SWAMPSCOTT — After a lengthy discussion, the Select Board decided to recommend indefinitely postponing Article 20 of the Town Meeting Warrant, which would allow the enforcement of the town’s athletic field policy and permitting.
During the board’s meeting on Wednesday evening, resident John Picariello attended in order to share his perspectives on the town’s issues with people using the soccer fields by the high school and causing noise, leaving behind trash, and destruction of locks on the goals.
“This article is a result of residents on each side of the high school soccer field, who are complaining about what’s going on during the weekends. Groups of men are coming here, playing for hours every weekend — fifteen, twenty gentlemen playing soccer from noon until eight at night,” he said.
He continued, “They have no respect for the facilities. We’ve been trying to do something for years now, and we came up with the suggestion that we chain up the goals so they couldn’t use them.”
So, the goals were locked and then promptly moved off the field.
Picariello explained that this has only brought more problems to the issue. He said the group later returned, broke the locks off the goals, and then threw them away after dragging the goals back onto the field.
“That, to me, is destruction of property… And when questioned, they say, ‘Oh, no, that was like that when we got there,’ Baloney,” he said. The next step was to chain the goals to the chain-link fence — which seemed to work for a second, before people returned and stuck sticks in the ground to represent goals.
He explained how Police Chief Ruben Quesada went through the bylaws, and noted there was nothing contextual that forces him to eject players from the field if they have no permit. Picariello said the goal of the bylaw for the article is so that Quesada can enforce the permit policy.
Interim Town Administrator and Director of Department of Public Works (DPW) Gino Cresta said it was his understanding that the cost of the permit would be $20 per person for the season.
Vice Chair of the board Katie Phelan expressed her concerns about the article and the potential problems it could create for the town.
“I felt like the language of the article was not specific enough, and the unintended purpose of it may be that kids go to play a pick-up game, have no permit, and all of a sudden they can’t play,” Phelan said. “Although that isn’t the intention, the police would have to enforce it, regardless if they’re the men at the soccer field or kids at the basketball court because that’s what the bylaw says.”
Phelan said the town has to be careful to avoid any discriminatory practice by accident, adding that the language should be fleshed-out better, so that the purpose of the bylaw is not discriminatory.
Board member Danielle Leonard also spoke up about the issue.
“I have a huge problem right now with the fact that Mr. Picareillo has to enforce this.. Where’s the person that’s in charge of permits? Where’s the police to explain why people are damaging the fields and nobody is removing them?” she said.
“I don’t care who they are, as long as they pay to play,” Picariello said.
