Playing sports teaches children teamwork, honesty and integrity. In the debate over where Holmdel Pop Warner football should practice and play, only some are embracing these principles. Pop Warner is pushing for expensive development of new, lighted football fields on the Cross Farm Park property across Route 520 from Village School. This is in direct opposition to a promise made by the Township Committee when the park was first built that lighted fields would never be permitted there.
Mayor Larry Fink, and Janet Berk and Tony Orsini on the Township Committee, have put forward several well-reasoned proposals to improve fields at Satz and the high school where Pop Warner has played for many years. These plans provide the kind of facilities our young football players need while honoring the commitment made by previous township committees. They are consistent with a petition signed by more than 320 residents that requested existing facilities be rehabilitated rather than building new ones.
There are several reasons why creating a new set of lighted fields is a poor choice. First, the Cross Farm site currently has no parking lot, water service, restrooms, electricity, and lights in the area where Pop Warner requests the new fields. All these are already available at the Satz/high school complex. Cross Farm Park is distant from the first aid squad, police, hospitals, and many of the township’s residents. Because the Cross farmland was acquired partially with Green Acres money, the township is legally obliged to make the fields available to out-of-town groups on essentially the same basis as residents.
Unfortunately, other members of the Township Committee have said publicly that they are willing to ignore commitments made by previous committees in order to satisfy the demands of Pop Warner. When politicians act with disregard for commitments and choose to please a vocal minority, we should be disappointed but perhaps not surprised. In this case, we can support Fink, Berk and Orsini, who are working for plans that are fiscally responsible and provide for the needs of all our children. In addition, they are showing a promise is not to be ignored at the first inconvenient moment, which is probably the best lesson our kids can take from this.
Tom Wood
Holmdel