The City Council voted 4 to 1 last night to approve the revised park plan, citing an urgent need to reduce the number of away games baseball teams currently must endure for lack of local facilities.

As a citizen of Chaska, I am proud to have been chosen to sacrifice my peaceful lifestyle, and freely give up the estimated $30K in the value of my property for such an important and noble cause. I had only hoped the City Council would have seen fit to grant us some form of additional assessment that could be tied to the baseball field, so we could feel even more fulfilled in our philanthropy. I, for one, am excited to be such an important part of the tireless effort on the part of our great city to relieve the unbearable burden our baseball leagues face in not being able to host more than 40% of their games. It truly is a tragedy, and I’m grateful to be allowed to help in this manner. I feel their pain. Growing up on the farm in Illinois, we were constantly subjected to long car rides with our parents when my siblings and I were in sports. My God, we had to drive and drive and drive some more to get to nearly all our games. Sometimes up to 150 miles round-trip! I know what it’s like first-hand, believe me. I would not wish it on anyone, and so this injustice must end. I am prepared to fight tooth and nail to see that community baseball prospers in Chaska - at any cost. I only wish I could do more to help.

Mr. Mayor, I apologize for speaking up at the meeting. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, having an opposing viewpoint and voicing it to you and the city council. You had every right to cut me off, shout me down and belittle what I was saying. For that, I am sorry. I also wanted to say that as a citizen of Chaska, I appreciate a strategic thinker in the Mayor's office. Your eagerness in pushing for a vote to approve the ballpark as an urgent matter was admirable, as it will no doubt give you time for the issue to blow over before you begin your campaign for re-election. Kudos to you, sir.

Mr. Rohe, How dare you come to our defense, or even give us one precious second of thought to our concerns? Don't you realize that the city must maintain its high standards when governing? Caving into what mere citizens want will only undermine the city's authority. You can't just go around listening to the mob, don't you know that? And shame on you for bringing common sense into the issue!

Mr. Pokorney, your attempt at suggesting that a vote by the CC on this issue was not needed shows remarkable efficiency. Why take the risk of losing to a vote? It is not difficult for one to see the reasons for your long tenure as City Administrator.

Mr. Redman, you are a master at your craft. I am sure the people who work with you on a daily basis, and throughout your career, have nothing but great thing to say about you. Congratulations on such an important and remarkable feather in your cap. You certainly earned it.

Ms. Skinner, If you need any help whatsoever in scheduling baseball teams this season, please don't hesitate to ask. I understand the unbearable difficulties in such a task, and want you to know that I'm there for you.

To the citizens of Chaska, come election day, I want you all to remember what a great job our mayor has done in handling these petty upstarts.

Christian Ward
www.cebellah.com

Wow! You MUST have an excessive amount of time on your hands. Let's time you to see how fast you can respond to this one. I was right the first time, this IS a load! Sometimes the highway cuts through your farm and you're no longer out in the middle of nowhere. Sorry. Move to Nimrod if you need some small town livin'.

Dear Christian Ward,

I'm so sorry for my mistake earlier; I don't know what I was thinking. Nimrod is probably a bit too urban for you. Maybe you should try Tenney Minnesota instead.

Sincerely,

HeraldReader

Can someone please explain this quote from Mr. Ward? "We don't like drawing a certain type of crowd into the neighborhood on a regular basis." To me, it seems to imply that a youth baseball field will attract criminal, or at least nuisance, element or person. While I understand the grumbles of ill-informed (by the City Council) residents, this sort of fear seems grossly overstated and reeks of hyperbole. It's not as though the City is proposing building a boarded up liquor store on the site, it's a baseball field, used by the youth of Chaska. As for noise issues, I'm sure you'll hear people cheering on the children of our community, I can think of worse to listen to.

I see. I had no familiarity with this issue before reading this article and just thought that comment was a bit over-the-top, given that there could be men's, or women's, rec league games, I can understand the concern.