March 24, 2012 Update By now many of you have heard through the grapevine or via recent news reports that the Redhook softball fields #5, 6, 7 & 8 were recently tested by the NYC Dept of Health. Those tests revealed elevated levels of lead in the soil and turf. The NYC Dept. of Parks has responded quickly to this potential health hazard and has temporarily closed down the fields for the next 6 to 8 weeks in order to effect clean up and repair in the area.

The Parks department’s plan of action is to reseed the entire area as well as add more clay to the dirt areas. According to the health dept. the elevated levels are very low and the plan of action by the parks department is intended to exceed health department minimum guidelines.

What this means for us; I will be working with the Parks Dept permit office over the next ten days in an attempt to either get a few different locations in order for us to start on time on or around April 9th as planned. Some of those locations could be Commodore Barry Park, Prospect Park and the Baseball fields in Redhook. The baseball fields in Redhook have passed all health dept tests for lead contamination. Or we may have to push the start date back to the early part of June. If we pushed the date back we would either have a shortened season or have the season extended into early September. Our last course of action is to cancel the season all together. This is not something we are considering at this time, not until we find out our options as far as replacement fields are concerned.

Thank you for bearing with us, we hope to have this resolved shortly.