THE HIGH COST OF KEEPING CHILDREN INVOLVED IN ATHLETICS DURING SUMMER BREAK:
Main story: Locally, some parents pay $1,000 for their children to play on summer baseball teams, others close to that to attend several camps around the country.
Sidebar: How specialization in sports has led to the extinction of the three-sport athlete so young athletes pursue scholarship money. Kids are playing baseball year-round because of indoor facilities complete with batting cages and pitching coaches, and the same holds true for soccer and lacrosse. We will reach out to readers who are sending their kids to these camps, etc., through Twitter, Facebook, our web and print editions. We will have plenty of photos and video to run with this package.
WHAT’S MORE AMERICAN THAN BASEBALL ON THE FOURTH OF JULY?
We’re looking for readers who have been to major league ballparks to share their experiences with us. We will run a slide show of locals who have recently sent in their photos while they were at Yankee Stadium, Citi-Field, Fenway Park, etc.,
PARKING METERS: PRO OR CON?
The city of Troy recently installed new meters downtown and they are causing quite a stir among residents, business owners and visitors to the city. We’ll reach out to people through the various social media to find out how people feel about the city’s latest effort to encourage people to come to Troy and generate new revenue for the city. Some people are confused about how the meters work, others are finding unique areas in which to park, some business owners are in an uproar because they have gotten multiple tickets, etc. There doesn’t seem to be anyone who doesn’t have an opinion on this move. We’ll also look into how much revenue the move has generated, how many tickets have been written, how the situation compares with other communities, etc. Sidebars: We plan to send a staffer out to observe how the plan is enforced and how people are reacting to that enforcement; how to grieve a ticket; video and/or slideshow on how the meters work; and set up an online forum so people can ask questions about the issue and we can get answers for them.
The Ben Franklin Project 