Officials' pitch becomes a hit

Tracey and Gary Lewis walked around the white-sided, abandoned house that stands -- incongruously -- by the tiny parking lot of Susquehanna Twp.'s Edgemont Park.

"It's an eyesore," Tracey Lewis said. "It doesn't seem like it belongs in a park."

Lewis -- a township commissioner and former Susquehanna Twp. High School and LaSalle University basketball standout -- once played basketball at Edgemont with her brothers. These days, softball players compete on well-tended but spartan fields. Parents and spectators scrounge for parking. Unless the nearby Salvation Army office has opened its doors for special events, the only available rest rooms are two portable toilets.

"Little girls are kinda hesitant to use the port-a-potties," said Sam Scannella, president of the Susquehanna Twp. Girls' Softball Association.

Last August, planners for Stop the Violence Day at Edgemont Park found that the house and a concrete-block shed got in the way. People dreamed about better uses for that space. Lewis asked township commissioners to support demolishing the dilapidated structures.

"To my colleagues' credit, it moved," she said.

Lewis plans to watch on demolition day this spring. Then come the planning and fundraising that could some day yield rest rooms, a simple pavilion, more parking and dugouts. Opposing softball teams from across Dauphin County would notice, Scannella said.

"It would make their impressions of the township so much better, having up-to-date facilities," he said. "It's not something that's going to be transformed overnight. It'll make the park a more attractive place to play."

As parks need rest rooms, towns need functional parks. Lewis said parks and sports help kids build self-esteem.

"We have to start early," she said. "You can't wait until there's a problem. A lot of parents work, and they're busy, but when they come to these games, they have an opportunity to talk, compare notes, and stay in contact with each other, and the kids, also. These are the community building blocks that are so crucial."