Scott Park to Make Improvements After Parents Frustrated Over Parking, Towing at All-Star Tournament
Officials are already looking at how they can make improvements after some parents voiced frustrations over parking, facilities, and overall logistics at an All-Star baseball tournament in Scott Park over the weekend.
Over the weekend, SATS (Scott Area Team Sports) held a "Tune-Up Tournament" for All-Star teams on their newly remodeled turf fields. The tournament was open for baseball, fast-pitch, and softball teams.
Recently, Scott Park has been making improvements to their fields and facilities. Not only do the improvements aim to increase the quality of life for local residents but also to elevate the experience for teams and fans in an effort to draw more visitors and tournaments to their outdoor space.
On Saturday, as the teams made their way to Scott Park so did parents, grandparents, and loved ones. Parking filled up very quickly, forcing people to find alternate parking spots in nearby grassy areas.
Once those spots filled up. People began double parking in the lots and others began to park along the streets nearby.
Needless to say, parking quickly became a mess—and those parents, family members, and fans who weren't able to find parking ended up missing the games altogether as a result.
Things went from bad to worse as those who were able to park walked back to their vehicles to find out they had either been blocked in or had been towed.
Kate Singleton was one of the Facebook users who commented that her day at the ballpark cost her over $200 after she was towed for parking in a no parking zone.
I was one of those cars that got towed. I looked for parking there wasn't any. I was not blocking anybody. IT'S SAD THAT WE CAN'T SUPPORT OUR KIDS . WE HAVE SHOULD HAD A WARNING. Kate Singleton . COST ME 294.00 FOR TOWING, PLUS $7.00 to get in that had no parking. My last time supporting Scott.
Frustrations continued to mount for others like Misty Rae who felt that beyond just the parking that the tournament was too big for the park to handle.
It wasn’t just the parking. Everything was horrible there. It took 20 minutes just to get in the gate at 7:20am this morning Bc there was only 1 girl working the gate, so the line was crazy long. The bathrooms were completely backed up by 8:30am. We couldn’t even sit and watch our boys play their games bc there were soooo many people crowded around the bleachers and chair areas who weren’t even playing. One of our players younger sister’s stood in the concessions line for 45 minutes for a pickle😳. Scott park could NOT handle a tournament of this magnitude. It’s a complete sh*t show.
Along with the frustrations came rumors that were mainly untrue and only added fuel to the fire on social media.
I spoke with Scott Mayor Jan-Scott Richard, who took full responsibility for the shortcomings where he believes the city could have delivered a better experience for the teams who came out to be a part of the all-star tournament and those who came to watch them play.
Making no excuses, Richard told me that "too many teams" were invited, and while hindsight is 20/20, meetings began first thing on Monday morning to remedy all of the complaints he received from numerous parkgoers.
While Mayor Richard understands that these are the growing pains that come with the improvements to Scott Park and the city at large, he wants to send sincere apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced.
City officials are already working on things like increasing parking capacity, making entry smoother, speeding up concessions and calculating new limits on just how many teams can realistically be hosted for future tournaments.
As far as those who were towed, Richard said Police Chief Chad Leger only towed vehicles that were illegally parked and the mayor personally made announcements on separate fields that saved over 50 vehicles from being hauled off.
Even after all of the frustration, Richard says that his staff worked hard to get the Scott Park ready for the tournament and will continue to make improvements to a space that has "been in shambles for years."