GOING TO TRY AND RESURRECT THIS BLOG

                       

Don't know if anyone on BI still looks at this blog because I have been absent for quite a while.

But now, I have reached a point in my life that I really don't care too much what folks might think of what I have to say.

So to get started, I just wrote a letter to the local paper about  the goings on up at Heinz Field which for those who don't know is the local place where numerous sports events take place. 

There was a lot of money spent on turning it into a really nice field for all the various sports played on such a venue. And then the Town Fathers and Town Mothers just gave up on the maintaining of the place! Didn't want to spend the money to do it. But then spent endless hours haggling over wether it should be fertilized with organic or manufactured fertilizer.

Well the got that settled, it their own minds anyway, then went out and spent another ton of money for the Organic type. That, and a few hundred pounds of grass seed. Then it sat there in a big pile most all of last summer while the grass seed sprouted in the bags and the rest of it just rotted. Off it went to the dump because it was now useless. 

Here is a copy of what was in the paper:

What is going on up at Heinz field? More accurately, what isn't going on? I am up there at least two nights a week to watch a few family members participating in various sports programs. Sometimes the grass has been mowed that week and sometimes it hasn't. Playing soccer on an uncut field is just asking for all sorts of knee, ankle, and foot problems.

Whomever is doing the mowing of the field needs to bestir him/herself to get off the mower when an obstacle is encountered and move the damned thing. The way it is done now is to just mow around it and be done! This leaves patches of un-mown grass all over the field. Not good for the aforementioned physical parts when a person running at full tilt tries to kick a ball sitting in one of these clumps.

The driver of the mower or the person doing the maintenance on this mower is NOT doing a very professional job. The mower deck apparently hangs at an angle because thats the way the grass is cut. High on one side of the pass and much closer to the dirt on the other. How hard is it to level the deck? Is anyone checking for such a mundane thing? I check mine after the first pass of every mowing session.

Whatever happened to the mower that had money appropriated at a financial Town meeting a few years ago, with the stipulation that it was to be used specifically for the maintenance of Heinz Field and Ball O'Brien Park? Is this the same machine that has been seen in the winter plowing sidewalks etc. around town? Why is it being used for that, when a much better vehicle would be a snowblower sized specifically to do that job. A much lower cost to we taxpayers for the gas, wear and tear, repairs, then the much larger tractor being employed now would be much appreciated by all of us. Is this the result of someone employing their pen and telephone in the town hall and counter-manning the will of the voters?
We have right now, a fine facility up there. It is used by a large portion of the people of the town. Go up there any Monday or Thursday evening and you will be amazed by the number and diversity of the folks in attendance. It is comprised of little babies in strollers all the way through the spectrum on up to grandparents and other assorted folks. They bring blankets and various amounts of food to consume while there. It is just like the old time picnics we used to go on. This is a varied segment of the population of the Island and shows a great coming together to participate or just watch their family members in friendly competition! There is not a better place to be on these evenings!

There is also right now a fundraiser underway, looking for money to put in an underground irrigation system in the whole of the field. It will keep it lush and green and make it an even more enjoyable place to be. Right now it is kept that way by the efforts of a couple folks who are continually going up there to move the present watering system around, about every four hours throughout the day in order to cover the whole field.

So again I ask, “What is going on up at Heinz field?” How about if the denizens of Town Hall begin taking an active interest in what is an integral, and well used portion of our infrastructure instead of leaving it up to a few individuals to do their job for them! And get that piece of misappropriated piece of machinery back where it is supposed to be.

Respectfully, Everett R Littlefield

SO---If anyone has any comments after reading the paper feel free to come here and vent, Pro or Con, all are welcome. Address for the blog is,   www.islandvoice.blogspot.com