March 26, 2009
Legion Memorial Field, The Town Embarrassment
I would be the first to admit that I am a bit of a sentimentalist. I enjoy looking into the history of things, particularly as it relates to me. I am resistant to change. I don't like to see old buildings torn down to make way for new ones. But I know that change is inevitable and a good thing. New people have new ideas that usually translate into a better quality of life for everyone. I guess the irritating part for me is that sometimes, in the process of making changes, we often lose sight of what came before. We forget about the work that went into something in our haste to replace it. We forget about what a landmark stood for, and meant to, all those who came before us, for the sake of a new idea.
As much as I enjoy history, I loathe politics. In my mind, nothing is worse than the slow moving train of the political process. There is no bigger waste of time than packing a bunch of people into a room to discuss a topic, and think anything productive will come from it. There is no bigger farce played out on the general public than to pass around a jaded survey
or to vote on a political question that impacts a small majority.
Since 2003, the "Harry Arlanson Football Field" has not been used, and the roughly 14 acres surrounding it that comprise the Legion Memorial Field
have become the town embarrassment. It is inexcusable that this plot of land that was named to remember those from Weymouth who fought and gave their lives for the United States Of America has become embroiled in yet another political joke that has become commonplace in this town.
In 2004, as part of some strange agreement
with Lennar Partners in conjunction with development of the Air Base (the slow moving train on the other end of town), the town was to receive a sum of money to put towards Legion Field repairs. That money, initially, was a smaller sum than the 2 million dollars later promised by Lennar spin off LNR Property Corp., in this ongoing soap opera. Through 2006 and 2007 there was talk of 7 million dollars and big plans by then mayor Dave Chief For A Day
Madden. The local neighborhood was in an uproar and were quoted saying the plan was monstrous
and we're losing open space
and we don't need a sports complex
. There were concerns over traffic and vandalism and kids hanging around
. Well, I'm thinking that's what it always was. Have these people forgotten the traffic from football games, graduations and parades? Didn't we play basketball and tennis there? And hang out at night, under the lights? Or perhaps their children are all grown and moved away and they don't want to put up with that anymore. Or maybe they were never a part of town life in Weymouth for the past 80 years. So move out. What is open space
if it wasn't Legion Field? Do they want to plant trees there? If you ride down King Oak Hill into Weymouth Heights adjacent to the railroad tracks there is a small plot of open space
called the Abigail Adams Village Green with plantings and benches and guess what? Nobody ever uses it. Was the proposed sports complex
that much larger than the complex that has been there for the past 80 years? Certainly the town is much larger and the new complex was going to need parking, which Legion Field never had.
This is the entrance to Legion Field from Commercial Street looking towards the football field. The town hall can be seen in the background.
I'm not naive enough to think that the Madden proposal was perfect as is, but couldn't there have been some tweaking? Could some things have been eliminated for the greater cause? Could someone in a place of power, had the courage to stand up for what's right? Apparently that would have been a stretch for the geniuses that voted against it.
Now nobody has any money. In August of 2008 it was reported (Ed Baker, Weymouth News) that the town was promised a whopping $750,000 to "tidy up". Well rah, rah, let's bring in the cheerleaders. Tell James Murphy and Robert Hedlund to take a ride by the place once in a while because the news bulletin here is, that money, if the town ever sees it, won't fix the stairs leading down onto the field; and the most pathetic part of the report was the commentary afterward that focused on a comical partisan exchange between a couple of blowhards instead of what the real issue is, Legion Field's revitalization.
I'm no politician and don't know the process required for securing money but certainly an opportunity has been squandered now that a recession is upon us. It will be 10 years, if we're lucky, before any serious, viable revitalization of Legion Memorial Field will be completed. Next we’ll be hearing that the only option is to sell it to a developer because the town needs money. Maybe that was the hidden card all along.
Until then I hope Mayor Sue Kay looks out her window at the town hall every day to see the decrepit gate that bears the field's name. I hope the 23 Weymouth boys that made the ultimate sacrifice rattle the windows of the neighbors every night. I hope they take a load of whatever crap they dumped on the field to Dave Madden's new office, wherever that is, and piles it on his desk. I hope all the athletes that competed there and all the children that played and received high school diplomas there show up at the next town council meeting to ask what happened.
What a disgrace.
POSTED BY STAN at March 26, 2009