BY JESSICA PARKS
A group of southern Brooklyn
elected offi cials, families
and sports coaches on Aug. 24
called on city offi cials at Bay
Ridge’s Shore Road Park to immediately
resume issuing permits
for youth sports leagues
in time to start up their fall
seasons.
“As transmission remains
low and students already are
taking to public and private
parks, there is no viable reason
why youth sports permits
shouldn’t be renewed,” said
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes,
who represents a large swath
of southern Brooklyn from
Marine Park to Bay Ridge.
Citing COVID-19 restrictions,
city parks offi cials
posted on their website that
the Parks Department would
not issue permits for the fall
sports season — which runs
from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 — and
said the situation would be reassessed
later in the fall.
Meanwhile, sports fi elds
are open to the public and are
often used for pick-up games,
which the politicians argued
provides more safety hazards
than organized leagues who
would have outlined safety
conditions and schedules to
abide by.
“By allowing group sports
but not issuing permits, City
Hall is sending a message that
pickup games are okay but
organized, permitted, youth
league sports are somehow
not okay. This idea completely
defi es all available logic,” said
Bay Ridge Councilman Justin
Brannan.
Youth leagues for low-tomoderate
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risk sports — where
there is low-contact, like swimming
and fi eld hockey — were
included in Phase Three of the
state’s reopening plan, which
the city moved into on July 6,
but city kids have still been
kept away from playing alongside
their fellow teammates as
of the end of August and into
the foreseeable future.
Bay Ridge Congressman
Max Rose, Park Slope Councilman
Brad Lander and parents
also came out in support
of sports organizations like the
Brooklyn City Football Club,
which play at parks around the
borough.
“You see parks are open
globally and it really isn’t causing
transmission of the virus,”
said William Hart, a Prospect
Heights parent of three
children in the Brooklyn City
Football Club. “It doesn’t really
make sense that we can’t have
organized play when we’re just
having people out here anyway.”
That same day, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo announced that
school-sponsored low-risk
sports are able to begin practice
on Sept. 21 and may begin
competing inter-regionally on
Oct. 19. High-risk sports, such
as football, are similarly able
Local youth athletes join elected offi cials in calling on the city to resume
issuing permits for organized youth sports leagues.
Photo by Paul Frangipane
to begin practice on Sept. 21,
but cannot play competitively
until a later date of Dec. 31.
A spokesman for the city
Parks Department said youth
sports leagues are still welcome
to use the city’s sports
fi eld and ballparks but on a
fi rst-come, fi rst-serve basis.
“The health and safety of
our city is our priority,” said
Charisse Hill in a statement.
“Our fi elds remain open for
fi rst-come, fi rst-serve socially
distanced play — baseball,
softball and Little League
teams can play or practice on
any open fi eld. As this public
health crisis is ever-evolving,
we will continue to reassess
our ability to issue permits
later in the fall.”
‘Play safe, play fair’
Brooklyn families call on city to resume
permits for organized youth sports
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