By Dan Murphy
Mt. Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas has once again changed the conversation about Memorial Field, the ballfield, track and stadium that has been closed for six years and has illegally dumped contaminated materials on it. Enter P. Diddy, aka, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop legend and Mt. Vernon native.
According to Mayor Thomas, the two met at Combs’ Los Angeles home to discuss a new future for Memorial Field.
“I thank Diddy for the invitation to join him at his home (again) for an important conversation on changing Mount Vernon for good,” said Thomas. “He and his children, who played Razorback football, have fond memories of Memorial Field and desire to see it come back life for the kids, seniors and families of our rising city.
“Memorial Field is Mount Vernon’s ‘field of dreams’ and it is deeply encouraging to know that one of the biggest entertainers on the planet, Diddy, is open to joining the team to reclaim Mount Vernon’s destiny as ‘Money Earnin’ Mount Vernon’ in sports and entertainment.
“This is one of many actions taken to create a better future for all of Mount Vernon,” continued Thomas. “I look forward to recruiting more stakeholders to join the movement to make Mount Vernon magnificent again. I believe we can bring back jobs and seize genuine opportunities for a better future if we dare to activate our real potential today.”
The conversation between Thomas, Combs, and others including Mt. Vernon Olympian Deajah Stevens, is to transform Memorial Field into a sports and entertainment destination that would attract performers like The Jackson 5 and James Brown, who each performed at Memorial Field back in the day when the park was a well-known venue.
Stevens, who ran in the 2016 Olympics, and college track record holder Rai Benjamin, also attended a meeting and photo-op to highlight the fact that they made their athletic dreams come true at Memorial Field, before it closed.
There’s been no comment from P. Diddy, who has not been involved in Mt. Vernon politics, economic development or charitable functions in the city, except for, “In the wise words of Diddy, the new Mount Vernon ‘can’t stop and won’t stop until we reach the top!’” which came from the mayor’s statement on Medium.com
Recently, Thomas ordered the removal of a tennis bubble that stood on one corner of Memorial Field. The tennis bubble was permitted on a piece of the field by former Mayor Ernie Davis. Renderings show that the tennis bubble and a regulation track and field cannot co-exist.
The decision by Thomas to take down the bubble in the middle of the night was curious, but necessary in the view of many, to get the ball rolling on a reconstruction of the field. Thomas said that the bubble owners were way behind in their rent to the city, which permitted him to take the bubble down.
Thomas and the city also confiscated parts from the bubble that are required to reactivate the device. The Kela Tennis Club has been asking for the parts back for weeks, and last week a judge ordered the city to return the parts to the club’s owners, who are suing the mayor and the city for $27 million.
The city is also in a dispute with Westchester County government over what happened to several million dollars that the county committed to and allocated to Memorial Fields reconstruction 7 years ago. County Executive George Latimer, the two county legislators that represent Mt. Vernon – Lyndon Williams and David Tubiolo, and a majority of the Mt. Vernon City Council have all called on the county to take over the reconstruction of Memorial Field and then hand back the completed project to the city and its residents.
The county executive has focused his attention (and rightfully so) to Memorial Field, and the incompetence over the years and three Mt. Vernon mayors that has resulted in the dumping ground that currently exists. Latimer, a Mt. Vernon native, posted on Facebook: “When asked yesterday about the news that Sean Combs/P. Diddy/Puff Daddy might be enticed to get involved in the saving of Mt. Vernon’s Memorial Field: If so, I’d welcome it. We always benefit when wealthy, famous alums get involved with our hometowns. Consider the positive impact of the Pope family in Tuckahoe… Dom Neri in Port Chester… Louie Lanza in Peekskill… and the great and generous Denzel Washington. All good things.
“But I’ve been asked, why spend so much time on one field in one community? If the city government has failed to honor the inter-municipal agreement, just terminate the relationship and let the city figure out what to do. We take our $9 million away and it’ll be a lot tougher to do anything there.
“And while Memorial Field is important, more people use Hartley Park. Shoot hoop on the famed 4th Street playground. The county already runs Wilson Woods Pool, a summertime staple, and owns the tallest office building in downtown MV. Why immerse yourself in one city’s turmoil.
“MV has bigger issues than the field: Crime. Poverty. Education. Sewers. Development. Corruption. But… this is precisely the time when people need to see that government can stop talking – stop stylin’ – and actually accomplish something good. If the county divests in MV, goes home, and says we can’t make headway here, then how are private sector investors going to react?
“And MV needs resources that come from outside the city if it is to flourish again. I grew up when MV was a shopping mecca and truly the City of Homes. We stay engaged through all the BS because I’m in a position to help that city and that’s what I intend to do. And I intend to help every city, town and village in this county when needed, if I can.
“This Southside boy has been given a chance to help his old hometown. Why not just work together, stop the gamesmanship, and get this field done? In the end, other people can cut the ribbon and get the photo-op. I just owe a debt to the 12-year George who grew up there, to let him know the 64-year-old George kept the faith. And we fixed the field. That’s all.” (End of Latimer statement.)
Thomas, after several weeks of public comments and actions appeared to be in opposition to a county takeover of Memorial Field (#FreeMemorialField), is now willing to at least sit down with the county executive, stating: “I have always agreed with County Executive George Latimer that now is the time for all bodies of government to come together and work toward the common good. It’s been far too long that Memorial Field has sat in ruin and no one has suffered more than the citizens of Mount Vernon… even more so the kids who have grown up with no recollection of the true field of dreams that once was. Let’s take this opportunity to show citizens and investors alike that we can get the job done. Looking forward to talking with the ‘12-year-old George’ next week so that two kids at heart can open Memorial Field for the next generation.”
Former Mt. Vernon Mayor Clinton Young made news last week after an arbitrator found the City of Mt. Vernon guilty and required him to pay $2.6 million to developer Sal Gizzo for a supermarket project that failed in Fleetwood.
In 2009, Young and members of the City Council encouraged Gizzo to abandon his steakhouse at 42 W. Broad St. and convert it to a supermarket. Promises were made, but not kept.
The supermarket opened in 2010 but filed bankruptcy a year later. In 2016, Judge Linda Jamieson squarely placed the blame on Young, ruling the assertion “that the city did not do any of the tasks that it was supposed to do” was “without contradiction.”
On Friday, the arbitrator, former Supreme Court Justice Betty Weinberg Ellerin, placed the damages for city’s “breach and non-performance of its contractual obligations” at $2.6 million.
“Actions have consequences and, in this case, the failure of former Mayor Young and the City Council to live up to their commitments sent a local business into bankruptcy and will now cost residents millions of dollars,” said Thomas. “The story is one of municipal malpractice and a past that cannot be allowed to be repeated.”
The city was supposed to provide parking for the supermarket from an adjacent city parking lot. That promise was never kept, and now both the parking garage and former supermarket is the site of a new, $90 million apartment building with retail.
Finally, a popular Mt. Vernon small business was recently closed by the city for alleged building code violations. The Cupcake Cutie Boutique, owned by Miesha Stokely, was closed because it didn’t have a certificate of occupancy and other code infractions.
Other believe that politics played more of a role in the closure. Stokely is the daughter of Damon Jones, a longtime critic of Thomas and the publisher of Black Westchester.
