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West Roxbury High gets all new athletic fields
By adamg on Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:58pm
A Parkway Falcons player watches West Roxbury Raiders and cheerleaders practice.
City and state officials gathered with Parkway athletes today to officially open the new $18-million Raiders Field, which includes revamped football and baseball fields with artificial turf and lighting and new facilities for track and field events.
Among those who spoke: Retired West Roxbury High Raiders Coach Leo Sybertz, who led the team to several high-school Super Bowl championships:
"I never had a job; I spent all day hanging out with city kids; I'm a city kid," Sybertz said. "Life is good!" he added. "Whoo, go Raiders!"
Mayor Walsh praised City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) for his work to get the project done and said Raiders Field makes Millennium Park "as good as any park in Massachusetts, in the United States of America; this neighborhood deserves it." He added one of his goals is to leave Boston with "the best park system in America."
O'Malley recalled when the entire area was a city landfill. Now, he said, "it's more than 100 acres of pristine open space."
After the speechifying, Mayor Walsh and Parkway Falcons teamed up to cut the ribbon and declare Raiders Field officially open:
Current Raiders players and cheerleaders could look up the side of Millennium Park at the dedication - they were busy on the field practicing, as were members of the West Roxbury track team:
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Hey Matt, Thanks..
You know all the neighborhood kids that go to Westie High must be so greatful.
Now get to building a street hockey rink at billings, you know something that would actually benefit kids from your district.
Bitter much?
God forbid a city school get decent playing fields.
God forbid we stop wasting money on athletics over academics
https://i.imgur.com/zNOVaO6.jpg
$55,000 was considered too much to spend per student when they closed schools in the area. This would pay for 320 students - top to bottom costs.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/02/28/boston-reveals-five-schools...
Our tax dollars at waste. Where are the fields for the 50% of Boston that doesn't have children?
Have you been to Millennium Park?
It's not just for the 50% of Boston that has kids.
And do you realize that not everybody who plays high-school sports thinks they can make it to the NFL?
what's the value of schoolboygirl athletic experience?
These new fields are dual use. They serve the high school teams and youth athletic programs such as football and lacrosse. I'd be interested to learn which budgets financed them.
For what it's worth, districts like Weston and Acton-Boxborough don't spend public money on turf fields, they build them with fund raised money and other non-public money financing plans.
Athletics programs have educational value. They often teach teamwork, sportsmanship, discipline, commitment, resiliency, and they can be a rewarding shared experience that strengthens community.
We have a ton of kids in BPS who were not born in the U.S. Their athletic experience in sports like football and lacrosse is an American experience. Aside from athletics (as well as including it) our public schools do a tremendous job acculturating foreign born students. And if you ask teachers they will tell some the best students in BPS are former English language learners. (I can't recall exactly but I think 1/4 of BPS students are English language learners.) In the most recent graduating class in Boston Public schools, approx. 19 of 41 class valedictorians were foreign born.
Athletics, especially for some boys, is motivation to keep their grades up. As many parents will tell you, any reason that works is a good reason.
I'm glad the kids who go to this Boston public school, and other BPS kids who get to use it, have athletic facilities as nice and shiny as what Newton North built.
At the same time, I truly wish we had the will to build elementary and public high school classroom facilities as nice as the one Newton North built.
Not just sports
Absolutely, but the idea that only sports can teach those is absolutely wrong. There are all sorts of ways that kids can learn all of those things that also provide actual value to the community or that teach actual skills that they'll use past high school (only a tiny fraction of high school athletes continue those sports in college, a tinier fraction as adults) and that don't involve millions in facility, maintenance, uniform, and travel expenses per school each year.
I'm open to your "not just sports" ideas. tell us what they are
In addition to the educational values I indicated above, participating in sports has health and other benefits outlined here by the Mayo Clinic;
Kids in school and adults like to express themselves by participating in sports but your ideas might be better, so share them.
Not easy comparing the fund
Not easy comparing the fund raising of wealthy towns like Weston and Newton to that of inner city schools. #privelige
yeah, that's so helpful
Fields in the middle of the suburbs, how useful.
You do realize half of Boston doesn't own a car and Millenium is nearly impossible to get to if you don't own a car, right? It's purely for you suburbanites
You do realize the 36 bus goes there, right?
Maybe you're mistaking Millennium Park for Cutler Park on the other side of the Charles. I'll be optimistic and think that, rather than thinking you're just some lonesome troll desperately thinking up a way to show how crabby you are. Or are you this upset about John Paul II Park and Castle Island?
40 feet
To the south
No
O'Malley is trying to spin a school field as a huge neighborhood improvement. It does nothing for W Rox.
Nobody from West Roxbury ever goes up there?
Every single player and coach in the Parkway soccer, Falcons and Pop Warner programs lives outside of West Roxbury?
Every single person who walks along the paths there is from outside of West Roxbury? All the dog walkers are from outside West Roxbury?
West Roxbury would rather see the park return to its old life as a trash heap?
Nice trolling, dude.
To be accurate
This field is next to Millennium, but really has nothing to do with it. No one is walking their dog there and the Parkway fields are unchanged. Still a nice thing though, don't get me wrong.
i count three things
What Millennium Park and West Roxbury High athletic facilities have to do with each other is that they're adjacent, youth programs will be using both, and both are publicly owned.
Well, yeah but
Specifically Parkway soccer and dog walking have nothing to do with the new fields. Generally they are in the same area and have similar functions. We're not lumping in the Roche ice rink in this discussion but it falls under your description as well.
What the new facilities do for West Roxbury
The argument that West Roxbury High's new fields aren't community improvement, in addition to being high school facilities, is false. Youth sports will be using the facilities. Teens and adults can work on their basketball game there. The turf field will be used for youth and high school football and soccer. I don't know if youth soccer wants access. If they do, I don't know what it'd be a problem. I think you're right that dog-walking was a not a purpose considered when planning the new athletic fields but should it have been?
Turf is fine for football
But it sucks for a sport where you have to run a lot, or aren't wearing armor head to toe, like soccer.
Anybody who makes kids play soccer on turf is a sadist. Slide tackle down a cheese grater? No thanks.
The one thing they didn't need was soccer fields
I don't think you'll find a place with more natural-grass soccer fields in the city than Millennium Park.
Soccer @ Millenium
I'm not saying this football field isn't a good thing. I agree the football field is a nice thing for the larger community as are the baseball fields. All good.
My point going back to the top specifically is that this does nothing for the much larger population of community users who are up there every Saturday in the fall and spring for Parkway soccer. Hundreds of kids from 9am to 3pm use the soccer fields. It's a great resource but those fields are in tough shape. The lower fields don't drain when it's wet, the mid level fields aren't anywhere near level. They actually get much more use than the football field ever will. I am hopeful that the plans to fix them will someday more forward. Like, even reseeding them in the summer would have been nice and not cost $18m.
That is all.
Signed,
Parkway soccer parent
same project, second phase.
Millennium Park
Neighborhood: West Roxbury
Description: Phase I – Millennium Park -. The park is a former landfill that has been converted into 100 acres of trails, ball fields, and picnic areas. It consists of six miles of handicapped-accessible walking trails, playing fields, a canoe launch, and a nature trail.
Phase II – The City of Boston is reconstructing the existing natural turf athletic fields located behind the West Roxbury Education Complex, located at 1205 Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway, Boston, MA 02132.
As part of this reconstruction, the existing fields will be replaced with new artificial turf athletic fields consisting of one football field, one baseball field, one softball field, and one multi-use field. The project will also construct a new 6-lane paved running track with spectator stands, three tennis courts, two half-court basketball courts and provide the various associated field event appurtenances along with a new, energy-efficient lighting system. New handicap accessible pathways will be constructed to provide access to the various athletic field areas as well as to the adjacent Millennium Park and the school parking lot and access drive will also be reconstructed as part of the project.
If I have this right
Vaughn thinks too much is invested in the things he/she doesn't care about like combined high school community sport facilities while too little is invested in things he/she doesn't care about like places to walk the dog and soccer fields. It's all about Vaughn, even the things he/she doesn't care about.
Not really
Scroll up and Adam wrote this development was good for Parkway soccer and dog walkers. My point is that it isn't. That's it! Good for other aspect of the neighborhood.
Reading is easy and fun when you know how to do it.
good for youth soccer
I think so too. Spring soccer can start before the snow melts and grass fields dry.
i prefer grass too
The problem is that when you have one grass field for multiple sports to practice and play on, it gets trashed, especially in rain or drought and we don't spend money watering, weeding and patching up grass fields. They get re-sodded as part of a big construction project. Turf will last a decade or more and require little to nothing in the way of maintenance.
grass is turf
That is what grass is, it's turf. Why on earth do people say turf when they don't really mean turf, but artificial grass turf?
Language in evolution
One of the typical ways language evolves is by the substitution of simpler terms for more complicated terms. "Artificial turf" has two words and five syllables. "Synthetic turf," two and four. "AstroTurf" is smaller, but it's a brand name. "Sports Turf" and "Field Turf" are other brands, but they don't fix your problem. The only thing these terms all have in common is "turf."
This is why nobody uses "turf" to refer to a grass playing field anymore. If somebody says something is a turf field, they mean artificial/synthetic/astro turf; if it's natural turf, they say "grass." Google "turf," and before the dictionary definitions you will see several ads for artificial/synthetic/astro turf. This is language in evolution.
I wouldn't say nobody
I use the word turf to refer to real turf. I'll think about that the next time I watch thoroughbreds run on turf or drive by a turf farm. I know, different context, but it's weird to call a thing the opposite of what it is.
If artificial turf is too hard for people to say...
... how about fake turf...
Astroturf
Astroturf isn't hard to say. I think a lot of people were calling it that before they knew it was a brand. It's like Kleenex or Q-tip or jet-ski, taser, dumpster, weed-eater, popsicle, and styrofoam. It's just a generic word to most people that means artificial turf.
Why not soccer on turf?
Soccer is best played on turf. Where on earth do you expect to play it, on clay or concrete?
What a
whiner. There's street hockey at Fallon Field, heavily used.
safety in Boston public parks
Not too long ago (less than a decade) you could go to Fallon and get a pick-up basketball game every night of the week.
Later Billings was the place to reliably get a game. Now it's the Hynes.
First Menino and now Walsh keep nets up which keeps people coming to the parks for a run.
When I played in the early 80s, some courts had a lot of disputes. At one court I went to a lot in the South End-- Sparrow Park -- someone got shot in the leg. I stopped going there.
I met a 15yo kid from Mattapan who plays basketball a lot. He's very good. He told me he goes home at dusk to protect himself from violence that's goes down in public in his neighborhood. I wonder why neighborhood policing doesn't keep violence away from basketball courts in Mattapan in the summer when kids want to be outside playing. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think we've had that problem in Roslindale and West Roxbury-- violence at playground basketball courts.
It's really important to keep the parks safe if we want the people of Boston to use them. If they're not safe, they will not, they will go home or elsewhere when they can.
People actually live..
...in West Roxbury?
Don't get out much, do you?
n/t
What happened
to the plan to redo the soccer fields? I remember reading about that two years ago, but nothing has happened yet.
You should call and complain! After all, who's more deserving?
You probably thought of the soccer field redo as a priority, and that it should have been done before phase II. How do you tolerate the indignity? Still, eleven lined and painted soccer fields seems like a big commitment to Parkway soccer. But you're probably right that the kidos who will use the new facilities are less deserving than the kidos in youth soccer.
I can't believe people are complaining about this.
This is a great thing for Boston/West Roxbury, and hopefully the City has plans to do this at other High Schools in the City. And I guarantee you that West Roxbury High won't be the only City school to use this field, and it won't be just for football either. Lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, youth football, etc can all be played on this field, and it can be used from pretty much Feb-Dec.
If it is maintained right, the turf should last 15 years, and replacing it shouldn't cost as much as the original project cost. (Meaning you are paying 18 million dollars for a facility that might last 75 years with some minor upkeep).
More athletic opportunities means less idle time for our youth. Also, a nice complex like this instills some pride in your school/programs.
I could go on and on but I think this is a great thing and not much more needs to be said.
I'll say one more thing.
I agree with you, it's a great thing for our school kids and youth sports.
It looks as though the funding came from Boston Parks not schools, as it should.
The resentment expressed by people on this thread is petty.
West Roxbury Raider fields
I am a West Roxbury resident and parent of children who participate in Parkway soccer and lacrosse. I am extremely disappointed that permits were given to Valeo, a Newton soccer club to use these fields. Parkway soccer, Parkway lacrosse, and other Boston sports teams should have priority on these fields. I am interested in knowing the criteria for applying for a permit? If there are not restrictions we will have additional private organizations using our fields, causing more traffic on the VFW, bringing their trash, and not paying our taxes. In addition, the revenue that they make do not come back to Boston. Does anyone else feel tis way?
Revenue?
Boston resident organizations pay nothing for use of the fields.
Anything you want to know about permits will be here:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/Parks/permits/
Priority is clearly stated: first, BPS, second, Boston youth athletics, third, resident adult leagues, fourth, everybody else. If Parkway soccer accepts players who are not Boston residents, they're in the same category as Valeo.