[1205] in UA Senate
Re: Brigg Fields Lights
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew Lukmann)
Wed Mar 16 23:01:46 2011
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:01:30 -0400
From: Andrew Lukmann <lukymann@MIT.EDU>
To: Katie Harrington <kharring@mit.edu>
CC: William Steadman <willst@mit.edu>,
Jessica Chen <jessicachen.dbhs@gmail.com>,
Adam Bockelie <bockelie@mit.edu>,
"Benjamin I. Shaibu" <bshaibu@mit.edu>, ua-senate@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <4D80DB9A.6070308@mit.edu>
Just to chime in briefly... access across Briggs' Field to the other
dorms along Amherst alley has been a continual issue since Simmons Hall
opened it's doors. In fact, the primary project of one of the early UA
senators from Simmons (Cameron Saydeh) was working with facilities to
ensure that the gate in the (since replaced) old fence along Vassar St.
was open during regularly set hours (Facilities preferred to keep these
gates locked whenever the athletics teams were not practicing to deter
non-MIT users).
There was even a proposal in 2003 by some staff/admins to levy funds (a
whopping $29,000) from West Campus dorms to add card readers to all of
the gates, since neither DAPER nor Facilities had the funds and DAPER
wanted to control access. Needless to say, that plan didn't go far, but
Simmons fought at least to have the existing gate open as much as possible.
Additional plans were discussed as far back as 03/04 about
marking/building some kind of path across the field towards the gate
near MacG, but DAPER objected because they strongly preferred the
flexibility of the existing open-field setup, particularly in the case
that they need to re-sod/re-plant some parts of the grass.
If you folks have been able to make more headway with facilities in
terms of lighting or surfacing some sort of path, that's great. Any
stronger link between Simmons and the other west campus dorms will be
good for that community. Regardless, if any of you guys have any
questions about the history of the issue or anything related to Simmons
back in the day, drop me a line.
Cheers!
- Andrew L.
On 3/16/2011 11:47 AM, Katie Harrington wrote:
> I'm on the Softball team, and that path is currently drawn through our
> batting cage. There's also our only bullpen, stands, and a facilities
> shed back there. There's no room for a path through that area at all.
>
> Now, if you want to finance getting us better ones out of the way of
> the path, that would be great. We hate people walking or biking
> through our field. But the current setup can't be changed while we're
> in season.
>
> Thanks,
> Katie Harrington
>
> On 3/16/2011 5:53 AM, William Steadman wrote:
>> To answer some of the questions.
>>
>> Currently, I am working with DAPER and Facilities to look at adding
>> lighting. (Lets see if this works) I created the following google map,
>> http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=202796004978773309307.00049e964cd409e48e29c&ll=42.35697,-71.099857&spn=0.002335,0.005338&t=h&z=18.
>>
>>
>> (If it centers on the world, search Briggs Field, MIT)
>>
>> In terms of timing, the lights would come on after athletics ends. I
>> asked Shuang what Simmons residents thought and the response was until
>> at least 2am.
>>
>> The idea is have no physical changes on the ground or the field. Any
>> lighting would be attached to the structure in the center of Briggs
>> Field and on its sides. Therefore, it should not affect athletics at
>> all.
>>
>> We are not currently looking at motion sensored. We had not thought
>> about the dark sky friendly aspect.
>>
>> That is the summary of where we are.
>>
>> Honestly, with Walker picking up, I will not be devoting as much time to
>> this. I would love it if one of the Senators took up this issue. I can
>> fill them up to where we are and tell them what needs to be done next.
>>
>> Will
>> Space Planning Chair
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 2011-03-16 at 04:01 -0400, Jessica Chen wrote:
>>> I believe I asked this during the discussion and the response would
>>> something similar to a time frame they would be on (ie til 2?) probs
>>> something about 1 hour after saferide stops running imo
>>>
>>> I mean a concern would be where this project would fall under for
>>> finances, is it like under MIT facilities??
>>>
>>> also I'm pretty sure the proposal would have the lights placed in a
>>> way to not interfere with sports otherwise it probably wouldn't be an
>>> option because there's always gonna be uproar when messing with their
>>> sports
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> ~Jessica Chen
>>> MIT 2014
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 1:43 AM, Adam Bockelie<bockelie@mit.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>> they should be dark sky friendly
>>>
>>> Sent from my mobile device.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> > On Mar 16, 2011 1:17 AM, "Benjamin I. Shaibu"
>>> > <bshaibu@mit.edu> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Hey,
>>> >
>>> > Last week, we discussed the possibility of having lights and
>>> > a dirt path added to Briggs Field to help Simmonites cross
>>> > to Campus Drive. I was interested in knowing how other
>>> > Senators felt about the proposal. The responses from my
>>> > constituents were generally for the idea - most people
>>> > seemed really interested. There was one email worrying about
>>> > the need for lights and the costs. They brought up a point I
>>> > personally wondered about; would a path affect the Sports
>>> > Teams on the field?
>>> >
>>> > Another resident wondered if the lights could be optimized
>>> > to be motion sensored (to save money).
>>> >
>>> > Best,
>>> >
>>> > Ben
>>> > New House Senator
>>>
>>
>
>
