1997 letter

A letter to Sylvia Kusaka, officer of N.E.W.

March 10, 1997

Dear Sylvia,

I won't be able to attend the meeting tomorrow night about Northwestern resurfacing the playing field east of McGaw Hall, but there are some concerns.

Neighbors east of the stadium, and I wonder why the women's field hockey games have to be held on the open playing field and not in Dyche Stadium. They used to be held on the open field, but in the past several years they have been held in the stadium.

If the reason is that Dyche might be needed for another sporting event while the ten field hockey games are being held, won't that mean two events at the same time will attract more vehicles and their resultant parking problems and also create more noise?

They used to play rock music on the stadium loudspeaker system during field hockey practice and games, until we on the east side of the stadium complained, I only saw a few dozen people in the stands watching the field hockey games. Why do they now plan to build stands for up to 500 spectators? Will that be for other, future sporting events they might hold on the outdoor playing field but aren't telling us about now? With stands for 500, it opens the door for much more use of the field.

Improved drainage aside, more use of the outdoor playing field may well present future problems for the community.

This looks innocent on the surface but, as usual, we have to watch carefully any change that might increase use of that entire sports complex.

It will be interesting to see how this develops and how Engelman responds to our concerns.

Good luck, we'll need it, with Engelman watching out for NU's interests for another four years.

Best,

Walter Oleski