Commentary: Lighting east-side fields is critical for youth, high school athletes

For many years, the school fields on the east side of our city have endured the use of portable lights. These are large and cumbersome-looking units that look like oil wells, noisy enough to disrupt a quiet conversation, annoying enough to ruin many family evening routines.

Every fall the ritual of having to address the placing of these ugly, noisy monsters to meet the needs of our youth has become an issue that residents gear up to face. The mere fact that we are short of fields, and the reliance of volunteers not being able to arrive early for team practices, makes for a challenging exercise.

The city has grown, and the need to provide extended hours needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, the city has no land available, so the school district fields are the best hope; cooperation is needed.

Luckily, we have a very successful avenue to do this, our long-standing, joint-use agreement. The future needs to be bright, not only for our youth but for all ages.

Recently, our City Council stepped forward and approved sending a request with funding to our school district to study the placing of permanent lights and artificial turf for the fields at Kaiser School, adjacent to the Boys & Girls Club on the east side of Costa Mesa.

The lights, with new technology, will allow less stress on the neighbors while providing more playing time for our youth programs. Artificial turf will mean less maintenance and water.

Additionally, the lights will also provide Newport Harbor High School with use for much-needed practice field accommodations. An amount of $2 million has already been budgeted to implement this project.

I applaud this council for continuing to maintain the vision to coincide with the new lighted sport complex at Costa Mesa High School, and with the first-class stadium facility at Estancia High School.

Our school district should also be applauded for the current upgrading of the football stadium at Newport Harbor High School, and the eventual same undertaking at Corona del Mar High School.

All these improvements, as in the new proposed lights for Kaiser School, will have the newest technology that will enhance the value of their surrounding communities.

Kudos to our elected officials. Let’s keep raising the bar!

East-side Costa Mesa resident LEE RAMOS is a candidate for City Council.