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Minutes of a Meeting of the North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission September 12, 2005 Ms. Callahan said that traffic for the ball games is nothing. Basically, there is more traffic for Hot Stove than the High School baseball team. There’s plenty of parking. Nobody is afraid to come there. “We’ve been doing it for years,” she continued, “It’s no big deal.” “As far as the dust goes, it’s part of baseball.” “It’s all part of baseball…It’s not just for baseball. You’ve got little kids running around playing soccer all the time up there. Ms. Callahan continued, “You go down to Fairview and they have a whole park that’s just baseball.” Mr. Baxter said they also have a very different situation than North Olmsted. The North Olmsted Park is quite different than many other parks with the ball fields adjacent to the streets and the parking being right on the streets. That is the reality that must be faced. Again, he understood the need for it, but he was saying that the Park is not like most other parks in terms of the way it is set up. It would be nice if it had taken the homes that were built on either East Park or West Park and made it bigger but it wasn’t done that way, so it can’t be changed now. Mr. Kelley said that what the audience has to realize that, as a Commission, all that is to be done here is to recommend. The nucleus of this Commission is made up of different people around the community from different aspects: there are representatives from NOSO; there are representatives from Hot Stove; there are representatives on this Commission from Council; you have representatives on this Commission from the Mayor. Some of the questions that we ask are questions that are going to be asked in Council. Council will decide what happens and what doesn’t happen at that field because that is not school property; it is City property. That being known, all we’re doing here is trying to reflect about what is going to happen down the road. The Commission is not trying to put any stop to anybody’s plans; we are trying to make sure that, as a Commission, we put everything out there. It was just brought back to Mr. Kelley’s attention by Mr. Lasko that at some point in here there is talk about sign advertisement on the fences. Was that ever brought up? Mr. Carras said he was sure that was brought up; Ted and Tim (Murphy) may know more about that. Mr. Carras thought it was something that could and should be done. It’s an easy moneymaker. He admitted to be out of his element in this matter, but he understood what is being said. Mr. Kelley asked if the Commissioner had anything to add. Mr. DiSalvo said that as far as advertising goes, Council has approved for the rink right now in the Rec Complex; they are open to extending it to the Parks but, officially, it must be approved first. Currently, the Rec Department is authorized to advertise at the Rec Complex only. Mr. Kelley said that what we are talking about here is just a fence for baseball. Mr. DiSalvo said that was correct. There is a possibility for advertising but, for all practical purposes, just the fence. Mr. Lasko said that this is an issue that has come before the Commission in the past, specifically, in relation to the renovation of the ice rink. Rather than being surprised at a date down the road, he believes it should be put on the table right now because he sees that where the City has been in the past that there just can’t be a carte blanche authority to put the signs up there because of the ramifications for a city, so as long as the Commission is defining our discussion, which is a Page 5