Sweet success

So this is what success smells like — the scent of settling effluent near the old Holly Sugar factory.

Despite odiferous opposition, Tracy finally has a suitable sports park location on 150 acres north of town next to the old plant and current sewage treatment facility. Yes, there's a pungent odor if you get too close to the treatment plant, just ask the folks who drive into the Tracy Animal Shelter each day.

But the council decision to build sports parks near Holly is a good one, a sign of progress after years of stalled and misguided efforts. There's plenty of land out there to expand, the city won't have to pay for the land to begin with, there are no developer strings attached and the offending odor actually wafts away from the future fields' location because of the prevailing Delta breeze.

OK, so the site isn't perfect. And the planning process that got us here has been mismashed at best. But there's a positive development in the city's sports park saga.

Three cheers for sweet success.