Newport considering park monitor

June Casagrande

The setting sun shimmers in the bride’s hair. The groom’s words

seem to echo off the rippling waves. An unshaven stranger in a

Metallica T-shirt approaches and, with a single wave of the permit in

his hand, stops the Lookout Point dream wedding in its tracks.

It’s a small miracle that it hasn’t happened yet. A majority of

the weddings that take place at the pristine location don’t have a

permit. Any picnicker who went to the trouble to reserve the space

would have the right to send the wedding party packing.

City officials think they have a plan to prevent such catastrophes

and help ensure that youth sports teams don’t get bullied out of

their rightful playing field time by roving, ragtag softball players.

Calling in the cops or even code enforcement would be overkill,

officials agreed. That’s why they came up with the idea of a

“field/park ambassador” to cruise city parks and fields, checking

permits and talking to people about park space. This idea, in the

works for some years, got its most recent boost at the Oct. 1 meeting

of the city’s Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission.

“Field allocation is getting to be a big problem everywhere, and

park space is limited, too,” city Recreation Supt. Andrea McGuire

said. “The idea is to have a supervisor-type person going around,

checking permits, making sure that people using the fields are the

people who are actually supposed to be there.”

The trick, of course, will be funding the program.

Among the ways McGuire is considering paying for two or possibly

three part-time ambassadors is to charge fees for using the fields.

The $24,000 or so annual cost means picnic rental fees could go from

$14 to $22 an hour; ball fields would go from $17 to about $25 an

hour.

A majority of the city’s eight youth sports leagues must be on

board first. The matter could come before the City Council in

January, in time to get the ambassadors out by spring.