While inspecting the city parks on a recent Thursday I came across a gentleman trying to make the ballfields usable at the city’s premier park, Marna O’Brien. He was out at the third base area and then the first base area with a barrel pump sucking up water, into a bucket, out of the depressions that fill up with water whenever it rains. When he filled up the 5 gallon bucket he would lug it over the the drainage swale in the grass area and dump it then trudge on back and do it again, over and over. This was on the most heavily used field in the park.

 

View a short U-Tube Video

These depressions have existed since the day the parks were re-opened in 2014 and have gotten worse due to a lack of proper maintenance on the part of city staff. The person in the video was a volunteer not a city employee.

The above photo was taken on April 17, 2014, just days after the parks were re-opened using Measure Z Parcel Tax money.

This picture, of the 3rd baseline on the same field as the video, was taken September 17, 2014 just 5 months after the parks re-opened.

These fields have been in need of added engineered material that has migrated away due to use and should be laser graded annually, the last time these fields had material added was when the parks were rebuilt by the County of Riverside in 2008.

The citizens of this City were billed $354,577.00 according to the Measure Z Parcel Tax Report for FY 2016-17 of which 2/3rd was spent on Marna O’Brien Park. Where did it all go.