Teen filth bike riders ripping up common NYC athletic subject close to Yankee Stadium
These teenagers are on the unsuitable observe.
Hordes of filth bike-riding rapscallions are tearing up a South Bronx observe and athletic subject, creating harmful holes and slippery circumstances for native residents who use the beloved park, locals advised The Submit.
“It’s terrible,” lamented soccer coach Naim Kurtovic, pointing to large holes within the turf at Macombs Dam Park — which was solely renovated in 2010 after the development of the brand new Yankee Stadium throughout the road.
The coach added he’s additionally discovered syringes on the turf moments earlier than highschool groups descend on the sphere.
Different groups, like Cardinal Hayes Excessive Faculty’s soccer staff, have stopped training on the subject altogether as coaches have deemed the location too harmful.
“It’s been devastating for our children,” Cardinal Hayes Coach C.J. O’Neill advised The Submit. “We don’t have a elaborate stadium like plenty of the opposite colleges we play, however enjoying throughout the road from Yankee Stadium was an incredible supply of pleasure for them.”
A mud bike rider collided with a 5-year-old on the observe again in 2021, sending the pint-sized parkgoer to the hospital for nostril and mouth accidents — however locals say enforcement has been slim even after the incident.
A Parks rep confirmed to The Submit that zero filth bike-related summonses have been issued on the website this yr.
“It is a place for folks to train: not for folks to be driving their scooters, bikes, filth bikes – maintain that exterior, to the streets,” fumed 55-year-old Eli Ocasio, who has been coming to the observe for over 10 years together with his grownup son Gian.
“The observe is getting tousled,” he added. “We would like this observe to [be] maintained for future generations.”
South Bronx native Ana, who declined to share her final identify, stated the teenager filth bike riders have been wreaking havoc on numerous afternoons within the subject because the renovation.
The driving has resulted in dangerously slippery circumstances for the spate of senior residents who stroll the observe as properly.
“The children are bored, there’s no outlet for them,” stated Ana, now a metropolis employee who has been utilizing the observe since highschool.
“This is without doubt one of the few locations the place you may come right here and get a correct exercise, and it’s not the best anymore due to the bike treads – it’s slippery, and in the event you don’t have the correct gear … it’s laborious,” she added, noting she’ll “utterly keep away from” the sphere between 3 and 6 p.m. when not less than a dozen 15- to 24-year-olds are identified to race.
Assemblywoman Chantel Jackson, who represents the South Bronx, advised The Submit the filth bikes are simply a part of the bigger situation of the $35 million city-funded park falling into disrepair only a handful of years after it was redone.
“The observe has not been managed, there’s no cash to repair the observe,” Jackson advised The Submit, including she has cleaned up the observe herself resulting from a lack of sanitation employees on the park.
“I feel the filth bikes are completely a difficulty, however I don’t suppose that’s the rationale why,” she added.
A Parks rep asserted the town performs “routine” cleansing and upkeep of the sphere, which “is without doubt one of the most closely used within the Parks system.”
The company has carried out dozens of repairs on the sphere since 2018, with a rep attributing a part of the problem to the truth that the inspiration of the sphere is the roof of a public parking storage.
The rep stated this has “contributed to have an effect on the standard of the turf subject.”
“Just lately, we met with the teaching employees from Cardinal Hayes Excessive Faculty relating to the sphere and will likely be making some in-house repairs to the turf,” the rep added, and the company is now “exploring the scope of labor and price estimates for repairs to the storage roof and can conduct a future capital mission to renovate the sphere.”
Different grievances on the park this yr vary from eight rubbish/litter complaints to a handful of others calling out loud music, graffiti, “unsafe use of the park,” and “obstructing public use,” in response to 311 knowledge – however the overwhelming majority of points nonetheless go underreported, the assemblymember argued.
Monitor runner Jonathan agreed, telling The Submit he can usually hear the filth bikes driving from inside his residence blocks away – however the matter is small fish in comparison with the “guys dying of medication on the road proper there.”
“Persons are residing in poverty,” Jackson added. “They don’t have time to complain about this stuff.”
