The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Nighttime field lights at Fair Oaks Park look dim

By Justin Berton

As councilmembers get set to approve the recommended $180 million budget at the June 16 meeting, there are several Sunnyvale athletes who will be waiting to see if they'll be playing under the glow of nighttime lights at Fair Oaks Park.

In January, councilmembers shelved the lighting proposal until budget negotiations took place. The time is now, but the future does not look any brighter for athletes in the Sunnyvale Pop Warner League who use the multipurpose field.

In the first budget prepared by new City Manager Robert LaSala, the city staff is recommending against spending the $318,000 needed to put in lights at the field.

Councilmembers could accept the budget as recommended by the city manager, or vote for the lights and send city staffers to readjust numbers to compensate for the difference.

In his report to councilmembers, LaSala wrote that the city shouldn't endure the ongoing costs of maintaining the lights and the field. The city estimated the annual maintenance price tag at $39,000.

But at a budget workshop two weeks ago, Councilmember Julia Miller expressed concern about the amount of money the city spends on a Washington lobbyist for Moffet Air Field, and suggested that the money could easily switch pockets to fund the lights.

At January's meeting when the issue first arose, Miller asked staff to further investigate funding for the lights and said, "Sunnyvale is not a poor city."

Dolf Placencia, the chairman of Sunnyvale Pop Warner, told councilmembers in January that lights at Fair Oaks could alleviate the scheduling crunch created by the lack of fields equipped with lights.

Also in the recommended budget is another issue regarding Parks and Recreation. This year, the city was forced to turn its back on a plan to make leisure services a self-sufficient entity. The 10-year goal was to charge fees at Sunnyvale's two public golf courses and other revenue-generating services--like swimming pools and batting cages--to keep from using resources in the general fund. But new projections find that the fees won't generate enough income to make the department independent. Now that leisure services will continue to tap the general fund, city accountants have to make up for the unexpected $6 million that is now part of the 10-year plan.

Robert Walker, head of Parks and Recreation, said the move by the city manager would have no effect on residents of Sunnyvale in the near future, and items such as green fees would not increase.

Walker said as leisure services became more popular, it became unrealistic to hope for self-sufficiency.

"We have finite resources, and we may have infinite services to provide. At some point, something has to give," he said.

At the same time, LaSala said leisure services greatly increase the quality of life in Sunnyvale and should be one of the city's main priorities.

Walker said the city is currently conducting a major study to evaluate what leisure activities residents of Sunnyvale want and will use.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 3, 1998.
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