Hearst Playground story in Current

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder who you think "Stoddert and its surrogates" is.

Stoddert has a citywide reach, but its biggest concentration of players is in Ward 3. Each season about 3,000 kids from Ward 3 participate -- about a quarter of the under-18 population of the ward. About two thirds of Ward 3 kids play Stoddert at some point in their childhood. At any given time one in ten Ward 3 residents is either a Stoddert player or a Stoddert parent. I don't believe there is any organization of any kind that has as many members in Ward 3 as Stoddert.

Stoddert is Ward 3.

Just about all of the work of running the league is done by volunteers -- about 900 of them.

Stoddert gets no love from the DC government. Within DPR soccer is dimly viewed, and DPR still has a Jim-Crow-Era attitude toward use of its facilities, so soccer is confined to a handful of fields on the western part of the city. Stoddert is the only youth sports organization in the city that rents significant amounts of field time. While Stoddert puts on about 4,000 games a year, DPR provides field time for only about 2,000 of them. The rest are rented at market rates. Stoddert members pay over $300,000 a year to rent fields. Stoddert has no meaningful source of revenue other than member fees, that money comes directly from the fees that members pay. It also means that people are driving to places like Wheaton and Germantown for games.

Mary Cheh has no love for Stoddert. She likes to boast in her campaign materials that she is a former Stoddert parent, coach, referee and board member, but she refuses to do anything at all to help Stoddert with DPR. """

hhahahahahahahah, I guess we now know at least one of Stoddert's surrogates.

I would posit that combined, the DC Little League organizations, (NW, Cap Hill, Cap CIty, Banneker, Satchel Paige) are charged just as much for renting baseball and softball fields as Stoddert. And I don't think any of the baseball field times are 'provided' for free by the city.

[Anonymous]

I think the PP meant that Stoddert rents private fields in addition to the DPR permits it obtains. I don't think the baseball groups use any private fields across the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turf fields last about 8 years. They cost millions of dollars. What we have now has worked for 80 years. Stoddart Soccer needs to back off.

But is hasn't worked. The city twice in the last 15 years has spent millions of dollars re-sodding hearst, and both times, it reverted to the barren mess that "works" in your eyes in a matter of weeks. It doesn't work except for dog walkers. Maybe it would be better if you picked up the dog shit your furry friends deposit.

[Anonymous]

"But is hasn't worked. The city twice in the last 15 years has spent millions of dollars re-sodding hearst, and both times, it reverted to the barren mess that "works" in your eyes in a matter of weeks. It doesn't work except for dog walkers. Maybe it would be better if you picked up the dog shit your furry friends deposit."

Yo, angry person. I don't have a dog. But I do have a kid and I do live in the neighborhood. And I don't want natural grass replaced with hot plastic turf.

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with kids getting a little dusty or muddy? It's kind of fun, and it beats cancer.

[Anonymous]

Dusty and muddy are fine, but they don't work as serious sports venues. And it really doesn't work at Hearst because of the doggie surprises.

[Anonymous]

DPR facilities will still be free: http://dpr.dc.gov/release/dpr-pools-and-fitness-centers-remain-free-dc-residents

[Anonymous]

Dusty and muddy are fine, but they don't work as serious sports venues. And it really doesn't work at Hearst because of the doggie surprises.

Maybe Hearst shouldn't be a "serious sports venue"????!!!!

And why do Stoddert's six year old soccer players need a "serious sports venue."

Stop being a Stoddert douche

[Anonymous]

If Stoddert wants a field it should buy one. Go buy Fannie Mae. All of my kids played Stoddert. It's a fine low key program. It should not be allowed to take over fields owned by DC Taxpayers and cover them in plastic. The organization has been trying to get its hands on HEasrt for more than a decade. Stay out. Keep out. It makes me want to oppose your current permits. Little kids can play on grass. The heat is bad for them. Cancer is bad for them. Destroying nature is bad for them.

[Anonymous]

Stoddert has access to nearby fields at Deal and Wilson and Jelleff. It can rent fields and does rent fields from
GDS. It wants DC to spend millions of dollars so eight year olds can play on deluxe turf. That's not a cost taxpayers all over the city should bare. You said it Stoddert douche, not me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turf fields last about 8 years. They cost millions of dollars. What we have now has worked for 80 years. Stoddart Soccer needs to back off.

But is hasn't worked. The city twice in the last 15 years has spent millions of dollars re-sodding hearst, and both times, it reverted to the barren mess that "works" in your eyes in a matter of weeks. It doesn't work except for dog walkers. Maybe it would be better if you picked up the dog shit your furry friends deposit.

Actually, Stoddert paid for that. Until about five years ago Stoddert used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for maintenance of DPR fields. Then a new DPR director came in who didn't want it.

[Anonymous]

Crazy mommies are also bad for them.

Bad mommy, bad! Calm the f*ck down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert has access to nearby fields at Deal and Wilson and Jelleff. It can rent fields and does rent fields from
GDS. It wants DC to spend millions of dollars so eight year olds can play on deluxe turf. That's not a cost taxpayers all over the city should bare. You said it Stoddert douche, not me

Stoddert pays tens of thousands of dollars a year to rent Wilson and Deal. Stoddert rents GDS as much as GDS's zoning will allow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the PP meant that Stoddert rents private fields in addition to the DPR permits it obtains. I don't think the baseball groups use any private fields across the city.

PP here, that is exactly what I meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would posit that combined, the DC Little League organizations, (NW, Cap Hill, Cap CIty, Banneker, Satchel Paige) are charged just as much for renting baseball and softball fields as Stoddert. And I don't think any of the baseball field times are 'provided' for free by the city.

None of the Little Leagues rent fields. They use DPR fields. The permit fee for DPR fields has been $26 per season., same for baseball as soccer. In addition to the DPR time it gets, Stoddert pays an average of $150 per game for over 2,000 games per year. It's not at all comparable.

This year the DPR fees are going up, to $5 per hour.