At Cal Ripken ballpark, the vandals are winning

MANCHESTER, NH – The city’s Cal Ripken league is striking out against its most relentless foe this season: vandals.

League Vice President Matt Roy says he’s beyond frustrated about the situation at their home field on Tarrytown Road. Since February they’ve been hammered by vandals who have smashed close to a dozen windows at the main clubhouse.

That, on top of the mess left behind by squatters who ran up a $400 electric bill using space heaters and a mini-fridge during the winter to stay warm inside one of the scoreboard sheds. And there are the pair of street lights that have been dark for months, rendering the field a black hole at night for punks who continue to wreak havoc with graffiti and destruction.

Saturday morning more damage was discovered. It’s the fourth or fifth incident of vandalism since February.

“They smashed more windows last night and they smashed the big windows where the scoreboard is. I’m devastated,” Roy said. He was at the clubhouse in advance of an AAU travel baseball game, which uses the fields on Saturdays.

Board members are looking for an assist from the community. Donations of time and talent could go a long way in helping to make things right.

“We have tournaments coming up and parents and kids from all over the state will see the boarded-up windows. it’s not a good look for us,” Roy said.

Although the youth sports fields and facilities are maintained by city Parks & Recreation the entities who operate them, in this case, Manchester Cal Ripken, is responsible for repairs, clean-up and security equipment.

It’s a lot to ask of the all-volunteer sports leagues who have their hands full just recruiting enough kids to field teams and enough parents to run things. After equipment and uniforms, there’s not a lot of cash flow left for the costly repairs due to vandalism.

“We have replacement windows in the basement, which were donated by Harvey Windows, where I work.  They may not be a perfect fit but they were free. I’m just afraid to put them up,” said May.

Last week he started installing security cameras on the backside of the main clubhouse.

He pointed to two tall light posts near the batting cage. The lights, which are owned by Eversource, haven’t worked in months. “So even with cameras, it doesn’t matter. It’s pitch black out here at night,” May said.

There are also three security lights affixed on the back of the clubhouse which aren’t working.

“We can’t figure it out – it seems to have something to do with the wiring, but I’m not an electrician,” May said.

He’s also not a general contractor, which is why the windows haven’t been replaced yet, and the door is still missing from the minor field score booth that served as a winter home for some squatters. “I have a door. I’m just not sure how to install it properly,” May says.

Above: Interior of a shed where squatters were discovered by police in February. Photos/Matt Roy

The season is off to a rough start. Roy explained that they couldn’t figure out why their electric bill spiked over the winter – until they got a call from police. “They let us know they found people living inside.”

Since then it’s been one thing after another. The past few Friday nights Roy has left the field only to return on Saturday morning to find more damage.

When word of the vandalism began circulating, Manchester School District Athletic Director Christine Pariseau-Telge and Assistant School Superintendent Amy Allen rounded up 50 student-athletes to go over to the field and help clean up as an act of community service.

The students spent several hours clearing out what was left behind by the squatters, removing graffiti and doing general clean-up. They also helped out at the Manchester South Junior Soccer League clubhouse, where vandalism has also been a growing concern, most recently the discovery of stolen copper pipes and other essential items, totaling $10,000 in damage.

Pariseau-Telge said she was proud so many students volunteered to help, and hopes the community will pitch in, too.

Below: Student-athletes from the school district pitched in to clean up both the Cal Ripken and South Soccer fields.

“We as a community need to come together and help these recreational leagues survive. We as a community need these sports opportunities for our children, and safe facilities in which to play.  Our school district athletic programs need these feeder programs to flourish in order for us to, first, field high school teams and, second, to hope that these teams can be competitive at the state level,” Pariseau-Telge said. “I am proud of our athletes, many former players at both of these organizations, who came together to make a difference.”

South Soccer has launched a GoFundMe to help make ends meet to pay for repairs, and have raised about $2,000 so far, says league president Larry Casale.

While he’s grateful for the student volunteers who did some general cleanup, everything inside the clubhouse still needs fixing. They have a laundry list of needs on their GoFundMe page, from tools and air compressor to a sound system totaling nearly $8,000. Raising the money is only the beginning. Getting the work done in time for their season, which starts in August, will be a challenge.

He said they’re still working with the city to find out about any insurance claims. In the meantime, they’re fielding offers of help, including some plumbers who stepped up to donate parts and do repairs for just a small labor charge. Casale said Ward 9 Alderman Jim Burkush and At-Large Alderman June Trisciani were also helpful in getting things sorted out.

“We got a lot of help from the community police division, but it’s still very frustrating. They asked us to pick up needles we find ourselves and put them in a secure box that they will provide. We’ve raised close to $2,000 so far, but it’s another thing that we have to fix damage from a problem the city created,” Casale said.

He is referring to issues at the clubhouse that he maintains have become worse since the city put in walking paths connecting Nutts Pond to South Willow Street, which. he says brings non-stop foot traffic, bikes, and homeless people. “I wish the city would take more ownership of the issue rather than enabling people to keep doing what they’re doing,” Casale said.

Burkush said historically the soccer field – along with most city recreation fields – have always been easy targets for vandals.

“I was involved with South for more than 10 years as a coach and I know it’s had a history of vandalism over many years,” Burkush said. He can relate to the frustration felt by those who put so much time and effort into seeing that the city has recreational sports leagues and says that the city has a lot of resources working on these issues.

“The city’s risk management department has looked into repairing the damage over at South, and to my knowledge, the city is going to replace the pipes,” Burkush said. He also said they are looking at the feasibility of running fiberoptics to the clubhouse.

“So we’re looking at the vandalism from many angles. I can say that not only as a coach for 10 years but also as former fire chief these places need better security and so that’s one thing we’re all looking at,” Burkush said.

Director of Parks and Recreation Mark Gomez on Saturday said the recent spate of vandalism at Cal Ripken and South Soccer fields is unfortunate. Part of what the city is working on is establishing where the lines exist and cross between what constitutes regular maintenance and how damage from vandals can be handled.

“The arrangements for use of these buildings go back many many decades. Historically the leagues themselves have been responsible for the upkeep of buildings which includes the interior, and the city has made sure that water and sewer and the electrical feed to the buildings are maintained. We’ll take care of that, but if the buildings have been damaged, that responsibility typically has been the leagues,” Gomez said.

Claims for damage to both fields have been submitted and Gomez anticipates some of it will be eligible for reimbursement while some won’t.

“We have put both Stevens Park, which is where Cal Ripken plays, and Precourt Park as hotspots, which our park rangers visit more frequently due to an uptick of illicit activity. They can’t be everywhere and typically we have one park ranger on duty at any given time, Unfortunately, it won’t resolve the problems the leagues have been experiencing,” Gomez said.

With respect to Precourt Park where South Soccer plays, Gomez says that even prior to the theft of the copper pipes the city had been looking into installing cameras to discourage illicit activity, “from illegal dumping to drug use and pretty much everything in between,” says Gomez.

“It’s a park that’s a little bit off the beaten path and unfortunately a draw for those interested in illegal activity,” he said.

Police recently completed a CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design) analysis of Precourt Park, said Gomez.

“I got the report yesterday and the analysis included recommendations for cameras as well as lighting, additional signage and repairing some fencing. All the suggestions are excellent ones and would go a long way toward making Precourt Park safer. The challenge for us is identifying a funding source,” Gomez said.

In working with Cal Ripken, Gomez said that he could have an electrician from the facilities division take a look at security lights on the building to troubleshoot what the problem might be. He also acknowledged the broken lights and said he wasn’t sure how long ago the repair ticket was placed with Eversource, but that the city would follow up on that.

And he agrees with the Cal Ripken board members who are hesitant to replace the broken windows.

“I sympathize and agree with them about the windows – we get into a situation where we repair a fence and the next week it’s broken again. It’s a shame and it’s senseless.  We’re dealing with illicit activity associated with homelessness and drug usage at our parks on a routine basis and it’s taking up a lot of staff time,” Gomez said.