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Permits Might Help With Parks

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2008

Regarding "Park Rules May Be Out Of Their League" (front page, May 17):

On April 20, I left home. On my way out, I drove past 18th Avenue Park where preparation was on for a kickball game. That afternoon was a very different story.

Five blocks from home, I saw flashing police lights, stopped cars backed up in the streets and people yelling profanities as they walked by. Some drivers sped through stop signs and two-wheeled around corners. I wondered if a terrorist attack had happened.

At my turn, the police told me to drive past several blocks and then double back to get home, where I found my neighbor trying to help resolve a nasty argument between two drivers. One had double-parked and boxed-in the other's car. I have read that several kickball teams play in a city park every week and that the problems associated with the crowds have occurred in other neighborhoods.

News reports say that the teams are against getting city permits. With growth comes responsibility; there are reasons for rules and policies. That Sunday, our neighborhood needed a planned police presence, traffic and parking assistance and the monitoring of trash and illegal activity a permit would ply.

It would be a better use of time and resources for them to organize for convenience and safety's sake. The games are a great family-oriented activity and the possibilities can be promising.

WILLIAM A. WHEELER

Tampa

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