Softball and Multi-Modal Paths
 

You are saying to youirself, "what the heck is this about'? I noticed in today's DS that the AAC is spending $525K to upgrade softball diamonds. How many Villagers will this benefit? 200 or 300 softbal players? Personally, I am "OK" with the upgrades.

But what surprises me is the people who are so adamant against spending ANY money to to stripe the cart paths which would improve safety for everyone in The Villages have not said a peep about the softball diamonds. Makes me wonder where their priorities lay?

Just wondering.....

Actually, there are between 200 and 300 TEAMS depending on the season, and there are 3 seasons per year. So there are thousands of players, and probably another couple thousand people who come to watch games over the course of a season. Plus umpires, scorers, evaluation staff, etc. And finally the tournaments which draw people to The Villages. I recall last year the Canseco brothers brought their team to a tournament.

All amenities need maintenance. They just don't all make the front page. And much of the softball maintenance was for safety purposes.

As far as the striping goes, it wasn't even recommended by the engineer who did the study so who can say they would be any safer.


:D

Again, don't get me wrong. I am ok with the expendure for the softball diamonds. I would like to see the engineering study for the diamonds.... Opps, there wasn't one. The AAC when ahead and did the right thing and approved the upgrades.

The AAC is involved with the area north of 466.

You are probably right. It really doesn't require an engineer to tell you if someone runs into a broken fence they can and likely will suffer injury. Or if the grass ins't watered it will likely die off, and if water doesn't drain properly people might fall and get hurt. Or if the turf is bad they can incur knee injuries, torn hamstrings, and on and on.

As for the stripes, the study WAS done and the engineer did not recommend proceeding as there is no proof they will help anything.

It is actually about 2000-3000 softball players.

Absolutely right. I for one don't much give a crap for a bunch of old farts who think they are still kids and play softball. The Softball field improvements are a total waste of money that could be much better spent on making our cart paths safer for all the 100,000 + residents, myself included.

And debates like this are the reason I am so glad that the Developer is still in charge of the area where I live. So far they have made not perfect perhaps, but very reasonable decisions and have given us NOT ALL our choices but varied choices for enjoyable amenities. I don't play softball but many, many, many play and enjoy it mightily and it was here when I arrived and I hope that it will continue and that the areas will be maintained for an enjoyable experience for all involved.


I have witnessed money spent on foolishness sanctioned by well meaning homeowners associations run by inexperienced homeowners in the past.. The striping of the cart paths is a judgment call and many are passionate about it. I don't think it would change much but people that I respect think differently. If we all saw things the same way, they would only sell vanilla ice cream.

Presumably you also have issues with the 30+ executive courses, and the pickle ball courts, and the tennis courts, and the pools, and the bocce courts, and the cornhole courts, and the shuffleboard courts, and the billiard rooms, and the air rifle ranges, etc. Nobody uses all the facilities but we all pay to support them.

How can you not respect someone you don't even know?

If you mean why do I respect the developers who I don't know, because time after time after time after time, I have witnessed good decisions that they have made. If you mean people who post on here, I have a splinter skill of remembering what people type. I agree with some people almost all of the time and have learned to respect the way they make decisions.


And of course the opposite is true.

The engineering study did not support the need for striping the MMPs. What is so difficult to understand about that? Hence, there is no need to waste $300k.

I don't play softball either but I know many who do. Instead I waste my time on golf courses chasing a little ball around. Perhaps the PWAC would like to waste some additional money funding the unnecessary striping of golf cart paths. But first we can spend some money on an engineering study. That's the ticket!

Wow! Good for you!

As far as I know, all the softball field improvements at Buffalo Glen and Saddlebrook have been completed. I think they are still working on Knudsen Field, but that location is for level 5 teams only and usually those teams have players with disabilities. I guess if you don't play softball or have a disability, your response would be, then why the heck should we waste our money on those people?

Just the other day I was sitting in a dentist office reading a retirement magazine and in their letter section someone wrote, I play softball here in Boston and I'm looking to retire in Florida, are there any retirement communities with softball leagues?