SMVLL Lights on Field 6

The City of Missiom Viejo budgets there money annually. They decide on where they should budget their money into specific categories. It would be great if our Youth Athletic Park could receive some more lighting fixtures on our facilities. The City spent over $300,000 on a Rose Parade float and an additional $60,000 on support costs. I just said the $300,000 and $60,000 of support costs for the Rose Parade float could have been used more productively elsewhere. Improvements to our parks and sports fields are obviously not considered their during budget deliberations along with the many other city wide improvements. Our facilities need lights. They also would benefit soccer, lacrosse, football and ultimately our youth of Mission Viejo.

I volunteer and coach of little league baseball down at South Mission Viejo little league in Mission Viejo CA. I love baseball and I love coaching. Our baseball facilities in Mission Viejo are some of the best in orange county. But we have so few of them that some people have no where to play. Most of the other fields are completely lite up (Curtis, Gilleran, Beebe,).

I know at South Mission Viejo little league, Youth Athletic Park, we have lights on some fields. Field 1,8, and 5. I coach the older kids in little league and we only have one field that has lights. But since the older kids move up on field size and distance they move to bigger fields. We have 2 fields which are not lit up, #4 and #6. There are only few places for these kids to play. Beebe Park, Gilleran Park, are the only fields for these older kids to play on wit the exception of our one lit up field at the Youth Athletic Park. Field #4 is too close to the residents above and cannot be lite because to blocks and the lights bother them. But with Musco lighting, light technology they have today, they can control light spillage.

We even share this field with another league, North Mission Viejo and there are more than just one team in both our little leagues.

The city keeps saying the lights would obstruct residents views above. But the fields are down in a pit lower than the houses above. Trees and brush even cover the hillsides around the fields, blocking the houses above from even seeing the fields.

I have noticed new light fixtures have been put in at the montanoso rec center in Mission Viejo, which i live right next to. The lights on the tennis courts are even closer to the houses around them such as mine. How do these lights not block my view? The lights at fields are not next to any houses first off. The lights at the rec center are directly next to the house next door. Did anyone ask me if it obstructs my view? No. No one ever came to my house or neighbors to ask to put in lights.

I'm just saying we need another field with light fixtures for these kids. They are limited on where they can even play with having the field to be bigger than the lower little league divisions and also with sharing a field with another fellow little league. I want these kids to have a place to play at their home field, without always having to travel to other cities and fields to play a baseball game.

Residents opposed do not see how much we need these lights. They must not have children in sports or youth athletics. They do not understand how limited we are and also that we share the Youth Athletic Park with another little league.

Our facility is an average day time use field. Help me make it a day and night available field. Help me help these boys and our little league out to get light fixtures on these fields.