Earlier this week, an adult kickball controversy threatened to spark a riot in the Lower East Side: some residents complained that the noisy kickball league ruining their summers was worse than heroin dealers and gangs. But after a community meeting Thursday night, the league has bowed down to Big LES and agreed to cut short its games.
"Imagine trying to put your children to sleep when there are people screaming out your window," said Francis Didonato, an LES resident of more than 30 years, thinking of the children. "The other side of the FDR would be a perfect place for this, not 50 feet from living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms." Please think of the children people! "This has been a vibrant place where children have played during after-school hours," said Didonato. "We feel very strongly when this is taken away for private use." DEAR GOD THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
In response to the plight of the children, league organizers have agreed to end games by 9 p.m. when they play at schools in the neighborhood on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights; they've also agreed to not play there on Saturday afternoons. Those schools include Marta Valle High School on Stanton and Suffolk Streets and the P.S. 142 courts at Delancey and Attorney Streets.
The Notwork Network Society, which runs the league in conjunction with the New York City Social Sports Club, pays the schools for use of the courts, and donated a $6,000 Smartboard to one school as a gesture of gratitude for using the school grounds. "I like to think of it as a friend factory," said Amy Short, president and founder of NYC Social Sports Club. "The mission is to eradicate loneliness."
