A Grand Effort

A new debate has erupted in Sag Harbor and, as is often the case in a community first settled more than 300 years ago, the discussion is wrapped in historical significance, with conflicting goals that come with trying to marry the past and the future — with the health and wellness of the children of Sag Harbor right at the heart of the matter.

A relationship between the Sag Harbor School District and Mashashimuet Park dates back over a century, to when Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage deeded the park to the “children and young people of Sag Harbor.” Mrs. Sage left behind a legacy that also includes the construction of Pierson Middle-High School and the John Jermain Memorial Library. In 1920, she formed the Park and Recreation Association of Sag Harbor, which continues to operate today in the form of an unelected board of directors, which meets regularly and runs the park with the help of a full-time park manager and a small staff.

Unlike the library, which also used to be governed by a private board of trustees but is led now by a publicly elected board that collects some of its funding from taxpayers in the Sag Harbor School District, the park board continues to operate without a source of public funding, relying primarily on the contract with the school, a rental of its tennis facility and private donations.

When news broke last month that negotiations between the school district and the park board had broken down, with the district declining to renew a contract that allows for the schools’ use of the park’s athletic fields, a debate raged about the park, its history and its significance to the community, and, most important, its future.

In early 2016, the park board embarked on a renovation of the Mashashimuet Park playground, a grueling effort that had to be scaled back and which continues to this day. Now, in the wake of last month’s contract news, a movement is underway to renovate the park’s iconic grandstand, which, like the park’s bathrooms and softball dugouts, has fallen into a state of disrepair. The park is planning a 5K race in September to kick off HarborFest weekend and, presumably, will begin accepting private donations as well.

This is an effort worth supporting — but first things first. The park board and the Sag Harbor School District should move quickly to work out a contract to accommodate the district athletic program for at least another year. If a long-term deal is not possible at this time, the two sides should also begin discussions on long-term planning to improve the park facilities, with a combination of private funds and resources, and increased funding allocated in the district budget, paid by taxpayers.

Sag Harbor has faced changing industries and demographics for centuries, and in a new wave of wealth and development, many longtime locals have seen their businesses prosper. Parents, both longtime locals and those new to the area, have stepped forward to support the park with funds and resources, to restore fields, remove junk, and help with the new playground.

Like every successful partnership, the park board will also need to come to the table and offer a little more transparency and openness. Perhaps there is a discussion to be had about creating a publicly elected board, much like the library did after failing to find support for the critical renovation of its historic Main Street building.

That seems like a discussion worth having, especially if a stalemate between the park and school boards continues, with the result being that the children of Sag Harbor have to travel out of town just to play sports. Short of public funding, the next best option will be community involvement, both in terms of fundraising and donations of resources, to modernize some aspects of the park, like the dugouts and bathrooms, and the park’s historic grandstand, which should stand for generations to come.

“The objects for which the corporation is formed are exclusively, charitable, benevolent and patriotic, being the mental and physical development and improvement of children and young people as a means of equipping them for good citizenship,” Mrs. Sage wrote in her deed to the park board.

The time has come for the community at large, and the park board and the school district specifically, to come together with good citizenship, to set an example for the children of Sag Harbor, and give them a park we can all be proud to call the home of the Whalers.