Adams Eyes Randall’s Island Kids’ Soccer Fields to House Up to 2,000 Migrants — at Expense of Sports Leagues; Mayor Adams’ Admin Mulls Housing Migrants on Randalls Island Soccer Fields as NYC Shelter System Collapses

Adams eyes Randall’s Island kids’ soccer fields to house up to 2,000 migrants — at expense of sports leagues:

Mayor Adams’ administration is eyeing heavily used kiddie soccer fields on Randall’s Island for migrant housing — less than a year after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars pitching and then taking down tents for asylum-seekers there.

The already under-fire move comes as the city’s inundated makeshift processing center for migrants at Manhattan’s iconic Roosevelt Hotel hit capacity this past weekend, forcing dozens of asylum-seekers to sleep shoulder-to-shoulder outside on the sidewalk for blocks — what a City Hall rep called Tuesday “a heartbreaking reality.”

City officials are considering Randall’s Fields 82, 83,84 and 85, located on the south side of the island and frequently used for children’s soccer matches, noted Randall’s Island Park Alliance co-Chairs Jonathan May and Nancy Neff in a blistering letter to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi on Monday.

“Surely a less precious space can be found, rather than alienating parkland, perhaps by using private rather than public space,” the pair wrote.

More than 3,000 hours of recreation for children from both public and private schools, as well as adult sports leagues, would be canceled because of the plan, the missive said.

“Behind every hour lost are dozens of New York City children who are denied space and time to play,” the pair wrote in the letter obtained by The Post.

“We urge you to select a site that does not mean destroying green fields, turning away young athletes and flying in the face of the many supporters who have worked for three decades to build this resource,” the letter said.

It is unclear how many tents the administration is considering erecting on the fields — but a source familiar with the city’s plan said the number of beds could hit 2,000, or quadruple what City Hall put on the island for migrants in the fall.

“The thought of [up to] four times the size of the [former] facility!? Just, wow,” the source said, adding that the fields are costly turf, which “could mean a lot of damage” to them. —>READ MORE HERE

Mayor Adams’ admin mulls housing migrants on Randalls Island soccer fields as NYC shelter system collapses:

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is looking to house migrants on several soccer fields on Randalls Island — prompting outrage from local stakeholders who worry the plan would cut off access to recreational activities for thousands of city children, the Daily News has learned.

The new push to open housing facilities on Randalls comes months after Adams’ administration erected a mega shelter for migrants on the island last October only to shut it down within weeks after it stood mostly empty. That since-dismantled tent-style shelter, which had capacity for 1,000 people and was located in the parking lot of Icahn Stadium on the island’s north side, cost city taxpayers at least $650,000 to build, according to administration officials.

The new sites under consideration for migrant housing are Randalls’ Fields 82, 83, 84 and 85, which are located on the island’s south side and used primarily for soccer, according to a letter sent Monday to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi by Jonathan May and Nancy Neff, co-chairs of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance.

In their letter, May and Neff said they had recently learned of the administration’s interest in using the soccer fields — and balked at the idea.

They noted that the fields are used by “students from a wide range of public and private schools as well as youth and adult sports leagues.” If the fields are closed to the public to accommodate migrants, May and Neff said more than 3,000 permit hours of recreation would need to be canceled this year alone.

“Behind every hour lost are dozens of New York City children who are denied space and time to play,” they wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The News.

“Surely a less precious space can be found, rather than alienating parkland, perhaps by using private rather than public space,” they continued. “We urge you to select a site that does not mean destroying green fields, turning away young athletes and flying in the face of the many supporters who have worked for three decades to build this resource.”

It was not clear from the letter how many shelters the administration is looking into constructing on the soccer fields. It was also not clear how many migrants could be housed there. —>READ MORE HERE

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