North Adams Mayor: Neighborhood Parks Won't Disappear
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The administration is reassuring residents that the decision to consolidate sports programming at the two athletic complexes in no way means the neighborhood parks will disappear.
"The intent of these conversations was never to eliminate anything except programming on certain parcels where they're not being used anyways," said Mayor Richard Alcombright on Wednesday afternoon. "The commitment of the administration here and Parks & Rec is still very, very strong to keeping neighborhood playgrounds and neighborhood green spaces."
The Parks and Recreation Commission on Monday night voted to allow Little League to use Municipal Field (Steele Field) beginning in 2019 and the discussion at the meeting also touched on some of the other unused outlying fields, such as Kemp, Brayton and Freeman. That concerned readers who believed the parks might disappear.
Usage of the neighborhood ballparks has dropped considerably over the past decade or so, which has the Parks & Recreation Department looking to scale back and focus on the well-used at Noel Field and Alcombright athletic complexes.
Administrative Officer Michael Canales said traditional sports seem to be falling off while newer sports — such as soccer, lacrosse and disc football — seem to be on the rise.
The city's Babe Ruth League has merged with Adams and the number of Little League teams is about half what it used to be.
"You're seeing the change and all of our parks were built as baseball fields back in the day when North Adams was all about baseball," he said, whereas greenspace lends itself to sports like soccer and Frisbee.
Alcombright said Little League officials had approached the city several years ago about developing Fallon Field into a tournament-approved ball field. That had started the conversation on what should be done with Fallon, which prompted a reassessment of the parks.
"Once we had that conversation, Parks & Rec really started to think about what about our other fields?" he said.
Municipal Field, behind the Hot Dog Ranch at Noel Field, is underutilized because the men's softball league that used to play there no longer exists. It seemed a good spot for Little League because the footprint would accommodate a tournament-size field and because of the amenities already available: Parking, lights, restrooms and concessions.
Canales said the complexes also have been brought completely up to date with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which is not the case with the smaller parks.
Some ground work will begin this summer on preparing Municipal Field with the expectation of using Community Development Block Grant funding to complete it. The Little League, like so many of the other leagues in the city, has been willing to put money and effort into maintaining the facility it uses.
The decline in baseball has also been matched by the reduction in manpower in the Parks and Recreation Department. It seemed natural to focus resources into the complexes but the mayor said the smaller parks will continue to be mowed.
"The Brayton School greenspace will never go away because it's part of the school footprint and it is a neighborhood playground," he said. "We're talking about CDBG money in 2019 to build a new playground. ... The playground over there is just not that great. We need a new one."
A commitment has been made to spruce up the basketball courts at Brayton and Greylock. Fallon Field won't completely disappear because it, too, is part of a school footprint and may be used for practice.
No one is using Kemp Park or Freeman Field, however.
"The only calls I get once a year at Freeman Field is they've vandalized the dugouts again," said the mayor. "The basketball court up there is virtually never used."
The idea at the moment is at some point to remove the dugouts at Kemp and Freeman and the unused building at Kemp that used to be the warming hut for ice skating.
The playgrounds at Kemp and Freeman will stay and the rest go to greenspace; the basketball court at Freeman will stay for now.
As for selling off land, it's not out of the question for Kemp and Freeman. But it's a question for the future, said the mayor.
"A couple years down the road we don't see any use of that, doesn't that parcel lend itself for some additional residential development?" he said of Freeman, which is at the corner of Eagle and Hospital Avenue. "Why wouldn't we consider that?"
Any decision to divest would have to go before the City Council, the mayor noted, and any deed restrictions researched.
Alcombright said he would like to get to the point where the city can offer recreational programming for its parks, pointing to present efforts such as yoga and walking groups led by volunteers.
"All we're really talking about is reducing the program footprint to eliminate some of our maintenance and then program footprints better than they were," he said. "That's the intent of Parks & Rec. They've been very thoughtful about this. They don't want to shut parks down."
Tags: ballfield, parks & rec, public parks,
