Will Vannie fields be ready for spring play?

Fields remain closed in Van Cortlandt Park. Photo by Karsten Moran

Record numbers of geese are enjoying the Parade Ground at Van Cortlandt Park, but athletes will have to wait for grass to knit.

By Jason Eisenberg

Barring some kind of miracle over the next few months, it appears that the newly refurbished Van Cortlandt Park Parade Ground will not open in time for the spring sports season, as originally planned.

The multi-million dollar reconstruction of the popular 65-acre outdoor field was carried out in two stages beginning last summer, with the northern section of the Parade Grounds expected to be ready for use by March.

The unexpected delay could prove to be devastating for several local athletic leagues.

“The Parks Department told us that the grass was not knitting as quickly as they hoped, that it could be destroyed if used before its ready and I am guessing it could possibly create unsafe playing conditions as well,” said Bob Bender, who chairs Community Board 8’s Parks and Recreation Committee. “I don’t know why this has happened and who or what is to blame, but obviously it is disappointing and especially bad news for the athletic leagues.”

As things currently stand, the Riverdale Soccer Club looks to be the league that will be most adversely affected by this setback. The RSC’s girls recreational league, pee-wee instructional program and two travel teams all have permits to use the Parade Grounds during the spring.

With severely limited field space in the Riverdale area and spring registration set to begin in just a few weeks, RSC president Bruce Silverman said he will be faced with the possibility of having to cancel these programs.

“Unless we somehow find an alternate place to play within the next two weeks or so, unfortunately, we will likely have to make the decision to cancel,” said Mr. Silverman. “The Parks officials have mentioned Randall’s Island and other places to me and maybe that might work for the travel teams, but the rec league, by definition, is supposed to be local, so we cannot ask first- and second-grade kids to travel to their games every weekend.”

According to RSC treasurer Michael Holoszyc, a cancellation would leave up to 250 kids without a spring soccer season, including 150 to 175 girls in the recreational league (ages 8 to 14), about 60 kids in the peewee program (ages 6 and 7) and one boys and one girls travel team (ages 10 and 11).

The RSC regularly uses Seton Park for these programs during the fall, but during the spring baseball season, Seton is just about completely booked by various local little leagues.

In the past, Riverdale Country School has stepped up to help the soccer league when conflicts over space have left them without a place to play on odd weekends. Mr. Silverman said he has reached out and held preliminary discussions with the hilltop school to see if they could offer any aid, but said that it would only involve the travel teams and isn’t likely to help the recreational league.

“We are not going to leave the girls hanging, so a decision has to be made by the end of this month,” Mr. Silverman said, “We have not had to cancel a season for any reason since the spring program began more than 10 years ago, so it would be a real shame. I am not going to get angry about it and not looking to blame anybody, but it would be nice to know why the grass has not knit correctly and why it is like three months behind schedule.”

The North Riverdale Baseball League will also be affected, albeit on a much smaller scale. While most of the NRBL’s games take place at Sid Augarten Field, Kelly Field and Caryl Field, league president John Ward says that the “pony” teams — for ages 13 to 16 — need regulation-sized baseball fields and would normally play their home games in Van Cortlandt Park.

Although he has not heard anything concrete from the Parks Department, yet, Mr. Ward said that teams would be forced to play all of their Westchester Baseball Association games on the road if the Parade Ground fields were not available for use.

Mr. Bender, from CB 8, said several other groups — including an Irish Football league and an adult soccer program — have also alerted the community board that they would not have a place to play.

“At this point, I cannot really say what the possible solution is to this problem,” said Mr. Bender. “We are still in the early stages of the process and just trying to find out what leagues are affected. Once we accomplish that, then we can move forward and hopefully focus more on coming up with ideas to assist each of them.”

Calls to the New York City Parks Department were not returned by press time.

Soccer players, little leaguers, Irish footballers and cricketeers all await Vannie fields’ opening.

This is part of the January 21, 2010 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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