Dear Eleanore Turkington:
The response in the Sept. 26, Gripe Vine, regarding the night-time lighting around two ballfields in Morse Park was inaccurate. I live near Morse Park and witness on a nearly nightly basis, along with my neighbors, when the lights are on and when they’re turned off. A few clarifying points must be made.
First, the reader’s question was specifically about the lighting around the two ball fields, not the other lighting in the park that is there and on for safety reasons. Surrounding the two ball fields in question are 40 lamps, 21 around one, 16 the other. If they’re anything like the lamps used to light ball fields elsewhere, these are metal-halide lamps, which burn at either 1,000 watts or 1500 watts each. So when both fields are lit and it seems it is always both, not one or the other, somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 watts of electricity are being used.
Second, it is sometimes, but not often, the case that the lights are turned off or once play has ended and everyone is off the fields; apparently this happens when someone with WHLL uses a phone app that remotely controls the lights. This should be the case all the time. Unfortunately, it is more often that the lights- the 40 lights around these two ballfields are indeed left on for significant periods of time after play has ended and long after the last car has left the park; in these instances, the lights are clearly on a timer, which at lease, lately has been shutting the lights off not at 8:30 p.m. as Ms. Melangone stated, but rather at 9 p.m. sharp. More than a few times, I have seen the fields and park empty by 8:15 p.m. and the lamps, all 40-60,000 watts of them, remaining on for those 45 minutes. This is not a safety issue, but it is a costly one. It’s worth noting that the softball field, the one closest to Beach Street, is also lit for night play, but those lights are only ever on during play and never stay on after play has ended.
Third, the lights are not just used for fall ball. In the summer time, my neighbors and I have noticed that many nights when the lights, obviously on a timer, came on before dusk and stayed on until 10 p.m. sharp, even when there was no ball being played. And, even when the fields were used, and play ended early, the lights still remained on until 10 p.m., long after the park emptied. I have also seen instances when a meeting at the clubhouse (the two-story building that conjoins the two ball fields), with no ball being played, would be accompanied by both fields’ lights coming on and staying on.
Fourth, Ms. Melangone’s statement that “We try our best to lock everything to keep people out of the park after hours, but if there is a will, there is a way” is baffling and I wonder if we’re talking about the same park. Morse Park has three fully functional gates with newly purchased locks for each, and yet, as happens year after year after year, the park remains open 24/7, these gates have not been closed, let alone locked, since last winter. The results are predictable; the park’s driveways and grassy areas are a favorite destination, day and night for hot-rodding and “donuting,” to which the extensive number of deep ruts and potholes bear witness. Also, enabled by this inability to manage the complex challenge of locking three gates, are illegal dumping and other acts of expensive and fully preventable vandalism. This past summer, someone drove a vehicle overnight into one of the ballfields, plowing over two wooden posts and chain link fence, then crossing 3rd baseline, home plate and 1st baseline, to stop at the opposite dugout. By morning the vehicle and driver were gone but the damage had been done. A police report was filed, but, no surprise here; the expensive damage elicited absolutely no change in behavior on the part of Public Works or the WHLL.
Yes, “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” but a corollary relevant in this case “where no effort is made to protect and secure public resources, there’s an even “easier way.”
Robert Marra
Dear Robert Marra:
Gripe Vine is inviting comments from readers who feel as you do on this issue as well as comments from Ms. Melangone.
Gripe Vine welcomes questions, comments and suggestions from readers. Submit your complaints and issues as well, to gripevine4wh@aol.com or mail them to Gripe Vine c/o The West Haven Voice, 666 Savin Ave. Please include your name, address and phone number, kept strictly confidential with me.
Gripe Vine has received a large number of complaints recently and I am working on their conclusion.