Werner,
Thanks for posting the article about the football field. I just posted a
response on the APP website to those who were critical of this project.
Here is what I wrote....
###
Let me preface my comments by saying that I am a former City Councilman in
Asbury Park and that I coached for one season at the high school.
For people who do not live in Asbury Park and do not work with the kids in
the city, I think it is difficult to grasp how little leverage teachers and
community leaders have over kids here. Basically, many of the kids in town
feel they have nothing to lose, thus the poor graduation rates, crime,
gangs, etc. To turn this tide, that leverage has to be created. Now, some
might say, "it has to start with the families." If this is your response, I
would say that you are very much out of touch with the reality that we face.
Too many families here are horrifically dysfunctional at best (i.e. this is
not a starting point).
So, why does having a good athletic facility make sense to address the
broader social and economic concerns that have been raised by critics here?
1. You create a first class football program and now the kids have a shot
at something through football - college. They do not want to lose this.
They love the game. The game can carry them beyond Asbury Park. They now
have something to lose - thus, we adults have leverage. Go to class, get
good grades, don't get arrested, etc. This all starts to make sense to them
when they have something to lose.
2. You keep those good athletes engaged and passing their classes, now they
are eligible for other sports - basketball, wrestling, baseball. Now you
have them locked into positive activities year-round. Keeps them off the
streets.
3. These kids are natural leaders. They are either going to lead in
something positive or something negative. Once they start leading in the
positive stuff, the other kids will follow, now you start to build real
momentum and you have a shot at turning the ship around.
So, while a $700k outlay for a field may seem like a lot at first glance,
it must be seen as an investment in turning around decades of crime, failure
and neglect. Would you rather spend the $700k up front with a plan in place
like the above or would you rather keep the cycle going and pay $50-100k per
year per kid to have them locked up at Jamesburg?
I could go on with the positive potential of this facility and will if
asked, but I think readers should get a sense of why this is a very good
thing for the AP community and for state taxpayers that are underwriting
much of the school and municipal budgets in Asbury Park. I, like many
others, want AP to become fiscally self-sufficient, this field, as strange
as it may seem, can be a catalyst to move the city in that direction.
Peace, Jim Keady
###
--
Jim Keady, Director
Educating for Justice, Inc.
j...@educatingforjustice.org
732.988.7322
www.educatingforjustice.org
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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