Michael Lorenzen's letter in the Oct. 12 issue ("More soccer at Moran would increase traffic") contained several unsubstantiated or incorrect assertions that the people of Saratoga need to know.

He repeats the mantra of the anti-development faction that Kevin Moran was planned as a neighborhood park. The reality is that the Parks and Recreation Commission recommended that it be developed as a neighborhood park, but the city council never made it a neighborhood park. In the 1991 Parks Plan, neighborhood parks are less than five acres. They are too small for many park features. Parks larger than five acres are designated community parks and are to be developed for the use of anyone in the city with restrooms, parking if necessary and multiple uses.

Kevin Moran Park is slightly larger than 10 acres. It is one of the largest parks in Saratoga. He is concerned that Scully Avenue is too narrow for parking on both sides of the street with two-way traffic, plus bikes and pedestrians. That is why the city planned 20 off-street parking spaces in the Parks Plan of 1991. That development has been opposed by some of the neighbors of the park with threats of recalls and lawsuits to the city council.

Students of Blue Hills Elementary School do walk home through Kevin Moran Park. They are released from classes at 2:40 p.m. Soccer practices do not start until 3:30 p.m. By the time soccer practice starts, almost all of those students are home.

There would be no games played at Kevin Moran. The 1991 Parks Plan included soccer goals. The current discussion does not. One reality that the anti-development partisans ignore is that children have been using the trees as bathrooms for 35 years. It's about time that we recognize that we are teaching our children that it is acceptable to do something for which they can be arrested as adults.

Karlina Ott

Vintage Lane