Baltimore football coach says degraded facilities put in jeopardy a haven for at-risk youth
BALTIMORE -- A youth football team is calling on the city to restore its facilities.
The team wants the city to fulfill its promise to make Leon Day Park a better place for children to play football—a task it promised to undertake by the spring of 2023 but has yet to act on, according to Charm City Buccaneers Coach Taurus Barksdale.
Barksdale said his football team proves a healthy outlet for children in Baltimore. Without working facilities, though, it's a challenge to get people to the field.
The team has been grappling with shotty facilities, such as broken bathrooms, for about a decade, and the city's promise to restore them has fallen short, Barksdale said.
There's no running water either, he added.
Over 125 football players and cheerleaders pack into the park for a football game every Saturday, but poor conditions make it difficult for people to stick around, Barksdale said.
"We have football games and different events and essentially we don't have a place for parents, grandparents to use the bathroom," he said.
The park was provided with a porta-potty, but some people say that even that hasn't been cleaned out in years.
"Not having any working facilities is really hard, especially for the women," Tyese Hamilton, a coach and parent, said.
One of the young cheerleaders that the porta-potty isn't just an eyesore but a health hazard.
"It's kinda hard because I live all the way in the east," the cheerleader said. "So, I can't just walk home."
Baltimore City Recreation and Parks said in a statement to WJZ that it is working to assess necessary renovations to the bathrooms, basketball courts, and baseball field.
The State Board of Public Works approved the city's application for funding in August of 2023, and that funding was allocated, according to Baltimore City Recreation and Parks.
"It's deeper than football," Barksdale said. "It's deeper than baseball. It's for the City of Baltimore. It's a safe haven for at-risk youth."
Investing in Baltimore's parks goes beyond providing facilities for a game, he said.
"We need the parents involved, and if we don't have working facilities, parents might not want to come down," he said.