New Plan for Historic Field

Two years ago, when Hudson High School played its final homecoming game at Barrett Field before moving to its lavish new facility behind the high school, little was known about the future for the historic field that was dedicated in 1932, four years before work began on the Chancellor Livingston High School in 1936. 

Yesterday, Ken Sheffer alerted Gossips to the plans for the athletic fields behind what is now Montgomery C. Smith Elementary school. A website created by Sheffer, called "Save Hudson's Historic Sports Fields," asks the question, "Do you know what the Administration and Board of Education are doing and planning to do to the historic Middle School/High School track and sports complex?" It then provides the following answer:

Sometime in the past 18 months a secret agreement was reached with the "baseball community" to place a monster field with monster fences on top of those historic fields. No public comment or input was asked for and no minutes or documentation of meetings exist. No budget exists. No neighborhood or community survey or outreach was done. No historic or environmental work was done. Yet the School District somehow has detailed architectural drawings. . . . It is a plan that will destroy our historic field. It must be stopped.

The website includes this (annotated) drawing, from January 2019, of what's planned for the field. 

The website further advises:

Now we are reaching a critical juncture as the Board of Education is set to vote . . . to further destroy the historic bleachers that sit behind homeplate down at the old High School (now named the MC Smith Elementary School). The HCSD told us that the bleachers were declared dangerous. We have asked for documentation that states this and we got nothing. We have also asked for any environmental or historic studies done in relation to the bleacher destruction. Again, we got nothing.

For more information, visit the website "Save Hudson's Historic Sports Fields." The HCSD Board of Education meets tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the library at Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School, 102 Harry Howard Avenue.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK