By JOE LOGAN  (5/4/2010 10:10:07 PM)

This is the complete video of the 5/3/2010 East Aurora Village Work Session.  The village board spent most of the time discussing requests for the recreational use of Hamlin Park.  Moreover most of that time was spent attempting to assuage the concerns of trustee Patrick Shea by Little Loop President Ken Horton, Little Loop Commissioner Jack Giancarlo, and Town Park and Recreation Director Peggy Cooke.

To go to the part of the meeting where Little Loop was discussed you can look between 0:01:20 to 0:35:59.

Here are some exchanges regarding Little Loop in the park and what appears to be a misunderstanding of why the land was initially donated to the village which was to always be open for recreational purposes and not simply open space.

Mayor Kasprzak: What are we talking about here?  You're saying its overused? 
Trustee Shea: That has been... Exactly
Mayor Kasprzak: Overuse of a park is a bad thing?
Trustee Shea: It can be, yeah..

Trustee West: There are times when the residents of the area want Nobody to use the park...They just want it to be open space.
Trustee Shea: It's not just resident of the park, its anyone in the village who want that.
Trustee West: Right, have it be more of a park and less of an athletic field.
Trustee Shea: That's kind of the point of what it's turning into sports center for the village.
LL President Horton: [I'll let you listen to his very valid point here...]

Later in the meeting while others were getting approvel there was this comment

Trustee Scheer: I feel like we are putting too many constraints and making people jump through too many hoops.  These events are what make East Aurora such a great place.

Just a couple of points since I am very familiar with the constraints that Mr. Shea is speaking of.

In 2004 when Mr. Shea was on the board in his past term Little Loop had conditions put on their special permit for use of the park.  They included turning the volume down, no play by play, I believe no music, cleanup after the games, police the sidelines, and have a dedicated person on staff where residents could address the sound issues.

All of these conditions were met.  The following years after Mr. Shea was off of the board no conditions were set.  However Little Loop continued to abide by most of the conditions except for the music (they play the national anthem and play songs for the cheerleaders during their halftime show but no more) and the play by play which was continued. 

As an announcer for many of the games I know what it means for the kids to have their names announced over the loud speaker and I try to get every player mentioned as doing a good job at some part of the game.  That's why we do play by play.  I have had mothers come up to after a game crying because they were so happy to see the joy in their child's eye after hearing their name being yelled for making a great play or for giving it their all to make a block to spring their teammate in for a touchdown.   It also makes the game more enjoyable to the fans who often complain that they can't hear the announcer because we turn the sound down so much lower than other venues in the League.

These things are part of Little Loop football in Hamlin Park and need to continue.  East Aurora is the only team in the league that doesn't allow constant music between plays and during timeouts.  Other teams enjoy loud rally type songs to get the crowd and teams going.  We do not.  Other teams turn up their PA systems twice as loud as East Aurora.  I know.  We actually put a lock on the PA so that it cannot be turned up more than half way and that has not changed since the initial constraints were put in.

The fact is that Little Loop has already made considerable concessions that are unique to the Hunter James Kelly Football league which have already taken out some of the enjoyment to the games.  They should not have to take out more.  All this type of hand-cuffing does is ultimately hurt the hundreds of children who play football in Hamlin park every year.

The vote with likely conditions by the village board will be on May 24th at 7PM in village hall.  Please attend if you can.

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User Comments:

Park resident ...(5/5/2010 10:11:40 AM)
Mr. Shea came by one day trying to convince me that Little Loop is too loud and too big for Hamlin Park. He thought I would agree but I didn't. I did try and tell him that it was good for the neighborhood but obviously he didn't listen to me.