Update following meeting with Parks Dept

First of all I want to thank you all for your support ! It was amazing to see so many of you sign and share the petition. 

The Elephants Soccer Club of Harlem coaches met with the NYC Parks Dept. last week. Two NYPD officers from the Community Outreach dept. also attended the meeting in support of the team and in recognition of the coaches and the community work they have done for the last 15 years.

the $350 summons that was issued to the coaches has been voided and an apology from the Parks Dept. was given to the coaches.

The NYC Parks head of permitting did not grant the team permission to practice in Mornigside Park as requested, stating that the Parks Dept has to abide by the guidelines and rules which (at least for now) states that the Morningside fields are only to be used for baseball.

The Parks Dept. did accommodate the Elephants by granting permits at two popular nearby soccer fields for the team to practice 3x per week. 

Frederick Douglas Playground is actually an upgrade for the club, especially while the grass at Morningside Park is not being cut. It has new artificial truf and it's big enough for the whole club to practice. 

That said, the community must have a say in how its parks are used. 

 A research project on youth sports in Harlem conducted by the Aspen Institute in 2019 found that among boys in Harlem, soccer is second to basketball and among girls in Harlem soccer is third (behind basketball and swimming) in terms of popularity of sports team on which to play. (Baseball is 4th and 10th, respectively)

Soccer deserves a place in Mornigside Park. The community (in part through this petition) will keep working to change the rules that now restrict this beneficial and popular sport from being played in our community park.