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For the past few years, the Statehouse lawn has been home to the Capitol Crossroads downtown kickball league where office workers, young professionals, and downtown residents have all been able to converge and participate some friendly intramural activities.
But word has been handed down from the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (the organization that operates the Statehouse) that the kickballers are not going to be as welcome in 2009 as they once were. They felt that the grounds had been too trampled and want to see fewer games, fewer teams, and potentially a relocation of the playing area.
The Statehouse Lawn is one of the few large grass field gathering places in the core of downtown big enough for activities such as this. I guess we collectively need to decide which is more important: maintaining a pristine grass plot that is untouched by the public, or providing the public with a gathering spot that actually gets utilized.
If you’ve got an opinion to voice, you can contact William E. Carleton, the Executive Director at the Statehouse at wcarleton@csrab.state.oh.us or 614-752-9777.
It was clearly too cool of an idea to last. I remember the first time I saw people playing on the lawn, I thought it looked like the most fun time, and that it was great to see some life downtown.
Clearly, the pristine grass seems to be more important than people actually using the space.
I say let them stay! The grass will grow back. I walk past the State House everyday, and I have never noticed an offensive amount of wear and tear from these events. Let’s keep the pulse of downtown activity going with great ideas like these, not stomp on them because of a few folks who are upset over some turf burns on their, excuse me, OUR LAWN!
HeySquare: Did we really mess up the grass that bad though? I don’t recall it ever being that damaged. I’ve got a bunch of photos from last summer and in none of them does the grass look any different than it does now.
I hope they vote with their feet and keep doing what they’re doing.
We weren’t allowed to play if there was more than a 10% chance of rain so I don’t see how the grass could have been damaged to the point where they would force us out. Heavy traffic on wet grass = nightmare, but as long as they stay strict about that (as annoying as it is) I don’t see what the problem is. I assumed the fees charged to the teams covered any additional maintenance cost the statehouse might have.
This is bull ….. How can you talk about having a vibrant downtown and then pull something like this. Get Columbus Commons done in the next 2 months and I’m fine with this decision.
The grass always looked great to me. I’ll greatly miss the kickball league.
I always loved seeing the league play. In the middle of all the hustle, most people scurrying to leave downtown, it was refreshing to see people relaxing and playing kickball. And on the Statehouse lawn! It seemed as though the lawns were a valued community resource and the Statehouse was at the center.
I wrote my letter, hope this decision may be reconsidered.
I played in the Arena District league last summer on the McFerson Commons. I don’t know how it compared to playing on the Statehouse lawn, but I enjoyed it.
You kids STAY OFF MY LAWN!!!!
I also sent a letter.
It’s not like the statehouse lawns are pristine english gardens, or are a home to endangered species of grasses. They are big open lots that otherwise aren’t even touched. How sad to take away, or reduce, events like this.
I’m hoping Mayor Coleman has something to say about this.
If anything, there will be a new 9 acre park just across the street soon.
If only we a had a large park nearby, say, where the vacant City Center Mall is now…
Walker… you are absolutely right. I thought the grass looked fine… I never thought that there was any damage done to the grass. To be fair, the flowers in the beds did absorb a few ball hits, but I don’t think there was noticable damage. We weren’t sliding into home plate or anything like that!
email has been sent
I forgot we had that dead bird on our field for what 3 weeks in a row? Sounds like there isn’t that much monitoring of the lawns going on anyway.
I thought about the new park and wondered what the time line for that was. It would be nice if the statehouse would allow us to continue there for the 2009 season with the hopes that by summer of 2010 City Center is GONE!!!
Thank goodness sense has prevailed.
I mean, as one of the few remaining greenspaces downtown it was attracting actual people and the downtown area had some life after the businesses closed.
I hope this sends a clear signal to all you ‘people’ who desire an active downtown life. Columbus has been dangerously close to slipping of the fattest cities list. Encouraging more people to commute to parks with cars will certainly curb this slide.
Good for the capital to make this stand. I think it sends a clear signal of political priorities that they would even take the time to address this during their rampant budget cutting and closing of rec centers.
There are groundskeepers out there pretty regularly. They do a nice job keeping the lawn up. That said, maybe they could work a little less if all the kickballers wore aerating footgear. I guess that would depend on the durability of the kickballs.
CSRAB seeems to have turned around quite a bit, and actually listens to input these days. I think if enough people vocally support keeping kickball, they might change their minds.
yep, there was a duck head or the like in left field almost all season. i say CUFYP’s just move to Goodale or McPherson.
I also got the email about this. And the alternatives offered aren’t nearly as good as the statehouse lawn. I always thought that it was great to have the games out there. And to a certain extent, I think it made the statehouse seem much more accessible to the public. Rather than being a somewhat looming lifeless presence, kickball made it seem part of the downtown community.
I always sort of thought of the statehouse lawn as a mini version of the mall. It’s too bad the Capital Square Advisory Board doesn’t feel the same way. (But, I guess then I can see where they might want to keep people off the lawn. The mall gets seriously torn up, and could have actually used that much derided money that got taken out of the stimulus package.)