The Sports, Parks and Recreation Department’s 2025 budget report shows renovations of Ezra Fredericks Park as zero percent complete — but that doesn’t mean exciting things aren’t bound for the area.
In addition to new fencing, basketball court resurfacing and lighting upgrades, the Nadir-area park will get a skateboard park, Commissioner Calvert White told the Senate Monday.
“We are going to be adding a skate and bike park at Ezra Fredericks. That’s in the design phase,” White said.
The project was slated for completion in December, he told the Committee on Budget, Finance and Appropriations.
The department requested the Senate approve $9,272,040 for its fiscal year 2025 budget — $4,916,980 is for personnel services, $2,822,209 for fringe benefits, $248,945 for supplies, $478,906 for other services and charges, and $805,000 for utility services.
The 126-person department had two vacant positions, lacking a lifeguard instructor and messenger/receptionist. Other positions had been scratched due to budget cuts: three recreational specialists and a groundskeeper. There had been 10 new hires in the last six months, White said, but also nine resignations and two retirements. The department faced funding challenges, increased workloads for existing employees, lack of upward advancement and low salaries, he said.
Many of the territory’s parks and other recreational facilities were in a state of repair, he said.
St. Croix’s Reinholdt Jackson Ball Park, the Frederiksted Waterfront, Midre Cummings and Budhoe Park, D.C. Canegata Softball Field, and Cramer’s Park Concession were nearly complete. Work at Marley Beach, Rudy Krieger Ballpark, and the Cramer’s Park Pavilions was finished.
Work at the Profit Community Center was a little more than halfway done. The D.C. Canegata Recreation Building and baseball field, Vincent Mason Pool Resort, and Horace Clarke Ballpark had yet to start. Repairs to the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack on St. Croix were on hold, White said.
On St. John, work at the Cruz Bay Tennis Courts was complete, and repairs to the Orville Brown Basketball Court and Winston Wells Park were nearly complete. Reconstruction of the St. John Community Center was about 25 percent complete and repair of the Oppenheimer Beach house was awaiting soil testing results this month.
Repairs to the Coki Point Beach facilities were complete on St. Thomas, as well as the Doris Hodge Tennis Courts and Frenchtown Ballpark. The Emile Griffith Ballpark renovations, Kirwan Terrace Ballpark repairs, and Alvin McBean Recreational Complex repairs were nearly complete, he said. Work at the Lionel “Smut” Richards Ballpark, Nadir Basketball Court, and Ezra Fredericks Ballpark had yet to start.
