Mayor Joe Ganim announced on Friday a $10 million developer investment to create a community and educational squash sports facility in the Bull’s Head neighborhood along the Route 25-8 corridor just north of Downtown run by the New York City-based Squash & Education Alliance.
Squash is a fast-paced sport with a racket and ball that developers say has found a market niche in Connecticut including likewise locations in New Haven and Hartford.
News release from Mayor’s Office:
Earlier today, Mayor Ganim and the City of Bridgeport announced the construction of the SquashBridge Community Facility underneath the leadership of the Squash & Education Alliance (SEA). The facility will be built at 1673 Main Street and will be the host of four classrooms, seven indoor squash courts, and one outdoor steel squash court constructed with materials from Bridgeport’s Instel Steel.
“This is an exciting announcement to make as we welcome Squash & Education Alliance to Bridgeport,” stated Mayor Ganim. “The approach that Squash & Education Alliance has makes a large impact on our community as it incorporates athletics while fostering education for our youth. This will be a significant addition to Bridgeport and we’re grateful, not only for the investment in our community, but more specifically for our children.”
The Squash & Education Alliance is a network of 25 non-profit organizations throughout the nation that provides long-term support within the realms of squash (a sport comparable to racquetball), academics, college and career development, and mentoring. There are two squash facilities in Connecticut, both being in Hartford and New Haven. Bridgeport will be the third squash facility in the state and will be the home of the regional and national center for the entire network of the Squash & Education Alliance.
From Squash & Education Alliance:
Mission
SEA’s mission is to lead, launch, and strengthen youth programs that enable and empower students to access and succeed in quality educational, athletic, and career opportunities. To achieve our mission, we focus on three primary areas — growth, program quality, and student and alumni opportunities.
Growth: We team up with local leaders to launch new SEA programs in cities that can sustain and grow strong organizations over time. We also make financial grants to existing member organizations to help them increase enrollment and build facilities of their own.
Program Quality: We identify and promote the adoption of our model’s best practices through the sharing of information and ideas, metric-based evaluations of member programs, and professional development.
Student and Alumni Opportunities: We provide squash, academic, college preparation and career opportunities to participating elementary, middle and high school students from around the network. These opportunities include squash tournaments, summer training camps, elite squash development, summer scholarships to boarding schools and colleges, and civic leadership trips. SEA also provides scholarships, financial aid, and career readiness grants to alumni of our member organizations.
Well now! Who hasn’t heard of the Squash and Education Alliance?! I’m sure that they have $Billions$ and that they can’t wait to dump some of that $ in Bridgeport — just a couple of blocks from the grandly renovated Palace and Majestic Theaters and Hotel and the DownTown Ice Palace and Luxury Hotel complex across the street! I’m sure that this will come to fruition just in time to provide recreational opportunities to Bridgeport at-risk youth during the summer school vacation period!…
NOT….
Wow! The election-time, BS development announcements just keep coming without pause!… We’ll need a few more square miles of land in Bridgeport to accommodate all of this development!… (Oh yeah; we have the land for almost unlimited development — we have a dead, square-mile airport, what’s left of Beardsley Park, and, of course, the 300-acre Seaside Park…).
Good night, Joe(s)! Party on!
Just thinking… Doesn’t the Ganim Administration already have a Squash Bridgeport Education Program?!
Vote Ko-Nut
“I’m not better, I’m just different”
Ko-Nut Fantasy Island’s wind of change.
John Gomes Treasurer
(Don’t worry we’ll pay you)
Sorry to be crass about this, but someone must be financially mindful. The only mention, qualitatively and quantitatively of money, is $10 Million and non-profit. Square feet, number of employees, youth programs providing learning, safety and security and other City services required? Any payments to the City for the oppportunity to become, perhaps an international HQ, for this Squash promotional organization?
Mind you, this City has no Youth Activities Board or Committee with inclusion and diversity of membership who have studied sports and citizen wishes!!! Why not? We have private organizations doing a good job that have grown up in the region, but they were not present today for this pre-election presentation, or were possibly, off camera? Assuming there are 20,000 youth in the City on average, attending public, charter, parochial, or private schools, why no attention to out of school activity voices today? How many squash rackets are present and active seasonally in Bridgeport homes today? Why are those enthusiasts not present and promoting?
If the Squash and Education Alliance have been working on such ideas for Bridgeport since 2016, were they part of consideration when such courts may have been considered for the replacement of North End Boys Club? I noted that swimming pool were not considered in the re-build but paddle courts may have been.
And that brings me to a current bottom line. With no Board or Commission that deals specifically with Youth Recreation Opportunity and Planning, and considering 20,000 young folks, give or take who reside in a City with seafront, rivers, and a lake or two, where is the swimming program that offers all young people the learning experience of swimming skills and water safety, to be enjoyed for a lifetime? (A Bridgeport youth of 21 years died from drowning in a downcounty auto accident within the past two weeks.) I have asked before why the Parks and Rec program is limited to one or two classes, and a very “quiet marketing” presence annually. How many youths are considered for this Budget by the City Council? With 70% of residents racially and ethnically diverse, where is inclusive and equal programing? Time will tell.
I love a good Butternut Squash!
I’m thinkin’ braised short ribs over butternut squash risotto tonight.
World class pivot, Lennie. From a $10 million project in the City with no comment about several important issues to food in a meal soon to come. Perhaps this project is ready to go, with permits applied for, and shovels ready to proceed, which would make it unique from many of the “projects considered and considerable” that with pictures, but without fiscal substance are part of the Ganim2 narrative. Recall the most populous City in the State, without a hotel, and with no regular movie theater?? Squash will continue to be a food item, rather than a sports item known to Bridgeport families with youths for years to come, I predict. In that case as with other topics I cover, time will tell.
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Where is the menu in the City, or region, for that matter where the squash players live primarily, where the short ribs and butternut squash risotto are offered? Time will tell.
so help me understand. they are a non profit that will eat up more of Bridgeports limited space and not pay taxes because they are non profit. so how exactly does this benefit bridgeport?