Baseball Out at Home in Beach Town’s Parks

There’s a small, shady park right across the street. Linda Bischoff only wishes her three sons could play baseball there.

The boys, ages 7, 9 and 10, used to play Wiffle ball on the neatly trimmed grass in Poplar Park. Now, it’s forbidden.

Mom and Dad are not keeping them out. City fathers are. They passed an ordinance banning ballplaying in all but two city parks.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Bischoff, 37. “Since they made that rule, the park hardly gets used.”

Hounded by property owners who live next to parks and by civic groups who planted flowers in them, the City Commission voted 2 to 1 earlier this month to adopt the ordinance.

The ban, which takes effect July 30, restricts ballplaying to Fox Park and Maxwell Field in the center of town. Get caught with a ball in at least 15 other neighborhood parks and it could mean an arrest.

The ordinance does not set penalties for violators. A municipal judge would probably impose a fine after a second offense, Mayor Fred Wager said.

If a juvenile gets caught, his or her parent could be liable, Wager said.

“It just all around doesn’t make sense,” said City Commissioner Duane Sloan, who voted against it.

The Cape May County resort, which has 4,484 year-round residents and thousands more visitors in summer, has fallen on hard times in recent years. Officials hope to reclaim its image as a family vacation spot--but critics say they’re going about it in strange ways.

For one thing, Wager and others are seeking permission to have a Native American tribe build a casino here.

The ballplaying ban, too, sends the wrong message, opponents say. The city might as well tell kids to go play in traffic, resident Jack Dever told commissioners before the vote.

“One of our children could be hurt or killed by this legislation,” he said.

Dever, 41, has a 14-year-old daughter who plays softball. It bothers him that he can’t take her around the corner to play catch after dinner.

It bothers children too.

Robert Culligan, 15, of Hammonton was told about the ban as he dribbled a basketball along New Jersey Avenue. His response: “Then they’ll start wondering why the kids get in trouble.”

Wager, who voted in favor of the ordinance, said it was drafted in response to complaints from residents who grew tired of seeing flower gardens in the parks trampled by children.

“We’ve planted a lot of flowers, but the kids wreck them, playing ball and breaking bushes, trees and flowers,” he said.

Residents whose properties abut the parks complained to City Hall that their windows were being broken by flying baseballs, Wager said.

It’s not that the city opposes sports, said Wager, a former baseball, basketball and football coach.

“We want kids playing sports. In fact, we’re thinking about opening up the beach so that they can play there, because it’s so big,” Wager said.

In addition, the city has applied for a $750,000 state loan that would be used to replace playground equipment in city parks, he said.

“We have a million lots in this town. They [children] can play on almost any of them,” Wager said.