More than 50 parents and baseball players attended the Unified Government Commission meeting on Thursday night and also visited Mayor Mark Holland’s office to ask for help with restoring the old 3&2 field and playing fields in the city.
They were with the KCK RBI program, which serves about 900 kids.
Parents said they would like help with the old 3&2 field, and also would like to continue using the Parks and Recreation ball fields. The KCK RBI organization bought the old 3&2 ballpark on Parallel Parkway and has started to fix it up, but every time some progress is made, the fields are vandalized.
The organization serves children in the inner city, and has lower registration fees than other youth sports organizations. The Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities program is sponsored by major league baseball. According to one parent who attended the meeting, there are some baseball fields in midtown and on the east side of town that are not being kept up, and that with just a little help from Parks and Recreation or from donations, could really help the youth of the city.
The gavel pounded and members of the KCK RBI were asked to be quiet and told they could not speak at the 7 p.m. Unified Government Commission meeting on Thursday night.
Mayor Holland said during the meeting that he would be glad to meet with the parents after the 7 p.m. meeting to hear their concerns, and also, there is a meeting with them scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday on the fifth floor of City Hall.
Commissioner Tarence Maddox thanked the parents for coming to the July 24 meeting and said that these organizations are important as children develop into adults.
At the 7 p.m. UG meeting, the commission approved setting a public hearing date for the STAR bond district for the new $75 million U.S. Soccer National Training Center at 98th and Parallel Parkway, that will include youth and adult soccer training facilities, with 16 soccer fields. Sales tax revenue bonds are proposed for this development. Officials said the development would have an economic effect of more than $1 billion over 30 years. The public hearing on it will be Aug. 28.