Memorial Field, Mount Vernon — After chilling at the Kela Tennis Labor Day Gathering at the Mount Vernon Tennis Center (431 Garden Ave), I decided to walk over and take a personal tour of Mount Vernon’s Memorial Field to give people an update on what’s going on.
BW promised to keep you informed on the status of Memorial Field, after we first covered it the march during the Unity In The Community, June 2014 and our Decades of Decay editorial June 29, 2014. Since then we gave you a pictorial of Memorial Field on Memorial Day Weekend 2015 when Clinton Young announced his candidacy for Mayor of Mount Vernon.
Memorial Field, formally know as City Field, was hailed as one of the finest fields in the State with its ideal location visible from the Hutchinson River Parkway was in the headlines as much if not more than the candidates of the 2015 Mount Vernon Mayoral Primary. Each candidate promised, if elected they would build and restore the iconic stadium to it’s former glory for the people of Mount Vernon.
Memorial Field has been heavily debated and speculated, as it steadily deteriorates. It’s been awhile since we have been inside the field, so as promised we give you a look at the state of Memorial Field, Monday September 5th, Labor Day 2016.
Kela Tennis is open and we are told the bubble could be completed possibly by the end of October 2016, if not before. Even it doesn’t happen on schedule,(we heard other projected dates of completion in the pass), we will be there whenever they finally cut the ribbon. And believe it or not, despite the rumors, we saw several black people playing tennis including Councilman Wallace and his older brother, even saw young black children on one court. Now that could have been just for the holiday, but since I constantly hear black people don’t play tennis and don’t get to use the tennis court, I had to share what I saw.
While the Tennis Center is nearing completion finally and the second courts are done in the back, what most people identify as Memorial Field (the track and football field and the iconic bleachers), formerly the backdrop to a classic Super Bowl commercial nearly 40 years ago, has since become an eyesore and a place for illegal dumping. Now weeds are overgrown on the field and the crumbling bleachers are in poor shape but Memorial Field is rich with history, and many residents just want to see politicians make good on campaign promises.
Three administrations later and many that we spoke to have all but given up on the iconic stadium ever reopening. Some even say just knock it completely down and build something else there. No matter what position you take the general sentiment is major disappointment in the inability to bring this once famed stadium back to life.
Below is a pictorial of what Memorial Field currently looks like on Labor Day 2016! Feel free to leave your comments, thoughts and feedback in comment section below and let it be known, how you feel and what you would like to see done!
![Memorial Field - Labor Day 2016 [Black Westchester]](https://blackwestchester.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160905_164913.jpg)
1 comment
It’s disgraceful. Memorial Field is an apt name for it because the citizens of Mt Vernon should be holding a memorial for this once great field. Our elected officials all share the blame for this blighted eyesore. Each one promised to bring it back to its original grandeur or make it even grander. But they all lied and bickered with each other like spoiled children and now Mt Vernon is a shadow of what it once was. Other cities surrounding us must be laughing at our follies but they should be concerned. Blight is like a malignant tumor. Unchecked, it will spread.
Comments are closed.