Your Voice: Keep sports complex lit up
by Andrew Liu, Tracy
Nov 06, 2009 | 282 views | 5 5 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend | print
EDITOR,

I have lived in Tracy since August. My wife and I really enjoy living here — it certainly gives us a lot larger of a home than the one we used to live in in Fremont, and we enjoy crisp blue sky and fresh air. Yes, we even enjoy the wind.

Since I commute to the Bay Area, I typically won’t come home until 8:30 or 9 p.m.

The next thing I used to do was get out and jog, but here I have run into a difficulty: I can’t really find a place that I can jog.

Well, I can certainly join a gym, from which I have constantly received offers, but after a whole day sitting indoors, the last thing I want is to go indoors again and breathe other people’s sweat.

No, I want to get out to an open field and jog and breathe in the fresh air. The only place that would probably serve that purpose is the Tracy Sports Complex. If I come home early enough, the little leagues might still play there, and then I would run on the edge of the soccer field for a few laps. But if I am a bit late, the field lights are off.

My suggestion is to keep the lights on and the soccer field open until 10 p.m. That would give many residents in the area a chance to get out and exercise.

Yes, it is not just me, because I do see a few others were running there, as I did. If the fields were open, it would certainly encourage many others to come out and exercise.

comments (5)
« FrostySnowball wrote on Saturday, Nov 07 at 10:50 AM »
anonymous,

That's funny you think they have to drive around. There are three high schools in Tracy and countless other K-8 schools. Are you aware the schools also turn off thier lights after dark? If the schools wanted people there after dark they would turn the lights on. Did you run your comment by the California School Board system and ask for your "substantial amount of money" to be waived for your soccer practice? Other cities turn off the lights when not in use. You have to ask. Not just 'drive around town, looking'.

Just something to think about before wasting yer gas money.
« adios wrote on Saturday, Nov 07 at 07:30 AM »
Jog on a lighted street.
« offtoworkigo wrote on Saturday, Nov 07 at 07:15 AM »
While it might be nice for you and several other people to be able to jog after hours, I feel that it would be a waste of revenue to keep those lights on.

Unless of course there is a slot on the light pole for you to swipe your debit card.

Had you been reading or following what the city is going through right now in regards to the budget, you would never have suggested anything that would be a further drain on our limited resources, especially since it is a 'special interest' item.
« MarleyNMe wrote on Friday, Nov 06 at 10:30 PM »
I'd rather go when the sun is out and bright, For the same reason cited in the article. Going indoors for an artificial jog and going outdoors for an artificial sunlight is just not the same. There's nothing more energizing than a morning jog. I've even done it the San Francisco Area, before work. Or in Tracy, on the weekends. Costs less than the artificial environment at the gym and costs less energy than a treadmill, TV, air conditioner, lighting, etc.