Condition of Stambaugh Park shocks president of new team

By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The sight of Stambaugh Park disgusted Cherise Neail.
Neail, president of the Youngstown Little Buccaneers youth football team, expected more from a city park.
Many of the green, weather-beaten, wooden bleachers are broken or missing, leaving rusted metal supports. The concrete steps are broken and pitted. Rust is overtaking the red-painted railings. The restrooms had no electricity. Food wrappers and soda bottles litter the grass, which is high and muddy.
Then, a natural gas drilling rig showed up recently without warning at the South Side park, tucked away behind Glenwood Avenue near Breaden Street.
"Look at this," Neail said, standing at the top of the stands moving her arm across a view of the property. "And this is supposed to be a park?"
City officials acknowledge the old park is in bad shape but say it's not a case of neglect. Rather, Stambaugh Park illustrates the struggles of a city with more problems than the money to solve them, they say.
Neail only knows the hassles she's experienced.
The team is a new entry this year in the Volney Rogers Coaches Association youth football league. The Little Buccaneers organization has 55 players and 40 cheerleaders age 6-12.
What happened
Neail said the city assigned her the field just a couple days before practice was to start in July. Neail, 31, grew up on the South Side and didn't even know the park was there.
The park was a mess when she arrived to look over the field. The stands were covered in brush and tree limbs. Grass was 3 feet high and there was standing water that was home to some frogs.
"You had a swimming pool down there," she said.
The city eventually cut the grass and cleared away the debris. The team practiced in a dry section.
Then, three weeks ago, the drilling rig showed up to start a gas well. Neail knew nothing about the well drilling until she arrived at the field one day.
The drilling operation leaves only half the field available. Lack of room makes it impossible for the Little Buccaneers to scrimmage other teams, she said. Having no scrimmages is a problem. The team relies on concessions at scrimmages to raise money for equipment, she said.
The drilling company, Ohio Valley Energy, donated $500 to the team to make up for lost revenue. That helps but still doesn't cover costs, Neail said.
Neail said she would have arranged for another field if the city had told her about the well.
The city shouldn't offer a field for use when it's in bad shape and about to be a drilling site, she said.
Parks department response
Joseph R. McRae, the city parks director, accepts some of the blame.
His office should have notified the team that the drilling rig was coming, he said.
Otherwise, the city did the best it could with the staff and park improvement money it has, McRae said.
"You can't have a Cadillac when you have Volkswagen" money, he said.
The city assigned the team the field as soon as scheduling allowed, McRae said. The city did the best it could to get the field ready in time, he said.
There is nothing anybody could do about the water considering the wet summer, he said.
McRae said the last minute is the best his department can do. He doesn't have enough workers to handle such jobs earlier, he said.
Part of the funding problem is the city's shrinking size.
The city relies heavily on federal money to fund the parks department. The city sustained a $700,000 cut in federal funding this year because of population loss. Population is a main factor in the formula the federal government uses to dole out that funding. The city's population dropped 14.3 percent between 1990 and 2000.
The condition of individual parks depends largely on city council members, McRae said.
His department asks each council member which parks in their wards are their highest priorities. The city then spends the time and money on those parks, he said. Other parks are let go.
Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, said he accepts the blame for not making Stambaugh a higher priority. Gillam admitted he didn't know the park was there until this summer, so he never asked the department to fix it up.
He promised that Stambaugh Park will receive more attention next year.
rgsmith@vindy.com