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There’s an expanse of green atop a three story parking structure in the South Bronx, just steps away from the new Yankee Stadium. It isn’t grass, of course, but synthetic turf, alongside a few rubberized running tracks and handball courts, overlooking what was once Macombs Dam Park. That patch of grass, a fixture of this working class neighborhood for more than a hundred years, a place where thousands of local kids first swung a bat or kicked a ball, no longer exists. Instead, for South Bronx residents, these parking garages are now their community parks.
Joyce Hogi, 72, used to organize community meetings of local residents in the South Bronx opposing the loss of public parkland in her neighborhood. That was until she was defeated by what she calls “the Yankee Invasion.” It’s been seven years now since that battle was lost, but for Hogi, the loss still stings.
Hogi lives so close to the stadium she jokes that she can keep score by hearing the crowds roaring during games. Inside apartment 24C, Hogi, who has lived in Highbridge, Bronx for more than four decades, admits she’s spent too many of her days fighting for the parks preservation. The parking deck outside her window is a constant reminder of the battles she lost against her most powerful neighbor, the Yankees.
“It makes no sense,” Hogi said. “None of this was even necessary. The city demanded nothing from the Yankees, bottom line.”
Adolfo Carrion Jr., the Bronx Borough President, approved the redevelopment application, which included the construction of the new stadium and new parking lots, in 2008. Community Board 4 held a public hearing on the application one month after Carrion’s approval. The board voted 12 to 0 in favor of the proposal.
Save our Parks, an organization comprised of Bronx residents interested in the restoration, preservation and protection of the Macombs and John Mullaly Parks, opposed the additional 4,500 parking spots the Yankees requested. The proposal for more pay-to-park spots was believed to have benefitted fans that choose to drive to the stadium on game-day.
Hogi, a widowed mother of three, felt a personal responsibility to stand up for the community parks affected by the reconstruction. She had made a name for herself as an environmental activist.
“Our parks used to be connected as one, running from 161st to 164th and now they’re scattered all over the place,” Hogi said.
Macombs Dam Park first opened in 1899 by the Macombs family, who operated a mill on the site. Everything changed when the Yankees decided to tear down the old stadium and build a new one across the street on 161st.
Unlike Central Park, for example, there is no privately funded conservatory by local South Bronx residents to rely on to protect and support Macombs Dam Park. Hogi rallied locals from the area, drawing support of many friends who shared concerns about what the reconstruction plan would take away from the community.
In 2009, one of the three brand new parking garages was opened. One year later, two more facilities followed. A total of 4,000 parking spaces were added to the Yankee Stadium area and when that happened, parking lots became public parks.
Some of the factors that contribute to the traffic predicaments, that the city hoped to improve by offering additional parking, are a lack of traffic lights, T intersections being directed by multiple police officers, blue wooden stands blocking the streets and overcrowded street parking.
The Yankees did get more spaces to offer commuting fans, but parking demand was not as high as projected. Meanwhile, long-term residents of the Bronx are still wondering why sections of their public parks were seized in order to design and reconstruct parking garages that often go unused, even on game days.
Macombs was the home field for student athletes at All Hallows High School, the closest to the stadium, where Hogi works as an administrative assistant. The transition was a nightmare for the community and displaced students from their home turf.
Bronx resident David Suliz, 17, plays with the New York City Gothams, a baseball program that provides affordable opportunities for young athletes to play competitively at Macombs Dam Park. He’s never been to a Yankee game himself, but Suliz dreams of becoming a Yankee player one day. His $2,000 scholarship allows him to work toward that dream every afternoon. During construction, that wasn’t so easy.
“We had to go to Jersey a lot to play,” Suliz said. “When the construction was here it wasn’t like I could walk out my door and play ball with friends, you know?”
Johery Garcia, 19, has lived in the South Bronx his whole life, and he told a similar story. He was 10 years old when the original Macombs was claimed as the Yankees future home.
“I had to wake up earlier and take the train all the way to Lehman College just to play,” Garcia said. “I was so young.”
Parking garages had a profound impact on the scheduling of league games for high school students. Local fields were closed for the purpose of parking. Years later, there are substantial amounts of unused capacity.
Many life long fans who’ve attended too many games to count, in both stadiums, are choosing to no longer drive to games in the new one.
Brett Hammond, 63, attends Yankee games regularly with his 17-year-old son, James. Hammond used to drive to the games if he was commuting from his home in Westchester County. However, the rising cost of parking is not worth it to him anymore.
“There are excellent trains, both Metro North and subways. That’s always my first choice,” Hammond said.
Season ticket holder and Manhattan resident Ed Moslander, senior managing director at TIAA-CREF, has attended almost every game in the last 35 years. He changed his routing and stopped driving to the stadium when it opened for the 2009 season because of the traffic.
“I’ve been going to the games from Manhattan, whether during the regular season, the playoffs of the World Series, the subway has never failed me,” Moslander said. “And I never leave more than 35 minutes before game time.”
Trains run quite frequently on game nights to accommodate the massive crowds that the Yankees bring in to the neighborhood. Metro-North offers specials for game-day, advertising the extra routes available on October 6 as the “Train to the Game”. Trains drop fans off visitors directly in front of the stadium on River Avenue.
Yankee fanatic and Long Island resident Vincent Gerbino, 52, changes up his transportation depending on where he’s coming from. He likes to avoid using designated Yankee parking when he can.
“I always park away from the stadium and take the walk over to avoid getting stuck in the god-awful traffic close to the stadium. I made it home in 35 minutes once, and yes, I was speeding,” Gerbino said. “The 4 train is the way to go these days. It’s a long cool ride through the Bronx. My kids think it’s more fun that way.”
More and more fans are turning to public transportation on game-days because of the chaos surrounding the new garages – with park facilities on the roof – near the stadium. Fans that do drive are also taking advantage of the on street parking available near the stadium. An analysis of parking conditions around Yankee Stadium found that street parking occupancy increases by about 10% on game days. By referring to the parking garages as “facilities”, NYC Parks include the new concrete lots when they determine the total acreage of replaced parkland.
“The City invested approximately $135 million in the project to create parks and walkways that are open to the public 365 days a year,” Mario Lopez, NYC Parks spokesman, said. “Parks replaced the existing site and the new recreational facilities is an enormous improvement.”
It’s not that simple.
Hogi predicted this trend in a letter she wrote to the New York City Industrial Development Agency in 2007. She testified at the time that there was no need for garages that would only benefit Yankee fans 80 days a year.
To replace the beloved parks, a seven-acre green space was built atop the Ruppert Plaza Parking Garage. But Ruppert Plaza is only open on game-days, as parking is unnecessary on non-game days. As a result, the community has no access to the park for the vast majority of the year.
The parking space under the rooftop park facilities is unused most days. There is no convenience to the community and the revenue is far below projections. Seasonal parking passes in nearby lots are $2,430. Some days, lots are less than half full.
But given the Yankees’ history–27 World Series titles, the most of any team in Major League Baseball–there is every likelihood that the parking garages will prove to be a worthwhile investment for the franchise. But for now, the garages are a dour reminder of lost green space.
And they aren’t even making money. Doug Turetsky, communication chief of staff for the Independent Budget Office, would not go into the specifics of Bronx Parking Development Company, which runs the parking system, but did tell The Ink the company is effectively bankrupt.
“They are using whatever little revenue they’re bringing in to pay bond holders,” Turetsky said. “I don’t know how much the bondholders will be left with but I do know that EDC doesn’t want to talk much about this at all.”
EDC did not respond to calls or emails. Turetsky told The Ink that he expects outstanding questions will continue to go unanswered.
Department of Consumer Affairs licenses the public parking lots and garages in the Hogi’s neighborhood. DCA keeps record of the complaints that come in from drivers that choose to pay to park in garages.
“They keep our hands full,” Katyusca Abreu, DCA spokeswoman, told The Ink. “Since 2014, DCA has received 57 complaints about the parking garages in the Yankee stadium area.” For comparison, the Bronx Terminal Market Garage, attached to a shopping mall minutes from the stadium, is responsible for only five of those complaints.
The renovation project turned what used to be a community hub of open parks into a renovated sports center, honoring the Yankees.
For senior residents like Hogi, facilities are not accessible to the residents who enjoyed being outdoors at the parks everyday. Elevators in Garage A are open only working on game-days. She wrote a petition to demanding that facilities be accessible year round to handicap and elderly.
She never had to worry about an on/off elevator switch to access the old Macombs.
“It’s debilitating,” Hogi said.
The new Macombs is a whole new ball game. A directory map is planted a few steps from the subway entrance so park users can get familiar with the six divisions that separate the parks. Residents waited a long time to have a park reopened. The new stadium was built and opened before the construction on Macombs even started.
Now, Hogi spends her time focusing on battles she thinks she can win. For now, her activism has slowed down. She is tired. Unused flyers and T-shirts protesting the redevelopment of her neighborhood have been boxed away and shelved. Her organization, Save Our Parks, is all but defunct.
“Who can put up a fight against the Yankees?” she said.
According to Hogi, the group hasn’t met in years.
