Coaches, parents, and kids connected to the Roberto Clemente Little League in Jersey City were dismayed and shocked Saturday morning when they came to the league’s Sixth Street field downtown.
That was the result of seeing several inch-deep tractor wheel marks on parts of the baseball infield softened by rainfall.
The marks were apparently made on Friday by a truck owned by a private contractor responsible for replacing light bulbs in the floodlights in different corners of the field according to Ada Melendez, a member of the Roberto Clemente Little League board, who was upset after seeing the indentations in the field late Friday evening. The contractor was retained by the city’s Division of Parks and Forestry, who is responsible for overseeing repairs in baseball fields across the city such as the Sixth Street field.
Pete Harnett, the safety and equipment director for the league, was on the field Saturday with
coaches and kids practicing in anticipation of the league’s season opener on Apr. 4. He was already unhappy over the league’s other field on Ninth Street being closed for repairs to that field’s electrical system.
“They keep putting off fixing the field on Ninth Street and now this,” Harnett said. “Something’s got to be done because the season is starting soon.”
George Reyes of Parks and Forestry was inspecting the field on Saturday and talking to league officials. Reyes said a private landscaping company will repair the 6th Street field on Monday, with the repair costs billed to the contracting company that caused the damage in the first place. Also, Reyes said the Ninth Street field’s electrical problems will be fixed by April 4, in time for the 540 kids in the league to play ball. – Ricardo Kaulessar
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