On 9/30/2013 12:35 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Moe DeLoughan wrote:

...snip....

BTW, have you contacted the local electric utility to find out what it
would cost to run power to the field? Is that something you could do, if
the billing went to the band association and not to the school district?
Or would the district be willing to foot future electric bills if your
group paid for the installation?

That reminds me of the power situation with the scoreboard for our Varsity
Softball field.

I was in charge of using some state grant money to purchase a scoreboard
for our district's Varsity Softball field. Since my 9th grade daughter
would be on the varsity team the following year, I was thrilled to be able
to purchase a scoreboard for the team. The scoreboard arrived and I
started talking to the Buildings and Grounds department about running power
to the field and getting the scoreboard installed.

Well, it turns out that a major capital project was in the planning stages
and they weren't sure that they wanted to run the power in case the
softball field got moved. "Let's wait until next year when the plans will
be complete."

Next year comes and I find out that not only will they be moving the field,
but the new field won't be complete for another 2 years - the year after my
daughter graduates.

To add insult to injury, the new pool building was going to be built right
where the existing field was and that construction was starting right away.
So, not only didn't my daughter and I get to enjoy the scoreboard that I
bought, she didn't even get to use the Varsity field for her last 2 years
of high school. They had travel to the middle school for practices and
"home games". No dugouts, no bleachers, etc. Very disappointing.

In the end, the scoreboard was installed at the new field and has been in
service for a couple of years now.


Oof, that's a great story with a highly annoying outcome.

I was thinking of a situation in my hometown many years ago. Back in
the 70s when tennis became all the rage, the township reluctantly
built a few tennis courts to meet demand. It took no time at all for
them to become occupied from dawn to dusk, so then people asked for
lighting. But with the limited parks budget, the council was reluctant
to invest much more in the tennis courts. They finally installed
coin-operated light towers. It was hilarious. You'd be working on a
killer set when...blink, blink - the lights would flicker, a
five-minute warning that you needed to feed in a couple more quarters.