"Port Orange has the absolute worst fields out of all 30 clubs in our league."
On May 7, 2014, at 11:38 PM, “Marc G” <domainofferassistant@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hello,
Many of us have spoken as tax payers and soccer parents in Port Orange and we request the assistance of the city. We know you have been working with our board to secure more field space for our children and we thank you.
The reason for this email is the needs of our 300 plus players right now. Our current field space at south winds is in such a bad shape we are afraid to have our children play on them.
They are extremely dry and look like they have not been watered in weeks. There is more bare dirt than grass, and what grass is there is mostly weeds. Which also have not been mowed lately. There are several deep holes that several of our sons have twisted their ankles in. I am not even going to mention our large field is literally sinking in the corner.
Two weeks ago we even had a visiting team tell us that if our fields are not fixed up by next season they will not play here.
What upsets us as parents is we see other sports fields within port orange get the attention and upkeep needed for the safety of the children. So we know that you have the ability to give the fields the attention they need. Please take the time to go look at the fields for your self and you will see first hand how much we need your help.
We understand that space is limited but what we don’t understand is why other city’s such as Ormond, NSB, and Deltona have outstanding soccer fields that are fertilized and kept up and Port Orange has the absolute worst out of all 30 clubs in our league. We again thank you for all the help you have pledged to our children but please help us now with the upkeep our current fields or we may be forced to explore other soccer clubs for the safety of our kids.
Thank you,
The soccer parents in PO
Burnette, Don via port-orange.us 12:40 AM
to Marc, Greg, Susan, City
Dear Marc,Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will be happy to visit the field with and bring the appropriate city staff along so that we can see what you see and get some immediate answers. The conditions I saw last year were not ideal, and that is part of why we are exploring upgraded facilities. But we do need to maintain what we have. We are too big and to great a city to do less than our best with our rec facilities. I look forward to hearing from you. Please send your contact info along so we can coordinate a time in which we can meet.
Take care,
Don
Don Burnette, MBA
Vice Mayor, City of Port Orange
Sent from my iPad
from: Bob Ford
to: Greg Kilela
Could you advise as to why the Southwinds fields are not being maintained.What can we do to remedy this.
best, Bob Ford
to; Bob Ford’
from: Greg kisela
Bob: They are being maintained. The extensive usage of the fields, inability to rest them and weather patterns have created the challenges. If you recall we had the same concerns last year at this time and that is one of the reasons we put lights at Coraci Park to provide another field to practice at night and why we have applied for the ECHO grant to add the additional field. At Saturday’s Budget workshop we are proposing to transfer the $400K set aside for the old Police Department renovations to fund a number of Parks and Recreation projects. One of these projects is for $176K to re-level the soccer fields at Southwinds. This is for both fields (3.2 acres or 135,276 square feet).I hope this answers your questions.
Greg Kisela
City Manager