Smoothing things out
It's ball game time again. Time to head to the diamond to watch pitchers, home runs, pop flies, cute kids eating popsicles — all the staples of summer.
And a lot of those games, be they softball or baseball, will take place out at the sports complex.
But be careful as you walk out to the bleachers and base lines. If you're not careful, you could sprain an ankle out there.
You already know why: It's those lumpy, lumpy lawns.
Trying to walk across grass should be simple enough. Right? But trying to get from the parking lot west of the concessions stand to one of the ballfields is like running an obstacle course.
Unless you faithfully stick to the sidewalks, you're doomed to endure minutes of tiptoeing and sidestepping around small mounds of dirt. And not nice, round mounds — random, vicious mounds that at best make you feel like an idiot and everyone's staring at you and worst can trip you and make you fall flat on your face.
Something needs to be done.
The City Council has discussed the issue before. Everyone knows it's a problem. The solution is to tear up the grass, work through the soil, flatten it out, and re-plant the grass.
It would take work. It would take money. And money's not something the city has in abundance.
But experience shows that if something needs to be done badly enough it will get done, regardless of budget numbers.
Hillsboro has great sports facilities. People marvel at our gyms during the MAYB basketball tournaments, and they love holding tennis regionals here.
But even though the sports complex is nice, complete with tennis courts and baseball fields, the lawns surrounding them are horrible. Let's fix them before somebody breaks an ankle.
— JENNIFER WILSON
