In Wednesday’s edition Managing Editor Jamie Patterson presented a look at the number of city and county residents participating in baseball and softball at the Wardell Leach Recreational Complex.
She calculated the figures by obtaining all of the applications from the local baseball and softball teams and using the addresses. She then took just the teams that play at the complex and added those numbers together.
The reason for this was that there have been all sorts of figures thrown around during the discussions involving our local parks. We thought it would be useful to have the actual numbers rather than wild guesses. It wasn’t an effort to make anyone look bad.
The figures weren’t suprising to me. At the complex 67 percent of the softball players are county residents and 33 percent are city residents while 64 percent of the baseball players are county residents and 36 percent are city residents.
Keep in mind that these numbers are strictly at the complex.
This adds some clarity to the discussion, but it’s still only part of the picture. Baseball and softball are usually used when officials discuss the residency of users, but there is much more going on at the park.
There are no records available for the residency of people who play at the basketball courts, excercise on the walking track, play in the playground, swim in the pool, hit golf balls on the driving range, enjoy their lunch at one of the picnic tables or any other activities. The Christian Soccer Club was still accepting applications at the time the article was published.
I’ve made it clear before that I think it’s a terrible idea to do anything to divide city and county residents when it comes to our parks.
Our parks do leave a lot to be desired, and our city and county leaders should make a commitment to doing what they reasonably can do to improve them.
But even with their flaws, our parks are still one of the best things this community has going for it. There is more activity in town during youth baseball and softball season than any other time. The fields are packed every night there are games.
Looking at the numbers we provided for baseball and softball, and the list of all the other activities taking place, one thing is clear: a heck of a lot of city and county residents use our parks.
The last thing we need is the city and the county getting into a battle like they did over fire protection. There were no winners in that fight. City residents have the same fire protection they already had, and a lot of county residents got stuck with much higher insurance bills.
Hopefully the discussions about the future of our parks will be thoughtful and focused on getting results. Then it would help if the Parks & Recreation Board made known the needs that remain and encourage volunteer participation. It means a lot to Yazooans, and many people would be eager to help.
