Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch plans to reopen local tennis and basketball courts on Monday

The city hopes to accommodate those who want to use facilities while still following coronavirus-related guidelines.

– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

A not socially distant outing
A PhotoShop slenderized Facebook image?

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch plans to reopen local tennis and basketball courts on Monday.

While Quincy has per the most recent data suffered a COVID-19 death rate roughly 30% higher than than the state average, the Koch Maladministration has yet again rolled out a dubious plan to open up public facilities for use.

In this instance, Mayor Koch’s plan entails opening up twenty-two parks in Quincy for recreational use even if city officials failed to see Wollaston Beach kept closed off from public use last weekend. 

Granted, Wollaston Beach is a state park, but emergency mutual aid pacts have long been in place among the Quincy Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Plus, Quincy officials opting to invoke mutual aid could have provided overtime pay and/or police detail income for Quincy Police officers willing to take on long housebound peeps looking to get out and about for some fresh air on and along Wollaston Beach.

Even so, Mayor Koch is bound and determined to pander to the people with yet another problematic plan.

Rolling up his French cuffed sleeves before pouring the Kool AId
An old Facebook photo

In no particular order as regards the problems with his latest photo op of a plan, it is predicated upon ramping up reservation software to reserve court time. 

In turn, given the City of Quincy’s past history with software initiatives and upgrades, technological upgrades, one can only have understandable as well as grave concerns on this point alone.

Additionally, Mayor Koch has announced that he will be opening up these twenty-two local recreational sites this coming Monday regardless of the fact that Governor Baker has yet to announce any particulars as to what he might allow to reopen when the current pandemic shutdown order expires on Monday.

Be sure to sanitize my office every hour and steam clean the carpet after I leave for the day
A Kara Delahunt/Patriot Ledger image

Also disconcerting, Koch plans to hire college and high schools students to be on the front line to implement socially distant pandemic-fueled restrictions for using these park facilities but apparently he has not yet done so.

Further troubling:, what will these new hires receive in the way of personal safety and especially crowd control training?

That and what about the potential for COVID-19-related personal injury claims by these temporary workers?

Burn rate, money to burn – whatever.
Image via cheatsheet.com

And finally, there are the not inconsiderable as well as valid concerns about the usual Kochian kneejerk response of throwing money at something.  That and most likely yet again opting to hire the connected at a time when city revenue is cratering care of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Source: Quincy tennis, basketball courts to reopen under strict regulations

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