15 BRONX WEEKLY October 20, 2019 www.BXTimes.com
Lehman H.S. petitions city for regulation football fi eld
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BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Lehman High School students,
parents, alumni and community
residents are banding together
to petition the city to expand the
school’s sports fi eld, once and for
all. The Lehman High School Lions
football team has been unable
to host a home game on their turf,
since the fi eld is 20 yards short of
a regulation fi eld, according to
Maria Soto, the team’s fund-raising
coordinator at Lehman High
School located at 3000 E. Tremont
Avenue.
The Change.org petition, ‘Lehman
High School Sports Field
Needs to Get Fixed!’ has amassed
1,240 signatures. They’re looking
to gather a total of 1,500 signatures,
said Soto, who initiated the
petition.
When the fi eld was renovated
in 2010, its shortcomings were not
addressed, Soto said.
Even though there is suffi cent
room for a regulation-size fi eld,
the School Construction Authority,
the agency tasked with the
earlier renovations, did not correct
the defi ciency, she claims.
A 2012 Feasibility Study laid
out three options that potentially
met the programmatic requirements
for a regulation football
and soccer fi eld, but they all had
signifi cant drawbacks including
costly infrastructure modifi cations
and/or property acquisition,
said Kevin Ortiz, SCA manager
of Communications and
External Affairs.
“Each option would result in
a fi eld that would still be dimensionally
cramped and have poor
orientations,” Ortiz said. “We
would be happy to work with our
local partners to look at other alternatives.”
According to Soto, the Lehman
Football team has been
playing its home games at the
Evander Childs High School
field, located at 800 E. Gun Hill
Road, three miles away.
The NYC Department of Education
does not provide home
game bus transportation.
“The community is not going
to travel to Evander Childs, (on)
the other side of the Bronx, to see
Lehman play,” Soto said. “We are
appreciative that they Evander
lend us their fi eld to play, but we
want our own fi eld to play on and
call ‘home’.”
It’s demoralizing that other
boroughs have really nice fi elds
and Lehman doesn’t, Soto said.
The team is undefeated, division
champions, and are really
good hardworking kids, she
said.Soto is calling on Borough
President Ruben Diaz to complete
the long overdue project at Lehman
High School football fi eld.
Soto said, “He needs to pick
up his phone and call whoever he
needs to call and get this fi eld for
Lehman fi xed.”
In a statement to the Bronx
Times, Alina Suriel, a spokesperson
from the borough president’s
offi ce, said, “We are aware of this
long-standing issue within the
Lehman High School community
but the decision to expand the
fi eld would ultimately rest with
the School Construction Authority.
Our offi ce is ready to work
with the SCA and is reaching out
to the agency about the issue.”
Councilman Mark Gjonai,
who has been advocating for the
expansion of the fi eld, said his
offi ce is determined to continue
working with all parties to secure
a regulation fi eld for Lehman
High School.
“It is unacceptable that this
championship team, a source
of pride in the Bronx, can’t host
home games on their own fi eld,”
Gjonai said.
He has met with the superintendent
and other stakeholders to
explore ways that will bring a solution
to this issue.
An image of the Lehman High School football fi eld expansion.
Photo courtesy of Maria Soto
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