By Paul Shapiro
“It means a lot for the village,” said Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew Parise. “One hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money for us.”
Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) obtained these funds, which will provide significant improvements to the ball field as well as the purchase and installation of bleachers, fences, a sprinkler system, benches, a brick walkway, decorative lighting and the installation of a custom clay field.
“Being a big baseball fan myself, I am happy to be able to secure these funds to renovate the field at Cedarhurst Park,” Toback said. “It will be a great place for the kids to enjoy America’s favorite pastime.”
The legislator said that village officials first identified the need for this project in March. “I went through some internal negotiations on my end and finally here we are with a project that's going to make the park an even better place for the residents of Cedarhurst,” Toback said.
Parise explained that the Little League field is often inundated with water whenever there are heavy rains in the area and said that he hopes this rehabilitation project fixes that problem. “You can’t play there after it rains,” Parise said. “It takes days and days for it to dry out. We are planning to raise the field from a couple of inches in a few places to a foot or so in others. This should solve a lot of those problems.”
Parise added that this money will also be used to improve the walkway between Oak and Summit avenues, making it more handicapped friendly. Lighting fixtures, benches and bleachers will be coming to the park as well. “Right now, when people are there for games most of them stand up,”
Parise said.
Joe Montilli, vice president of Cedarhurst Little League, said he hopes the new field will increase enrollment, which has been dropping for the past decade. “It will probably be one of the propelling factors because Little League enrollment is down again this year,” Montilli said. “It’s like getting a new car; everybody wants to ride in a new car, so our feeling is that the new field will attract more people.”
Some peripheral work will begin at Cedarhurst Park within the next week or so, according to Parise. “We’re ready to start as soon as they gave us the OK for the money and we signed a contract on both ends,” Parise said. “It’s ready to go and we’re going to start bringing in fill and start re-grading the field in the next few weeks.”
The work on the baseball field will begin after this year’s Little League season is over, in the Fall of 2009. “We’re hoping that the new field will expose the Little League to the community more and we can play more games with the new field,” Montilli said. “The field is in dire need of a makeover.”
