LETTER: Council Behavior Disappointing; Move Ahead on Turf @ Nursery
In an open letter to Rye City Council, Let The Kids Play board member Brett Ehrlich calls on the city council to move ahead with the artificial turf plan for Nursery Field. Ehrlich also spoke at the council meeting on November 29, 2023 – see the video below.
Dear Mayor Cohn and City Council Members,
I was one of the community members in attendance at City Hall last night for your council meeting. The behavior of the City Council last night during the Nursery Field presentation was really disappointing to see. Watch the video to see how your individual body language, talking over each other and obvious hatred towards each other is being perceived by the constituents that you are supposed to represent. (This goes across both sides of the issue).
As a board member of both Let The Kids Play and its predecessor 501c3, the Rye Youth Athletic Foundation, I think it’s fair to say that I have spent as much time on this project over the last 5 years as anyone outside of city staff. Between last night and today I have received numerous texts and emails from community members that were thoroughly disappointed in our elected officials. We deserve better.
My comments at meetings, letters to the council and my recent op-ed in the Rye Record have always been communicated with respect and appreciation of the time commitment required to serve us all. To that end, I’d like to clean up a few items from last night:
– Council Member Cunningham- the community did not stop caring about improving playing fields from March 2020-May 2023. During that time our neighbors and friends lost jobs and family members due to COVID while our schools and athletic programs were shut down and/or re-imagined. Hurricane Ida devastated our community; many of community members lost their houses for several years. We did not think it was appropriate to have a community pledge drive to fund a much needed turf field under these circumstances. Thankfully our community is resilient and has come out of this period even stronger than ever, thus the restart of these conversations in 2023.
– Council Member Jensen- The proposed plan for the improvement project mandates that the materials are PFAS free. Let The Kids Play will have no involvement in selecting the materials or the contractor; all of those decisions will be the responsibility of City Staff. No one wants to introduce PFAS into our community but they are already everywhere so I’m not quite sure what further assurances you need to hear.
– For all- I heard several times statements along the lines of “why are we doing this to have the same number of available hours?”. That’s not accurate at all; as Erin Mantz shared, the cancellation rate is exceptionally high so we can’t use the hours allocated when the fields are closed (thus not available). In addition, spring sports seasons start in mid-March however the fields are not available until mid-April so the Recreation Department gains another month of use there. Lights are not a priority, being able to utilize a field without weather related cancellations has always been the goal.
– And finally, that was an exceptional presentation from the street paving consultant. Many great questions were asked, and the consultant was treated with the utmost respect from the council. No one asked if he was a member of the asphalt industry association or questioned his credentials. Please remember that the next time you try to discredit the consultants that city staff selected to conduct the work in 2019, 2020 and 2023.
Our community has become collateral damage to your inability to come to a decision. Kids are wondering why season after season they play on turf throughout the area but not in Rye and city staff resources that should be directed elsewhere continually get pulled back in.
City Staff presented 41 slides of indisputable evidence leading to the improvement of Nursery Field as the #1 priority of the Recreation Department to address the community need for field space. Let The Kids Play has committed to a $3M donation with absolutely no strings attached. What am I missing here?
If construction can be lined up to start in November when the field is scheduled to close for 5 months, our community will be able to utilize the improved field in the Spring of 2025. That should be the priority of the council after last night.
Council Member Souza indicated that she is not available for the next scheduled meeting. Call a special meeting and vote to end the pause and move forward by the end of March. The public does not need any more time for questions- everything has been asked and answered and quite honestly, those members of the public who want to speak (on both sides) are not changing their mind.
Thank you,
Brett Ehrlich
91 Hillside Road
Ehrlich at the council meeting on November 29, 2023 (at 1:39:28):
