Softball team lands practice fields - Burlingame girls league to use high school, other spaces in deal with youth baseball (by Mark Abramson, Daily News)
Burlingame Girls Softball League officials are crediting their youth baseball counterparts with an assist for helping them find field space for Sunday practices.
The Burlingame Youth Baseball League agreed to let the softball league use the playing fields at Bayside, Washington and Cuernavaca parks. The fields at Burlingame High School and Franklin Elementary School are also available for the upcoming 2008 season. The baseball league gave the field time to the softball league during talks Thursday between the two organizations. "I think that they believe, like us, that facilities should be available on weekends and on Sundays for kids to practice, and they were very supportive of us," said Donna Colson, the softball league's president.
The deal was reached less than two weeks after the city's Parks and Recreation Commission voted not to let the girls use its home fields at Ray Park on Balboa Avenue for practices on Sundays. Residents near the park said they wanted to be able to use the park at least one day a week without having to compete with the softball league for space there.
"I am very sympathetic to the neighbors," said Brock Riddle, a founding youth baseball board member who lives near Ray Park. "The fields in Burlingame are not used to the max. If all of the city facilities are maxed out, then I think there is an argument to use Ray Park (for softball practices), but we are not even close to that." The baseball league had no problem giving the girls Washington Park field time because it does not use those diamonds on Sundays, Riddle said.
If a deal had not been reached, the softball league probably would have gone back to the commission before making an appeal to the city council, said Burlingame Parks and Recreation Director Randy Schwartz. He described the meeting Thursday as "cooperative."
The arrangement also puts to rest softball league officials' concerns about having to transport equipment and having access to restrooms at Burlingame High School. The softball league will buy another $1,000 to $2,000 worth of equipment that will be stored at the other fields and at Burlingame High School, Colson said.
The organization will also have access to the high school gym's restrooms on Sunday. "This is an arrangement for the 2008 season. It could change next year," Colson said. "We would have loved to have been at Ray Park, and we still think that is the best place for us."
Burlingame Girls Softball League officials are crediting their youth baseball counterparts with an assist for helping them find field space for Sunday practices.
The Burlingame Youth Baseball League agreed to let the softball league use the playing fields at Bayside, Washington and Cuernavaca parks. The fields at Burlingame High School and Franklin Elementary School are also available for the upcoming 2008 season. The baseball league gave the field time to the softball league during talks Thursday between the two organizations. "I think that they believe, like us, that facilities should be available on weekends and on Sundays for kids to practice, and they were very supportive of us," said Donna Colson, the softball league's president.
The deal was reached less than two weeks after the city's Parks and Recreation Commission voted not to let the girls use its home fields at Ray Park on Balboa Avenue for practices on Sundays. Residents near the park said they wanted to be able to use the park at least one day a week without having to compete with the softball league for space there.
"I am very sympathetic to the neighbors," said Brock Riddle, a founding youth baseball board member who lives near Ray Park. "The fields in Burlingame are not used to the max. If all of the city facilities are maxed out, then I think there is an argument to use Ray Park (for softball practices), but we are not even close to that." The baseball league had no problem giving the girls Washington Park field time because it does not use those diamonds on Sundays, Riddle said.
If a deal had not been reached, the softball league probably would have gone back to the commission before making an appeal to the city council, said Burlingame Parks and Recreation Director Randy Schwartz. He described the meeting Thursday as "cooperative."
The arrangement also puts to rest softball league officials' concerns about having to transport equipment and having access to restrooms at Burlingame High School. The softball league will buy another $1,000 to $2,000 worth of equipment that will be stored at the other fields and at Burlingame High School, Colson said.
The organization will also have access to the high school gym's restrooms on Sunday. "This is an arrangement for the 2008 season. It could change next year," Colson said. "We would have loved to have been at Ray Park, and we still think that is the best place for us."
- Written by Fiona
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