IF IT'S BROKE, PLEASE FIX IT

The developments are disturbing.

A reader contacted me after attending Friday night's record-breaking attendance game at New Britain Stadium with the following report. He was directed to park at the high school and when he returned to his car after the game, the parking lot lights had been turned off. He said people were groping around in the dark in search of their cars.

I don't need anybody to tell me about the New Britain Stadium elevator.

One of the Rock Cats' employees who works full time for Otis Elevator shook his head as the conveyance shook, rattled and rumbled from the concourse to the second floor. The elevator is used by the people who have tickets for the luxury suites. It is also vital to the concessions employees who have to tote heavy items up the suites and to the party platforms to the left and right of the suites.

Isn't anybody going to fix it? Are we going to wait for something ugly to happen? I'll take the stairs more often, thank you. I can use the exercise, but what of the people who have to transport 20 cases of hot dogs or the employees who have to carry all the garbage out of there?

Then there is the condition of the playing surface. It was a brand, new field two short seasons ago but you would never know it. Areas to the left and right of home plate are worn to the dirt. Areas behind and in front of the pitcher's mound are also wearing badly.

It's an embarassment. I have been to numerous stadiums this summer including Brooklyn, Norwich, Pawtucket and Manchester, N.H., and they all are in much better shape than New Britain. Don't think that the Twins haven't noticed.

One wonders why these things go unchecked. Doesn't anybody in the city realize how valuable the franchise is to its economic well-being? Doesn't anybody have the proper vision to spruce things up so we can be proud of what we have, and more importantly make sure that the franchise remains in New Britain for many years to come?