Burnaby Park User Changes

[Reccos]

Not sure where to put this but Burnaby Parks is getting tougher on teams have players not living in Burnaby. I think North Van's Rec Commission's actions last year led to some teams moving to O/30 leagues in North Van and now Burnaby is following up on this.

If all GVRD municipalities do this, senior men's and women's soccer in this area will have to make changes as many teams have players from all over the region.

The June 24, 2004 Burnaby Parks Department letter to teams based in Burnaby opens with the statement that they are "trying to improve the allotment process" and goes on to say that this includes "a change for the coming season that will hopefully improve the fairness of the field bookings."

"With the enclosed request form, please include photocopy of the Driver's License of each player registered with your club.

This wll allow staff to determine which clubs/teams are Burnaby based, and therefore will be given a higher priority than a club with few if any Burnaby residents.

Once the season begins, staff will conduct random checks both on the fields and with BC soccer to ensure the accuracy of the information we have received.

They go on to say, "I don't know if this will change the allotments from that of previous years, but it is a step we need to take based on the ever increasing demand for fields."

The writer concludes with "Please don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions."

Signed Tom Kurucz - Supervisor -Sports and Outdoor Recreation
604-294-7385 tom.kurucz@city.burnaby.bc.ca

[lp79]

Reccos,

that would be good news for the cat team, that means they wouldn`t have to play on that SHITE field or so called field Burnaby central.

[Hands of Stone]

Tom is a real Beauty, he is the guy that runs the Turf Fields at Burnaby Lake West. This has got to be his big idea and will most likely involve those Turf Fields first and then perhaps other grass pitches in the future. We love him at the City because he is a great Union supporter and he runs the complex like it's his own. If he is the one behind it, and it is going to be for the Turf fields, then start signing some Burnaby players, or find a bunch of guys with Burnaby addresses on thier driver's licence. We call him the Field Nazi, yes TheRob, you are still the Works Yard Nazi.

[Reccos]

HOS:

You are spot on in describing this keener. If you haven't enough work to do, create it seems to be what is behind this one.

What I find wrong is several things:

1. Asking people to file copies of their drivers licences with a third party (Burnaby Parks Dept) seems inappropriate. These will be on file and who knows who will have access to it. (A stalker or HOS himself might be able to hunt down some sweet gorgeous beauty of a striker on a woman's team )

A way to avoid this is for all team members to show up and be registered and not have the data on file. What a great idea that is!! Don't pass this on to the fellow as he will for sure want this one.

2. Teams have players from all over playing for them and is Burnaby Parks now going to decide where players play with this new rule?

[Regs]

Is this the reason behind the Vancouver Whitecaps looking to build a new stadium elsewhere?

Perhaps the Whitecaps made Freddy (Burnaby resident I think) captain to apease this Tom character and buy a little more time?



~Regs.

[Hands of Stone]

Originally Posted by Reccos

The June 24, 2004 Burnaby Parks Department letter to teams based in Burnaby opens with the statement that they are "trying to improve the allotment process" and goes on to say that this includes "a change for the coming season that will hopefully improve the fairness of the field bookings."

This wll allow staff to determine which clubs/teams are Burnaby based, and therefore will be given a higher priority than a club with few if any Burnaby residents.

Now I know we would all love for things to stay the way they are, but I think it kinda makes sense that Burnaby Teams do get first priority for the BEST Burnaby fields. Now we all know that a Burnaby team probably has what 5 or 6 Burnaby players out of 18 signed, and there are probably more teams with just one or two. Now the problem with this is, tax payers in Burnaby have started to complain about these Big Price Tag Complexes (13 Million for Burnaby Lake Turf, with two more Turf Fields planned). They want Burnaby residents to get first priority with this very expensive fields that they are paying for, makes sense to me, but now you are going to get some shitt teams out there with all Burnaby residents getting all the good field space and the rest of us playing on Central Park Mud Bowl.

Should be interesting if this all goes forward for the Burnaby Canadians/Italians, do any of the players live in Burnaby anymore, I think just the manager does, perhaps everyone can change thier address's to his place.

HOS looking for a WhiteRock team now.

[Bronco]

No problem, Vancouver is proposing a toll booth on Boundary Road, should make for some sparse crowds at Adanac

[Reccos]

Bronco:

If it wasn't so annoying, I'd be laughing.

How about Van Parks to check ID of all users of Stanley Park or people who take out a membership at the Vancouver Acquarium or the Vancouver Symphony. It is comparable.

I can't wait to see the first time the Burnaby Parks guys come to the referee player card ID check just before kick off and start checking driver's licences of the home team against their records. If you have played at the turf fields in Burnaby, you cannot go onto the field you are going to use until the game time. A guy patrols for that!!! Underworked or overstaffed.

[Wally]

Don't other municipalities have residency requirements in order for teams to get access to fields in general (never mind good ones? - Quality of assigned field is a whole other debate.)

In Richmond, you supply a list of addresses and they supposedly do random checks You are to have a minimum 60% Richmond residency rate in order to get a field. If you want to pay to play on the turf field, I believe their policy is a little different.

In theory, I guess that forces teams to ensure opportunities for local taxpayers as well as encourage the development of local talent.....

[BlazeArmy]

Delta wants to have everyones name and address. Not really a problem for us(the Blaze) as we all either still live in Tsawwassen or our parents do. Apparently it there isn't 80% residents on your team you won't get a field allotment. I find that quite hard to believe but that's what women at Municipal hall said last year when we were trying to get field.

[trece verde]

You could ask CSide 17 about this one; thanks to the screwy rules in North Van, our League picked up 2 teams at the expense of his.

HOS, while I appreciate the cost that Burnaby taxpayers went through footing the majority of the bill building this thing, it's a cash cow for the city now. The revenue Burnaby makes off the turf complex subsidizes the user fees for the rest of the shite fields in the city (not that improvements will be made to any of them as a result).

The most frustrating part of this whole exercise is that the wannabe politicos who make Parks Board decisions don't realize (or won't admit) that soccer is a regional game. The majority of teams in nearly every league you come across locally (despite being squeezed by residency requirements now) are composed of residents from across the GVRD. We may start out being based in one geographic area (like the Blaze guys) but eventually, we all end up being dispersed. People move - it's a fact of life. Yes, we still want to play with our friends, though. Should bureaucrats be able to tell us we can't, just because we don't all live in the same neighbourhood any more?

It'll be interesting to see what happens when Vancouver builds its expected turf fields, if they descend to the same approach.

oh joy......

stew

[Hands of Stone]

Originally Posted by stew

The revenue Burnaby makes off the turf complex subsidizes the user fees for the rest of the shite fields in the city (not that improvements will be made to any of them as a result).

Hate to break this to you stew, but most recreation facilities in Burnaby, and probably most other Cities are BIG Money Pits. The money that is charged for swimming pools, ice rinks, and even sport fields cover a fraction of what it costs to maintain and build new facilities. The only things that actually make money in the City are Parking Meters and Garbage Container collections.
So your argument about making money is far off, and so the residents of that City should get first crack at the prime fields and times. I would hate to see what it would cost to rent a field if the City was trying to cover all the costs, well look at what 8 Rinks charges to rent the Ice or Indoor Turf field for one hour.

hos

[BlazeArmy]

Originally Posted by stew

We may start out being based in one geographic area (like the Blaze guys) but eventually, we all end up being dispersed. People move - it's a fact of life. Yes, we still want to play with our friends, though. Should bureaucrats be able to tell us we can't, just because we don't all live in the same neighbourhood any more?

That's exactly right. We, the Blaze will not all be living in Tsawwassen forever. Our team is fairly young (22 0r 23) with a lot of guys still living at home. of the 25 guys who play 6 live outside Tsawwassen right now but that number will get higher as we age. What the hell is Delta gonna do in 3 or 4 years when there are only 5 or 6 guys still living there. Tell us to play somewhere else. i realize they want to same field allotments for teams of residents but we have always and will most likely always be based out of tsawwassen. i hate delta anyway as they continually give us a cow pasture to play on and save the really nice lighted fields for the u-15 girkls to play on all weekend. Cnuts.

[Bronco]

Originally Posted by Hands of Stone

The money that is charged for swimming pools, ice rinks, and even sport fields cover a fraction of what it costs to maintain and build new facilities.

Well maybe the city shouldn't pay the zamboni driver 30 bucks an hour!! But that's a topic for another thread!!


Union buster Bronco

[Hands of Stone]

Originally Posted by Bronco

Well maybe the city shouldn't pay the zamboni driver 30 bucks an hour!! But that's a topic for another thread!!

Oh Shitt, this is going to get into politics now, but here goes. Ya, the Zamboni Drivers make 20 bucks an hour, but they have First Aid ticket and thier refrigeration tickets so they are trained for any problems with the refrigeration plant, I am sure this is worth 20 dollars an hour.

As for losing money, many cities are going into Public Private partnerships for the operation of thier Recreation facilities, the problem with these "3 P" sitiuations, is that service goes way down and the cost to the user goes way up, so these private companies can cover their costs, they also bring in a bunch of minumum wage paid workers, so safety also is affected. How does that sound to you. The fields would be cut once a month to cut costs.

hos

[Regs]

Originally Posted by HOS

The fields would be cut once a month to cut costs.

How many times do fields get cut between September & March (when the majority of our leagues play)? About 5? Maybe 6?

~Regs.

[Hands of Stone]

Oh Reggy, if you don't cut the fields on a regular basis through the summer than the roots don't grow big and strong for the winter season when the grass takes all the abuse, but must stand strong and bounce back week after week. It is simple science regs, simple science.

On a cereal note, there is lots of maintanence on those fields throughout the winter to keep them open week in and week out, more than you can imagine. In fact down at Burnaby Lake grass a couple of months ago, a user group used one of the fields during a rainy weekend, well they ruined the field so bad, in one day, that it has to be ripped up and re-turfed, to the tune of over 60 thousand dollars, no problem hey.

hos

[BlazeArmy]

Originally Posted by Hands of Stone

The fields would be cut once a month to cut costs.

hos

That's sounds like a dream compared to what we play on right now. Our field hasn't been cut since end of May. grass is over shoes in most places and the dandelions????(some sort of flowering weed, unfortunately not that kind. ) make our field look white. it's quite a shock when people come out to play on it. That being said, it's not too bumpy and the holes in the goal mouths aren't too bad. Thank god we haven't had too much rain or the field swould be totally unruly right now. Actually our field reminds me a bit of Captain shamrock in full mullett mode.

[Gurps]

Originally Posted by Hands of Stone

The only things that actually make money in the City are Parking Meters and Garbage Container collections.
hos

I thought KNVB would be all over that one

[Regs]

Originally Posted by HOS

In fact down at Burnaby Lake grass a couple of months ago, a user group used one of the fields during a rainy weekend, well they ruined the field so bad, in one day, that it has to be ripped up and re-turfed, to the tune of over 60 thousand dollars, no problem hey.

Sounds like a 'make work' project to me... Did this "usergroup" include yourself and TR?

~Regs.