The grass situation at Behrman Park last summer, July 11, 2012. (photo by jewel bush)
jewel bush
Last summer, my son played baseball for a park run by NORDC, the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, the dramatic voter-approved overhaul of which was supposed to be one of Mayor Landrieu’s first major accomplishments.
For months, his team practiced on a sliver of grass not on a baseball diamond. Although one game was played at Norman Playground, the rest were scheduled at Behrman Park — also on the Westbank — because we were told it was the only facility in NORDC that had operating field lights. There was only one bench for two dugouts to share. The team that arrived first claimed the bench leaving the other players to sit on the concrete slab or in the bleachers among the throngs of Little League supporters.
The coach collected a modest sum from each participant to purchase uniforms. He never delivered the shirts and visors nor returned the cash.
The bulk of the season’s games were canceled not because of rain, but because the grass hadn’t been cut in over a month’s time. You can’t play ball in ankle deep grass. There were no playoffs or all-stars. The season ended unceremoniously when the coach simply stopped calling about practice or with updates about rescheduled games.
This season, my son has not returned to that park. For $150, I enrolled him in the Carrollton Boosters program, a nonprofit that has coordinated youth sports recreation in the city for seven decades.
It is bittersweet that he is playing in this NORDC affiliate league, what I’ve dubbed “slugger heaven.” Last year when my son played, the boys had to go on the side of the building because the restrooms were nearly always locked at the park. Now, he’s playing at an athletic complex along the Riverview with four state-of-the art baseball diamonds, including a fifth surface for special-needs children, corporate sponsors and a concession stand that serves quintessential ballpark fare.
Don’t get me wrong: I am grateful that he has this opportunity to learn sportsmanship and America’s favorite pastime from warm, knowledgeable coaches within a structure that runs like a well-oiled machine, one that truly puts the needs of kids first. But I can’t help feeling sorry for the kids around the city whose parents can’t afford such a registration fee and will never know the “Carrollton Boosters” experience, the kids who are being failed by NORDC.
It’s insulting that an organized, functional program isn’t the recreational norm for NORDC and all New Orleans youth. In a city that has a murder rate 10 times the national average, in a state where 228 juvenile offenders are serving sentences of life without parole, the disparity is nauseating.
Last summer, I wrote a letter to Victor Richard III, the CEO of NORDC, sharing my frustrations and alerting him to the state of the 9-10 year-old boys baseball league. I copied that letter to every member of the New Orleans City Council, and even included pictures depicting the unacceptable conditions.
Not only did Richard not reply to my detailed dispatch, not one single public servant, elected official did either.
The lack of response was a proverbial slap in the face to every kid suited up in cleats, every parent who left work early to bring their child to a game across the river, every grandparent who sat in the blistering New Orleans heat to cheer on their grandbaby and every taxpayer in the city too.
What message does it send the youth of New Orleans?
It tells our most vulnerable and youngest citizens that they do not matter. They are of no value, no priority to the powers that be.
I mean really, how hard is it to cut the grass?
I know I won’t ever have to concern myself with such matters at Carrollton Boosters. The standard here will not allow that type of neglect.
Though, I’m not sure the kids my son played with in NORDC last year will be as fortunate.
jewel bush, a New Orleans native, is a writer whose work has appeared in The (Houma) Courier, The Washington Post, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, and El Tiempo, a bilingual Spanish newspaper. In 2010, she founded MelaNated Writers Collective, a multi-genre group for writers of color in New Orleans dedicated to cultivating the literary, artistic and professional growth of emerging writers. She is currently communications coordinator for Service Employees International Union Local 21LA. Her three favorite books are Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Catcher in the Rye, and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Photo by Thomas Sayers Ellis.
Answer: Tourists do not go to ball parks.
Can’t cut the grass at the ballpark your son plays at?
Well, that could be a MONEY problem.
Could that “money problem” also be the SAME citywide money problem that Xavier Prep would also be experiencing?
MAYBE you can ask the alumni that formed St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory High School to get the money to cut the grass? They appear to have the money to buy Xavier Prep and think things in the metro area are going great. Why should they, the alumni, not have the money to cut the grass at your son’s playground?
Answer 2: Mitch the Uptowner was once a booster.
Mitch also played basketball at Lyons Center, a NORDC facility.
Socialism vs Free enterprise = Foul vs Home run
Now there’s a life lesson you can share with your son.
Do you know if the program is in better shape this summer? I think many are going to be disappointed with city-sponsored sports because it takes a lot more than cut grass and a paper program. Specifically, it takes an army of volunteers. The city cannot fund fully staffed playgrounds and sports leagues. Carrollton Boosters has benefitted from committed parents to reach the level of success it has.
It varies from park to park. Two years ago we sat by idly at Norman Park as the park supervisor started cutting the grass at the start of game time. If you have a good crew at the park, they stay on NORDC to get things done (to the best of their ability). Last year at Lyons Center Field our grass was well managed and the diamond was chalked weekly, if not more. Coach Wayne did a great job. Getting bathrooms, on the other hand, is a lot more difficult.