We live in the condominiums across from the Payson Parks and Recreation building located on the larger of the three Green Valley Park lakes. We start by saying that Green Valley Park is, by and large, a delightful addition to the town.
However, if you are not aware, this will inform you of the continuing complaints regarding nighttime noises therefrom. If not most nights, it could be. If not accurately and timely reported, shame on us residents.
The various parking areas have become a rendezvous for young people after the park should, per the sign (sunrise to 10:30 p.m.), be closed to the public.
Certainly not nightly, but too often, young people gather in the mentioned parking lot. Sometimes the groups are large and sometimes small. The weather and the time of year are factors.
The larger groups play music from more than one vehicle and the young people sound as though they are attending a wonderful party. What really goes on there we don't know, but the sounds are often raucous and much too loud.
If I were to describe a recollection of a typical noisy circumstance is goes like this: "the boys squeal their wheels and the girls just squeal while cars and pickups face up and down street." The smaller groups are not so noisy, but they also play loud music and the sounds carry.
If the conditions are right, even the conversations can be overheard. It is not a typical to hear most of the four letter words repeated so that listener, i guess, is certain of the correct pronunciation. On one occasion, a young man unerringly described his sexual prowess earlier that evening. When the police show, the radios go off and the sounds subside. Perhaps someone in the group yelled "the fuzz."
A disturbing situation relates to the occasional scream from a young women who sounds to be in real trouble. On several occasions, I have climbed out of bed and tried to identify the source from across the street (sometimes from across the lake). There have been no murders or rapes that I am aware of, so I guess things are all right thereabouts. Are they really? The sign, near the mentioned building, clearly states that the park is closed. If the park is officially closed, why are these conditions being allowed?
Either change the sign to read "never closed" or respect the intent of the 10:30 p.m. deadline. A mechanical means of swinging gates could be devised, like those that close off county roads to travel at certain times. Encourage the teens to congregate in the town's police and administrative building(s) parking lot instead. Maybe the high school administration wouldn't mind their later-night presence. Ask the Wal-Mart folks.
The police could police Green Valley Park. Now that's a creative idea that just might work.
Louis D. Buchsieb