Heritage Field Finally Opens- Six Years After Community Fields were Seized - No Dedicated Funds To Maintain Them

On Deck. All Hallow's Justin Soto, 16, takes practice swings while waiting for his at-bat in yesterday's opener against Cardinal Hayes High School. All Hollow's won 8 to 1. The $ 2 billion dollar tax-payer subsidized Yankees stadium termed, "the House that Greed Built," is seen in the background. (Photos: © Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

The community lost two ballfields and 3 acres of parkland in the immediate area. These are just some of the impacts and Broken Promises felt by the community.

Now Parks must maintain the fields properly, All Hallows Principal and assistant baseball coach Sean Sullivan said. All Hallows players cleaned and raked the old Macombs Dam Park fields for years because the city failed to, he said.

History Destined To Repeat Itself? Babe Ruth Field- Macomb's Dam Park - 2006. Children of Mexican descent play in garbage while their parents picnicked nearby a few weeks before the parks were seized by the Yankees and destroyed to build the new stadium. The fields were located across the street from the original Yankee Stadium and were once one of the city's premiere fields before they abandoned taking care of them decades earlier.

Even though the Yankees have grossed over $ 1 billion dollars in ticket and luxury suite sales alone since the new stadium opened on the parkland, not a single penny of dedicated funding has been allocated for the maintenance of the replacement park facilities. A total of one Assistant Gardener is assigned for the entire park district - which consists of dozens park properties. — Geoffrey Croft

Bronx

The grass was green, the sky was blue and the players were in heaven Monday as the new Macombs Dam Park ballfields hosted their first baseball game, according the New York Daily News.

Built on the former site of the House That Ruth Built to replace parkland bulldozed to make way for the new Yankee Stadium, the fields boast lush Kentucky bluegrass, sturdy bleachers and plaques to honor baseball history.

Frieze panels from the old stadium overlook the three fields and a blue outline marks the historic Bronx Bombers diamond.

"It feels great to play here," said Lance Montano, 17, an All Hallows High School senior who plays first base. "The park is brand new and the grass is perfect."

All Hallows and Cardinal Hayes High School first base action. A section of the iconic frieze from the old Yankee Stadium can be seen in the background.

But neighbors and players who still feel "shortchanged" by the project described the opening day matchup between All Hallows and Cardinal Hayes High School as bittersweet. The new stadium opened on schedule in 2009 but work on the new Macombs Dam fields only began in 2010.

Local ballplayers went nearly six years without a regulation baseball diamond in their nabe. Pickup play halted and the All Hallows Gaels bused to home games on Staten Island.

"Today is emotional for me because for three years my team had no home," Montano said.

"The new fields look amazing," said Joyce Hogi, 68, a former Community Board 4 member who opposed the new stadium. "We want to be positive about the future. But we do remember that the Yankees were inconvenienced not for one minute and the community was for years."

The project was delayed because the city took extra precautions when demolishing the old ballpark, officials said. The fields are the last of several replacement parks to open.

"We thank the community for their patience...and welcome them to come and play ball," said Hector Aponte, Parks Department Bronx Commissioner.

Parks upset some last fall when it announced the fields would be restricted to permit holders, with pickup games prohibited.

It backpedaled Monday, stating that the park will be open to all when not under maintenance or use by teams that pay for permits. But Parks last fall said it expects the fields to be "very popular"among permit holders and some neighbors remain concerned.

Highbridge resident Mary Blassingame watched her nephews learn to play baseball at the old Macombs Dam Park. They never held permits, she said.

"It was just unorganized games but it kept them out of the street," recalled Blassingame, 71.

City Councilwoman Helen Foster, one of two city pols to oppose the stadium plan, said the neighborhood should have recieved more benefits in addition to the replacement parks but called the new fields "beautiful."

All Hallows Principal and assistant baseball coach Sean Sullivan agreed. Now Parks must maintain the fields properly, he said. All Hallows players cleaned and raked the old Macombs Dam Park fields for years because the city failed to, he said.

All Hallows won the game, 8-1.

Spectators and school supporters yesterday watched All Hallows and Cardinal Hayes High School at the first game played on the new Heritage field.

Editors Note: The Daily News article contained a few inaccurate and misleading statements.

"The project was delayed because the city took extra precautions when demolishing the old ballpark, officials said."

That statement was not fact checked. There were numerous factors that lead to the serious delays that plagued this project, taking "extra precautions" were not among the most relevant. The lack of pressure by the administration to stick to schedules is believed by many officials to be the main reason. One prime example was the administration allowing the negotiations to secure the rights to sell memorabilia from the original stadium to drag on. This caused serious delays. A more comprehensive analysis of these issues will be released shortly in the Broken Promises update.

"City Councilwoman Helen Foster, one of two city pols to oppose the stadium plan,..."

Helen Foster, in fact, sponsored the home rule legislation that allowed the park to be seized (alienated) to build the stadium. She later changed her mind and said she made "a mistake." She has been quoted by numerous media without mentioning her role.

Read More:

New Macombs Dam Park ballfields in Bronx on site of former

Yankee Stadium open for first baseball game

New York Daily News - April 3, 2012 - By Daniel Beekman

Yankee "Slush Fund" Recipients Questioned

MAKING IT RAIN: Question-able beneficiaries of a community fund created in the deal for the new Yankee Stadium include the formerly for-profit El Maestro gym (pictured) and the apparel seller ALFRBA, run by Barbara Gibson - (below) according to the New York Post. The administers of the fund refused to make available the 2010 and 2011 annual reports.

(Photos: Angel Chevrestt)

Even though at least one aspect of the allocation of these funds has been a issue - and has been widely reported - Yankee spokesperson (former NYPD DCPI head flack) Alice T. McGillion told the Post, “This is the first we are hearing of a problem in the allocation of money from the fund. We would be extremely disappointed if that were the case."

The Community Benefits Program (CBP), a contract between the team and Bronx elected officials - (The pact couldn’t be called a Community Benefits Agreement because the community did not participate in its formation) - was established in an effort to blunt strong opposition to the new stadium project. Opposition included the seizing of 25.3 acres of historic public parkland among other impacts to the community. The annual $ 800,000 in payments by the New York Yankees, athletic equipment, free Yankee tickets, and merchandise to various Bronx non-profits was immediately labeled a "slush fund" by local community members.

The charity was supposed to be established, "upon the commencement of the construction of the new Yankee Stadium." The construction began in August 2006. However more than a year after the CBP was supposed to take effect, NYC Park Advocates (NYCPA) discovered that none of the money had been distributed, the charity had not been registered, and the group responsible for administering the fund had even never met. In an auspicious start, the original application was rejected by the IRS because lawyer Michael Drezin, who is organizing the fund, mistakenly filed for non-profit status instead of the private foundation status required when funding comes from one source.

To make worse the elected officials including Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión made sure that not one penny of the money had to be spent anywhere near the affected community.

"Under the team's proposal, the city would build the new parks at an estimated cost of $50 million, with the team providing an annual comprehensive maintenance fund." - NY Times, Sept 5, 2004.

The comprehensive maintenance fund long promised for the replacement parks never materialized. As part of the original deal, the Yankees had agreed to provide dedicated maintenance funds annually through 2046 to support the new parks being built as part of the stadium project. Only $100,000, however, made it into the final draft of the Community Benefits Program. By the time the agreement was hastily signed on the day of the City Council vote, the politicians had removed all of the money earmarked for the parks.

Remarkably these funds, as small as they were, represented the only money specifically earmarked for the impacted area, and the only money dedicated to the maintenance of these historically deprived South Bronx parks. This is especially ironic considering the entire deal was made possible only through the destruction of the parkland. The final agreement removed the $100,000 earmarked for the new parks and merged it with a $700,000 fund that the Bronx elected officials had set up to dole out to non-profit groups borough-wide.

According to the Bronx borough president's office, the new parks to be built around Yankee Stadium didn't need the dedicated maintenance dollars set aside by the team because parks upkeep is "already getting done" by the city.

In September, Bronx Borough president Adolfo Carrión, Jr. told reporter that the money originally allocated in the CBP for park maintenance would be better spent going to

community non-profits.

Now thanks to Bronx elected officials, the funding long promised for maintenance of the replacement parks has been diverted, and all money in the Community Benefits Program can be spent in any part of the Bronx. - Geoffrey Croft

Bronx

The nonprofit in charge of doling out nearly $1 million a year in New York Yankee cash to Bronx charities is throwing it away on shady organizations, for-profit businesses and barely effective but politically connected community groups, a New York Post investigation found.

The questionable groups supported by the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund included:

Apparel seller ALFRBA, run by Barbara Gibson received $ 3,000 in 2008 and '09.

* ALFRBA, which bills itself as a free manners and etiquette course but hawks such hip-hop sportswear as do-rags, bucket hats, sweat suits and T-shirts online. It received $3,000 in 2008 and 2009.

* El Maestro, which was a for-profit boxing gym in 2009 when it applied for and received $5,100 for equipment from the fund, which is supposed to support only nonprofits. In 2010 the gym secured nonprofit status, but it still charges members a $100 initiation and $30 to $50 in monthly fees.

* Flo-Bert Ltd., a tap-dance troupe that performs an annual recital in Manhattan. The group got $2,000 in 2009 even though it hadn’t filed paperwork with the IRS since 2007. The feds canceled the purported nonprofit’s tax-exempt status last month.

* Praise, Peace and Pride, which didn’t bother to explain its mission on a 2007 tax form. The charity later explained it in a 2009 filing, but the form showed it didn’t spend a dime on its “youth services.” It filed no tax forms in 2008. Yet it received $5,100 in Yankee money in 2009. It scored another $20,000 in 2010 and 2011, an organizer said. In March, the group announced an effort to “provide medical-health and dental-care assistance for all hip-hop pioneers and their families.”

* The Emma C. Brisbane Foundation, which received a $1,500 grant in 2009 even though the nonprofit after-school center hadn’t submitted required tax filings since 2005. The IRS revoked its tax-exempt status in June.

The Post’s findings left the Yankees frustrated.

Noting that the baseball club had nothing to do with the administration of the funds, spokeswoman Alice McGillion said, “This is the first we are hearing of a problem in the allocation of money from the fund. We would be extremely disappointed if that were the case. And if there is a problem with the allocation of the money, we have a right to conduct our own audit and stop the payments.”

“If appropriate,” she added, “we would also urge the proper authorities to also take a look at the allocation of the funds.”

The Bronx Bombers pledged the yearly donations as part of a “community-benefits agreement” signed with local pols in 2006 to secure parkland and community support for its gleaming new stadium.

Over the last three years, the Yanks have made good on their end of the legally binding deal: delivering an annual $800,000 to the fund to be distributed to Bronx nonprofits, $100,000 for equipment for youth sports groups and 15,000 game tickets.

According to the fund’s former administrator, Michael Drezin, seven voting board members rubber-stamp community groups picked by a three-person subcommittee operating behind closed doors.

Fund President Serafin U. Mariel sits on the panel and picks the other two members.

Mariel is a banker whose name surfaced during the borough’s infamous Wedtech scandal of the 1980s, in which three pols were snared by the feds for taking bribes from a local military-supply company.

Although he was never charged, testimony at trial revealed Mariel had handed the debt-ridden Wedtech owners a briefcase stuffed with $500,000 in cash, reports said.

Mariel and the two other members of the subcommittee “were the only ones who saw the applications” for the Yankee cash, Drezin said.

Often, politically connected charities got instant approval and a bigger piece of the pie, he said.

“During meetings, it was made clear to me that they were favored, preferential applications that got favored, preferential treatment,” he said.

One such charity was BASICS Inc., which runs drug-counseling centers and builds homeless shelters. It has a former assemblyman, a former judge and a sitting judge on its board. The retired jurist, Harold Silverman, is also a member of the Yankee community fund.

Judge Lucindo Suarez ruled against Drezin in a 2009 lawsuit filed against the fund. Drezin claimed he was wrongfully fired because he complained about mismanagement and was not paid his $35,000 annual salary for three years. He said he’s filing an appeal next month.

While questionable groups and pet projects got cash from the fund, several legitimate nonprofits in the shadow of the stadium -- like the community board -- got zilch.“They denied us,” Community Board 4 District Manager José Rodriguez fumed.

The fund’s treasurer, Susan Goldy, refused to turn over the fund’s 2010 and 2011 annual reports, which are mandated by the community-benefits agreement. The Post obtained 2008 and 2009 reports from sources.

Mariel told a Post reporter, “I have nothing to say,” and slammed down the phone.

Virginia Ann Brisbane, president of the Emma Brisbane Center, said she put in for the $1,500 to buy a computer server and chairs -- and that she never had to document finances.

Barbara J. Gibson, the CEO of ALFRBA, defended the etiquette course that gleaned $3,000 in Yankee funding, but declined to discuss the internet apparel line.

Read More:

Shady Bronx community groups get Yankee charity cash

New York Post - September 25 , 2011- By Candice M. Giove, Kevin Sheehan and Gary Buiso

Broken Promises

NYC Park Advocates - 2008 - By Geoffrey Croft & Lukas Herbert

STILL WAITING FOR CASH FROM YANKEES' STADIUM DEAL

New York Daily News - September 5th 2007 - By Frank Lombardi

Yankee Stadium is Going Up, but Bronx Still Seeks Benefits

New York Times - January 7, 2008 - By Timothy Williams

THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY BENEFIT AGREEMENTS IN NEW YORK

CITY’S LAND USE PROCESS

New York City Bar - March 8, 2010