It must be because our taxes aren't high enough to pay for such things. Hahaha

May I also add to the fact that there are multiple locations in town where baseball/softball fields once were. Child Street Field, behind the BCWA formerly Chikd Street school, once had a baseball field that was used by our younger kids in the T-ball division and Instructional division on a nightly basis, now the only thing that remains are the remnants of a chain link backstop with no resemblance to a baseball field. A softball field that was once at Burrs Hill is no longer there as well. Jamiel Park was filled with softball leagues on a nightly basis years ago, and although closing that facility was a necessity for environmental reasons, as it is set to re-open, there will be no ball field placed at the park. Jamiel Park is set to be used for Soccer fields. Please, before anyone comments on that I think the kids in town deserve soccer fields as well. The soccer program in Warren is very successful and they also deserve to have fields they can be proud of.

Out of curiosity...who is responsible for these types of fields in neighboring towns ?

To my knowledge, Little League Fields in neighboring towns with the exception of those on private property, are maintained by its DPW/Parks and departments.

I hope this commentary opens some eyes and gets Town Officials moving on a new plan to update and keep our little league parks in better operating condition. On another note - not to have working restroom facilities is just plain negligent!!!

Great letter Bryan because I believe that most people do not realize what you stated in your letter. There is no reason why the fields can't be kept up by the town. Jannitto field looks great and that is kept up by volunteers who take time out their already busy schedules. And it's deplorable that the bathrooms at the rec park are not in working condition. Embarassing as well.

Which town officials will be recieving a copy of this letter ? Perhaps it's not going to the right individuals...also, you may be able to get somewhere with someone like our local Rep Malik. Doesn't he also have something to do with the DPW ? Good luck !

Brian, which town officials have you who you approached about this problem, and what kind of answer did you get.

Another thing I just thought of was all those nice little legislative grants Rep. Malik & Sen. Felag get up there at the state house for all the different groups around town. Not sure if the WLL has already asked about this but maybe they could help in some way if the town is not willing to help out ?...just a random thought really...I mean, have you seen the list of grants they have given out ? It's available online...

The town of Warren Recreation committee as a whole is ridiculous compared to other towns. Our so called recreation building is in deplorable conditions and the building is way UNDER used and poorly managed as a whole.

Dee, your absolutely correct. The field problem should be in their hands. Remember the Town owns Burrs Hill Park not the School Department. The recreational Board should be fighting for that field. The School teams could go to one of the many parks in Bristol.

For the record... WLL does receive a generous donation on behalf of Sen. Felag on an annual basis and we are extremely grateful for that.
Sen. Felag and Rep. Malik have been longtime supporters of WLL over the years through our PRIVATE sponsorship program, which has nothing to do with the Town of Warren or it's various departments...

There is a beach crew down there who spent COUNTLESS hours in the blistering sun every week removing any weeds that grow. Then after that they level the entire field off and bring it to its perfect shape. The sod is gone because of the weather we have had. No rain means no growth and it will dry up. During the summer it hardly looks like this. The crew is down there from Memorial day to Labor Day.

Lets not leave out the important information. Warren Little League was awarded with a wonderful donation of a tractor from costline auto repair (not sure if that is the name of it) to drag the field before and after each game. Never have I seen a coach or manager out their dragging the field!

Before we go any further lets lay the facts out on the table Mr. Burns... I am assuming you are either part of this "beach crew" that you are speaking of or have first hand knowledge from someone who is, otherwise you would not be defending the situation. FACT, Choice Collision graciously donated a tractor to WLL a few years ago and it is used to drag that field on a consistent basis by the dedicated volunteers in our league. FACT, the weather absolutely contributed to the condition of the sod because it needed to be watered and before WLL spent a single dime or put a shovel in the ground at Burrs Hill Park, we were assured by the DPW that their would be a water source available for the upkeep of such costly material. FACT, the above pictures were taken during the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which you stated "during the summer it hardly looks like this". I'm not sure who you are trying to defend, or for what reasons, but the facts are the facts. As far as spending "countless hours in the blistering sun every week removing any weeds that grow", the evidence begs to differ with you sir.

Thanks Bryan for bringing to light this decades-long issue with our beloved town fields. It is a problem that never seems to be corrected as the years go on- no matter how many of us taxpayers request better management of what could be absolute gems for our citizens to enjoy. But in the same breath, I must also qualify that our DPW department has tried, over my 9 year tenure as a Warren LL volunteer, to do the right thing but has consistently blamed budget shortfalls and understaffing as the excuse.
As a result of these so-called shortfalls, and our league's desperation to make Warren's fields respectable again, we requested permission from the Town Council to start doing necessary repairs and maintenance with our own parent volunteers and hard-earned monies collected via fundraising and the generous donations of our sponsors. As of 2012, Warren Little League has invested nearly $50,000 on "town-owned" fields, (unheard of in other towns!) with the Town's promise to do their part in maintaining them. Well, although well intentioned- that is where their promises have fallen woefully short.

The DPW has provided dirt/stone dust for the fields, but WE are expected to find the manpower to install. The town is responsible for mowing fields regularly, which for the most part is done, however we've had to cancel games when they were not mowed! Our DPW employees do try hard, especially Jan Malik, he truly cares about our kids and our fields, but he can only... (continued)

(cont.)... do whatever management allows him to do. It's a shame Warren taxpayers have to be embarrassed when hosting out-of-town teams to play on these un-maintained fields. Not only WLL teams but our own KMS baseball & softball teams have no respectable fields to play on, and must be bussed to Bristol fields??? Warren LL invested $13,000 and town another $5,000 (for sod) refurbishing Burr's Hill field in 2008. The town promised a water well would be installed to maintain this beautiful new field- only 2 seasons later, they failed us on the well and as a result, the $18K investment was ruined. As of today, the well is still a pipe dream and the field deemed unplayable by KMS athletic dept. (see pictures in this blog)
It's high time our Town Officials are made aware of this chronic issue and steps in to get to the bottom of the "management" problem plaguing our town's recreational fields. Perhaps even take a lesson from our neighbors in Bristol on how to maintain recreation fields properly?
And don't even get me going on the allowance of dogs defecating on our fields!!!

Mr. McShane's response to Mr. Burns is 100% factual. Mr. Burns is also correct that the summer DPW crew at Burr's Hill headed by Ed Wujick, has always tried to maintain the Burr's facility the best they could, and no doubt has removed weeds and raked the ball field in the blistering heat- but again, they are paid to do it.

He is absolutely INCORRECT as to amount of hours our WLL parents, VOLUNTEERS mind you, have spent dragging, raking, applying fertilizers/weedkillers & manual weed removal, on a daily/weekly basis- above & beyond the time they must dedicate to coaching their teams! I for one spent an average of 20 hours a week maintaining that one field for 2 years before it was left to ruin. Burr's Hill field would still be perfect today, if, after my repeated warnings to the DPW to get a water source on that field were acted upon. I was told the town would hook up to the hydrant that torrid summer to water it- never happened. I personally appealed to a neighbor of the field asking if the town could hook up to their house spigot, and volunteered that WLL would pay his water bill- to which he happily obliged- but the town never took advantage of that offering either.

Again and again it comes down to improper management of town's resources that have yielded the unsatisfactory condition of our fields, we cannot and do not blame it's dedicated workers. Our fields would even be worse right now if it wasn't for Mr. Malik's dedication to his job and town.

Just so we are all clear about one thing, my letter and any statements I have made here are in no way an attack on the DPW employees who work at these facilities. This was meant to open the eyes of the public in regards to the gross mismanagement and negligence on the part of its directors all across town.

Brian, please do not count on the Town of Warren DPW to help you. They wil just tell you what they have ben saying for years, "we do not have the man power. This problem goes way back to the late 1970's with regards to the the grass at Jamiels Park, softball field. . As to removing the ball field at Burrs Hill park, I would like to know why the Town did that. They had to be awhere that there are very few places where kids can play baseball. There used to be two little league fields there for kids to practice after 5:00 pm. The Junior High used the large field. As to Jamiels park, I remember when the High School played football there, and they still had room for a baseball field. As for practicing or playing soccer, isn't the old Warren High School large enough for at least three fields. Put the Junior igh School team back at Burrs Hill.

Thank you Mr.McShane,

I never was attacking your point, in fact I agree 100% that it is a shame the great field WLL had has now turned like that. Also Mr. Ferias thank you for clearing up my information. Like I had said, I was not to sure but had a little knowledge of it.

Let's hope this article brings light upon it and have a nice field for the summer!!!

Everyone is learning about a large laundry list with the exception of the Town Council. They have done nothing to help the citizens of Warren. What they have been doing is only agrivating the citizens. Goat Farms, Chicken Farms in residential neighborhoods, bad ballfields, dirty streets, closed stores, reject of condos, take away the snow in front of your house, poor sidewalks, add another person to the town payroll, and the biggest yet, a bad disission on the School Depatment request for funds. If this Town can not afford a 21 cents tax rate, what is it going to cost us to deregionalize. Tony Desisto as our lawyer against Bristol, stupitity. It seems to me that our council has to find a way to clean this town up and if it has to be via a tax rate, then be truthful as to what we will get with the increase. The council has to stay within the laws that they have written and not continuely change them to help friends of theirs. This helping creates chaos around town. Remember the statement from a member of the town council, "my friend has a horse on central avenue and I would not want her to lose it, so I vote in favor of the residential farms". How many other votes have been made for friends. We will never know.

To all commenting to this post: Please DO NOT allow Mr. McShane's offering of a "wake-up call" to our town management about the declining shape of our rec facilities turn into a tirade and/or witch hunt on our Town Council or Rec Board members. Nearly all current and former Town Council/Rec Board members have been 100% supportive of all that Warren Little League and it's volunteers have been trying to achieve in bringing our town's facilities back to respectable, even glorious condition.
We all share Mr. McShane's disappointment with the lack of proper management of our fields, as he himself has been the consummate parent volunteer for WLL as a Board Member and Coach for many years. For Bryan or any of us to dedicate countless hours to our youth sports programs, and have to try and do it successfully under embarrassing sometimes unsafe field conditions and when done coaching, be expected to do all the required maintenance on the fields, is completely absurd and disrespectful.
Yes our town has a HUGE laundry list of important issues to tackle- but it's not unreasonable for our DPW to manage a yearly plan for merely one week's worth of labor preparing the fields each spring. The spring baseball season for KMS and Warren Little League usually runs from March to July- it shouldn't take an act of Congress to keep the fields mowed, infields weed-free and bathrooms clean & operational- If not only for the kids, but for our great town's reputation.

Barney- your cure is a logical one, but I truly feel with just a tad better scheduling of our DPW's dedicated employees, there is no need to incur additional help/costs. This issue has been brought to light for decades now and why it's not managed better is still puzzling. At this time EVERY year, the town knows Spring & baseball season is approaching, and fields need to be spruced up, facilities cleaned and operational and ready to go. Actually, WLL must hold it's own "Field Maintenance Day" in April where coaches and parents go from field to field, raking, cleaning and getting the fields ready for the season, because the town does not do it. It takes us amateurs approx. 10-15 hours to complete the job. So why the town cannot manage those duties is the grand mystery we are trying to solve here.

Thanks for your support and I will end this blog with this... we can only hope that bringing theses issues to light might garner some changes- after all, everything we're trying to accomplish is only for the betterment of the kids and reputation our great town. Wish us luck!

I believe that the hwy dept has been short handed. Employees out injured etc. for a long time. Also the field behind child street school has always been cut. I was involved years ago with Ted Abrain as pres. and always had parrents helping to get the fields ready. The 21 cents on the tax rate would not help in maintaning the fields. Also a lot of money was raised by the league and put into the fields.

The fields in Bristol are maintained by the Parks and Recreation department not Bristol DPW. Approximately 16 years ago I developed a Landscape Contract with Specifications for all our sport fields, roadside cuttings and 36 Rights of Ways and 17 parks. We have also obtained many grants such as "Baseball Tomorrow Fund" under major league baseball. Like Warren, Bristol has a lot of incredible volunteers. I would be very happy to share this information and anything else that would assist our friends in Warren. Just a note of a common mistake; Colt State Park does not have any sport fields. The fields are in the Bristol Town Beach and Sport Complex next to Colt State Park. We are allowing KMS to use our fields due to a request of the athletic director and are happy to do so. I am a proponent of sharing ideas and information. If we all work together, in a proactive manner we can move forward. Good Luck

Mr. Burke thank you for the support and I'm sure the WLL board of directors would love to hear about the system you have put in place, thanks again.

As a parent of a baseball player for the last 13 years. I am a Bristol resident but my son plays for Portsmouth. Us parents get together and maintain the feilds (once the feilds are done) many many times. Volunteers Volunteers. Do not depend on the town. Unfortunetly they "Have better things to do" and " Not enough money". Baseball is a favorite sport of many young boys and girls. Parents get together and maintain the feilds for your kids. A little bit from everyone goes a VERY LONG WAY!