Several Councilors asked good questions. One in particular stood out. Newly minted Councilor Esther Kennedy asked the simple, direct question as to whether the listed road constructions projects had been prioritized. It is my experience that you can tell how much you’ve gotten under someone’s skin by how much tap dancing they do when answering a simple question. Ms. Kennedy was treated to a dance performance that would have put Gene Kelly’s “Singing in the Rain” to shame. She deserved better.

With any document the size and scope of the CIP it is always easy to find little nuggets that require further thought.

One item was $25,000 to fund a feasibility study for a new police station. Oddly, this was the first that I had heard that Portsmouth was in desperate need of a new facility. Another item was $1,000,000 to be spent over the next
two years to rehabilitate the indoor pool. The pool probably needs work, but exactly how many people are served by it? Might it be better use of tight money to just fill the hole?

The crown jewel among all these nuggets is $3,000,000 to be spent for artificial turf for the athletic fields. Currently we spend $10,000 yearly for mowing and other simple maintenance. In addition these fields were re-sod for $30,000. For $3,000,000 we could maintain and re-sod these fields every year for 75 years. Just how long does artificial turf last? The answer is 10-20 years. How dumb is that?

There would be at least one benefit to artificial turf. The football uniforms would remain clean. This would lower our
carbon footprint in the short term, detergent wise. But, how many little plastic trees would have to sacrifice themselves for the fake grass and, more importantly, where does it go when it wears out?