Most Saratoga residents know the story. Youth soccer supporters have long coveted the flat grass area at the underused park. Neighbors in the surrounding areas want to keep the park the way it is. So the issue went to a task force in the hope that a compromise could be reached, but the efforts ended in stalemate. That meant it was up to the city council to decide.

The majority of the council voted 4-1 (Mayor Norman Kline dissented) in favor of, among other things, improved parking, permanent restrooms and a full-sized, regulation soccer field for Kevin Moran Park. The proposal the neighbors favored, calling for two half-sized practice soccer fields, was not selected.

We side with the neighbors on that score--a game field for that location is inappropriate. However, the council decision is in, and it's time to move on and live with the outcome.

Voters selected the council members to make the tough decisions for the majority of Saratogans. That may or may not be what they did in this particular case but, like it or not, that's politics.

The Kevin Moran Park debate was like many of the controversial decisions the council has had to make over the past year (the sale of North Campus, the approval of a Starbucks in the Village, among others). And each time, the council chambers were filled with concerned residents representing all sides of the issues.

Community members have had plenty to say about what the council's been doing, but let's see who steps up when three seats on the council will be up for grabs on Election Day.

If all of the controversy of recent months translates into a capable field of candidates in the fall, then Saratoga will be all the better because of it.