I wish there was a way that we could turn
back the clock and return to the way things were when we
weren't part of the City of Greater Sudbury, but proud members
of the Town of Valley East.
Ever since we were forced to amalgamate with
Sudbury, the citizens of Valley East have nothing but extra
fees to pay.
I have been playing ball (fastball and now
slo-pitch ) in Hanmer for over 30 years. I truly love the
sport. It's a great way to stay in shape and, above all, to
make friends.
But this sport might be coming to an end
because of the Greater Sudbury imposing ridiculous user
fees.
The Hanmer ball field has been there since I
was a little girl. My father and mother both played ball there.
This ball field did not cost people who live in Hanmer a dime
as the land was given to the town (by a generous person) as
long it was used for sporting.
All the supplies and work for this field was
done through volunteers.
Same thing with the Centennial ball fields.
They were also built by volunteers a few years later. The
Valley East Men's League truly own these fields, because they
have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on them.
The mixed Sunday league and the ladies
Slo-pitch league have also donated money over the years, but
not as much as the Valley East Men's League.
Lately, I was told the fee for this slo-pitch
season for the women is $1,000 per team, which is somewhat
reasonable. But next season the fee will be $2,700 per
team.
This year it is going to cost me $100 to
play, which is fine, but next year they want me to pay
$270.
What in the heck is this all about? This is
almost three times the price. We can't find sponsors for a
$1,000 fee. And it will be next to impossible to get any kind
of sponsorship with the fees set to go up so high.
There is no way it costs that much to
maintain the fields. Our ladies' league only uses the lights
for 8 pm games and we don't have any 9:30 pm games.
Each league also pays a portion of the
portable washrooms, so the city only has limited costs
there.
In regards to the upkeep of the fields, well
they always hire students for the summer and pay them peanuts.
Now you tell me where is this extra money going.
This is total crap.
All the City of Greater Sudbury is doing is
discouraging people in playing ball and in the long run the
city will lose because we won't be playing anymore because of
the excessive costs.
The three leagues (men's, women's, and mixed)
should get together and hire a lawyer and get the city to show
us every dime that will be spent on these fields.
We want to know where this extra cost is
being spent. Our fields in the Valley are very good thanks to
those involved in the men's league.
We each league pay our own insurance,
umpires, equipment, so the cost for the rest is mowing the
grass and raking the infield and putting the lines down and the
cost for the lights.
They will probably increase the cost of minor
soccer and minor ball next.
If you take a drive behind the Centennial
Arena right now you would be shocked to see all the
garbage.
Last week we had a ball practice and cars and
trucks were dumping garbage. They are dumping in the field
where they where planning on building a third ball field.
It's a shame to see all that garbage. Now who
is going to pay to get this cleaned up? Well you guessed it,
Valley East residents.
This could have being avoided if the garbage
tipping fee never existed.
I truly hope they our council have a change
of heart and keep user fees as they are now so we can keep on
playing slo-pitch for many more years.
Monique Grenon
Hanmer, Ontario