After nearly two decades, York College gets new athletic field
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Speaker Adrienne Adams and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards help cut the ribbon on a new track and field at York College. Photo via New York City Council
By Noah Powelson
After nearly two decades, CUNY students at York College finally have their track and field back again.
On a swelteringly humid 90 degree afternoon, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards gathered with dozens of York College students and administration to celebrate the newly refurbished track and field facility in Jamaica with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
It’s been a long time coming for the new athletic area at the CUNY school.
York College’s original track and field was first built thirty years ago over old residential buildings, according to Earl Simons, the executive director for Government Relations and Strategic Initiatives at York College. But due to the nature of the construction, faults developed under the field, rendering most of the area unsafe to play on.
It was closed down 16 years ago and the field was left in disrepair, fenced off from the community.
But officials said last week that the history of disinvestment at the school – and neighborhood, at large – are over.
“Today we proudly celebrate a newly renovated track and field facility at York College,” said York College Interim President Claudia Schrader during the ceremony. “The first and only National Collegiate Athletic Association-level facility in Southeast Queens.”
Three separate York College presidents have overseen collaborations and negotiations with the City Council over funding for the project over the past the 16 years.
The nearly $8 million dollar investment needed to open the new track and field last week went toward building a new 400 meter track, new soccer field, a pole vaulting area. The field was also expanded to meet qualifications to host NCAA events and tournaments in the future.
“York College is not just a bastion of higher education and athletic prowess, it is a local institution that is foundational to our entire Southeast Queen community,” said Adams. “Our students and sports teams deserve the very best and that’s what they’re going to get.”
Adams has a number of personal connections with York College – she herself, her husband and her father all completed their college degrees at the institution.
On Thursday, she spoke of the potential York students and Southeast Queens residents have, and how the city needs to commit to investing in the often overlooked community in Jamaica.
“For too long, our neighborhoods and institutions in southeast Queens have lacked the investments that we deserve,” said Adams. “But thanks to the support of the New York City Council and our Queens borough president and many many others, we are investing in a brighter future in our community.”
The speaker then said the new track and field was just one of many athletic fields and facilities seeing renovations and repairs in Queens, including a new field house at August Martin High school and reconstructed track field at Baysley’s Pond Park.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, whose office also helped to fund the project, spoke of the joy he felt of finally seeing the project come to fruition, but also expressed his own frustration with how long the process took.
“We are finally winning the race in historic disinvestment in places like York College in Jamaica, Queens,” Richards said.
Richards highlighted the success of people like himself and Speaker Adams who were raised in Southeast Queens, and how lack of investments in athletic and community facilities in the area can leave communities feeling left out and forgotten by the city.
“We deserve everything that every other community gets,” Richards said, “Let’s not negate the public housing residents across the street, who had to look at this [disrepaired] field because we had a city that said ‘You know what, you’re not good enough.’ Those days are over in Jamaica.”
Adams, Richards and Schrader then gathered with other York College Administration to cut the inaugural ribbon. After it had been cut, York College students were welcomed to the field and began making the first laps around the new track.
