Cramped ballfields
The baseball diamonds at the Battery Park City ballfields are so close together that when two games are going on at once, foul balls from one game sometimes disrupt the play of the other.
Mark Costello, president of Downtown Little League, noticed this problem in the league’s opening games over the last several weeks. Earlier this spring, the Battery Park City Authority flipped the ballfields, putting the home plates along West St., so players are away from Milstein Properties’s construction sites adjacent to the fields.
“[The home plates] were pretty cramped before, but they seem closer together now,” Costello said in a phone interview. “It’s always a problem given how small the fields are. They’re laid out for maximum use, so there’s no perfect solution.”
Part of the problem is that when the authority flipped the fields, they bought new backstops for the two diamonds, and these backstops are much smaller than the old ones, Costello said. The old backstops were higher and extended over home plate, keeping foul balls from traveling too far.
To keep spectators safe from foul balls, Costello has to keep them either behind the fence at West St. or way out in the outfield. Recently, kids have hit some foul balls over the fence and into the trees beyond. Costello thought it would be unlikely for a foul ball to hit the sidewalk immediately outside the fence, because the ball would have to be hit hard enough to clear the fence, and it would likely travel farther east before dropping down.
Costello is talking to the Battery Park City Authority about getting different backstops and possibly shifting the diamonds in future seasons.
When the fields flipped, they shrunk by 20 percent to give Milstein Properties more room to construct their apartment towers and community center on Sites 23 and 24. The diamonds are still the same regulation size as they were under the previous configuration, but the Downtown Little League lost some spectator and outfield space.
The fields will flip back to their original configuration when Milstein completes construction on the project, which likely won’t be for another three years. The home plates should be a little farther apart then, Costello said.
Costello compared the ballfield space crunch to the increased demand for elementary school classrooms. Like schools, his league’s enrollment is growing — but unlike classrooms in Downtown schools, Costello’s usable space is actually shrinking, instead of not growing quickly enough.
— Julie Shapiro
B.P.C. library
The funding crisis for the Battery Park City library inspired confusion and frustration in the adults responsible for sorting it all out — but for one child, it’s inspiring creativity.
Cecilia Gault, 9, daughter of P.S. 89 P.T.A. president Dennis Gault, came up with several similes to describe library’s shortfall of $1 million to buy the books.
“A library without books is like a city without people,” she told Downtown Express at a recent community board meeting. “A library without books is like a bike without wheels.”
Cecilia and her classmates are planning to sell lemonade this spring and summer to raise some of the needed money. Cecilia also wants to make books and T-shirts to sell.
Construction for the library won’t start until the end of the summer. City Councilmember Alan Gerson has said the money should come through by July 1, meaning that the library cannot start bidding out contracts until then.
On Wednesday morning, Gault and other parents met with library officials, who agreed to create a community council so interested residents can get involved with planning and fundraising for the library.
— Julie Shapiro
Seed money on The Street
While the cherry trees blossom, the Downtown Alliance and Community Board 1 is inviting Lower Manhattan residents and employees to its first annual Community Planting Day at Wall Street Park on Sunday, May 5th.
The one-year-old park on Wall St. between Front and South Sts. will be spruced with perennials and annuals, and children can plant seeds in a pot and take it home to watch it grow.
Liz Berger, president of Downtown Alliance and a former C.B.1 member, said she hopes that people in Lower Manhattan will use the planting day as an opportunity to meet one another and to help green their neighborhood.
The Downtown Alliance will provide gardening tools, flowers and complimentary snacks. Early birds will receive a free T-shirt.
Planting starts at 10 a.m. and lasts through 2 p.m.
First Day NY fundraiser
Battery Park City Cares is holding a fundraiser on May 9 at Chevy’s on Vesey St. to benefit children in New York City shelters.
All proceeds will go to First Day NY, which provides a backpack filled with school supplies for each student on their first day of school.
The three-hour fundraiser is starting at 6 p.m. and offers supervised kids games, dancing, snacks, and raffle. Suggested donation is $10.
