To the Editor:
There has to be a middle ground between the needs of children and the comfort of our fellow community members when it comes to lights for our athletic fields. So when opponents ask, what’s there to talk about? I say plenty.
A bad agreement — one that oppresses many in favor of an inconvenienced few — either seven years old or 40 — is a bad agreement. Citizens angry with city hall are hurting students and athletes with their misguided cause.
I would like to remind the opponents to any lights the net effect their crusade has had on the city. This 40-year blunder has had a devastating ripple effect on the entire city. If T.C. Williams can’t play football on Friday night, that means rugby, lacrosse, soccer and other events can’t use the field during a typical Saturday.
By not having the standard Friday night game with lights, every other sporting and extracurricular activity schedule is reworked around a day-time football game. Students have to choose between marching band and crew, scouts or rugby. One recent high school student was asked by college admissions why they quit their preferred sport in their varsity years. The short answer is because T.C. Williams doesn’t have lights. Everyone’s schedule has to be reworked, sacrifices are made, and sports are dropped because there are no lights.
Team spirit and community support for football games suffer as well, not to mention the schedule juggling that every neighboring jurisdiction must face while playing against TC in all sporting events as well. It puts the teams and the students at a disadvantage. For light opponents to cry persecution shows a complete lack of perspective on just exactly who is impacted by this agreement.
Surely with lights out curfews, regulated field use and technical advancements, neighbors could agree to a civilized discussion. The “not in my backyard,” argument just doesn’t hold water anymore, especially when the same group tries to stop lights at every venue in the city.
As someone who lives close to Simpson Baseball Stadium, a well-lit venue, I relish the “tink” of a ball when it connects with the bat, the cheer of the crowd, the opportunity to connect with neighbors and have a hot dog. I appreciate the decrease in crime because of field lights as well as the knowledge that the children of our community have a safe space to play sports at night.
The only way to move forward on this is to let go of anger at the past and City Hall. Try to look at it from a student’s point of view. Exactly how much negative impact would it be on neighbors to have lights at TC versus the benefits to thousands of students? Why not embrace the opportunity to give something to our community rather than take it away.
Laura Fries, Alexandria