Judge Rules Against City's Plan To Lease Ball Fields To Private Schools
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Another judge has ruled against the city’s plan to lease most of the sports fields on Randall's Island to private schools.
Under the plan, which already suffered one court defeat last year, 20 private schools would pay for nearly-exclusive use of the fields during some after-school hours.
However, a State Supreme Court judge has ruled the city's plan must go through full community and environmental review.
Opponents are cheering the decision.
"These pay-to-play deals should be stopped,” said Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates. “And I hope this sends a very strong message to this administration that these pay-to-play deals are not only illegal, but they require much more public scrutiny."
City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe is blasting the ruling, saying in a statement that the project would give public school athletes more access to the ball fields, and would bring in money to maintain them. The city Law Department agrees, adding that the ruling will freeze other public-private partnerships.
The city says it is considering its legal options.