the funds. The HS athletic teams are supported by the sports groups by over $200,000 per year in private funding at least. Sports groups purchase uniforms, pay for coaches, pay for buses, etc…. In return for that support you better believe they are going to demand the best playing surfaces available for their teams.
In regards to paying for the maintance and repairs, the sports groups would probably make that trade in a heart beat. Pay for maintenance and repairs on the turf fields in return for the BOE and Village fulfilling their responsibilities for all of the other items would be a major win for the sports groups and net loss for both the BOE and Village Council.
#4 do they have more skin in the game then the taxpayers who will continue to pay for these gifts that you donated till the end of time.
Maple Park was not “renovated.” It was strip-mined and destroyed. Nobody walking into it for the first time would describe it as a “park” any more. It is no longer available or of interest to most taxpayers. Therefore, we should not have to pay one cent for it. In fact, the turf there was undoubtedly partly responsible for the recent flooding (again) of the community garden, making all that lovely produce, just becoming perfectly ripe, too dangerous to eat.
I guess if you dont have kids who play sports, sports fields in general (turf or grass) are a waste of money. For that matter so are schools if that is your point of view.
Turf fields are hardly a rarity for North Jersey–many towns have them. So, why only in Ridgewood are they regarded as such a sinful waste?
I would love to see an objective analysis that compares turf cost to grass cost (cutting, ferilizing, etc). The analysis should factor in the unility of the turf fields, since they are available and used way more than grass fields.
Why don’t the sports people get together with the developers and put turf field on the roof top of the large building the want to build. This way you kill to birds with one stone right BIG AL THE DEVELOPERS FRIEND. You could also name a building/turf after the council member who support this plan.
Instead of falling masonry as in NYC we can get beaned with a soccer ball while walking down the street.