COURIER L 12 IFE, AUG. 28-SEPT. 3, 2020
Weeds and vines block entrances into the ballfi elds. Photo by Jessica Parks
Play fair!
Gerritsen Beach residents
demand equal ballfi eld upkeep
BY JESSICA PARKS
Gerritsen Beach residents are calling
on the city to maintain their ballfi
elds as they do for neighboring Marine
Park — instead of allowing the
fi elds to fall into the unusable condition
they are currently.
“We always feel like we are the stepchild,”
said John Mooney, president of
the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners
Association. “Why take care of one
park and not take care of the other?”
Three of the neighborhood’s ballfi
elds on Gerritsen Avenue — all of
which are under the care of the city’s
Parks Department — are outfi tted
with tall grass, with weeds speckling
the baseball diamonds and vines overtaking
the fences and dugouts.
“The dugouts are unusable, the
mosquito condition is so bad,” said
Dave Reynolds, treasurer of the Property
Owners Association.
While softball and baseball programs
in the city did not gather this
year due to the coronavirus, locals argue
that kids could have still enjoyed
the area recreationally during the
summer, similarly to the children of
Marine Park, where the baseball diamonds
are fully groomed.
“None of these fi elds were given
any of the liberties as the Prospect
Park or Marine Park fi elds,” Reynolds
said. “We can’t even get the grass cut
at this point.”
After more than a year of no results,
members of the Gerritsen Beach
Property Owners Association emailed
neighborhood residents in April, calling
on them to sign a pre-written letter
urging elected offi cials and the
Parks Department to ensure Gerritsen
Beach’s ballfi elds are kept up to par
with others in the borough.
“The state of these fi elds is horrendous,
and we have petitioned the Parks
Department to step up and do what they
are supposed to do,” Reynolds said.
Residents say they’ve been told the
ballfi elds are not being maintained due
to a lack of manpower and equipment,
which the Parks Department has allegedly
said would need to be hauled from
Prospect Park to Gerritsen Beach to
expand upkeep.
To keep the Gerritsen Beach ballfi eld
tidy, residents say, city offi cials have
vowed to lend the equipment if community
members volunteer to maintain
the greenspace. But, locals contend that
it isn’t their responsibility — and that
they already handle all the groundskeeping
at other neighborhood ballfi elds.
“We already manage two very large
fi elds here, they are pretty meticulously
maintained,” Reynolds said.
“We do enough already ... they can’t
expect us to do their job for them.”
A Parks Department rep said that
with the cuts to the city’s budget, it is
more important than ever for parkgoers
to take care of their green spaces.
“The impacts on our park system
due to reduced maintenance personnel
and budget reductions are an unfortunate
reality, and more than ever
we need everyone to show their parks
some love by taking out what they
bring in,” said Anessa Hodgson.