The Butch Duhe Playground gymnasium, closed since the onset of the pandemic, will once again host games after the Kenner City Council approved an agreement with a private sports company.
Under the agreement, NOLA Sports Center will renovate the building — which has concrete floors and flooded in Hurricane Ida — and install artificial turf to outfit it for an indoor soccer program, the only of its kind in the area in a public gymnasium.
“This is us trying to get organizations to come in and put sports back in these neighborhood playgrounds, and it doesn’t cost the city much of anything; they pay us,” Mayor Michael Glaser said at the City Council meeting on Friday.
The public-private partnership comes as recreation departments across the United States struggle to enroll participants and find volunteer coaches. Last month, the Kenner council deferred a motion to create a similar agreement with NOLA Sports Center at Lincoln Manor Playground, to supplement the after-school programming, after opposition from nearby residents.
The agreement
Under the agreement at Butch Duhe, NOLA Sports Center will spend at least $20,000 renovating the gym. The company will also pay about $1,000 in monthly rent to City Hall and cover utilities, which cost Kenner more than $20,000 last year. In return, the company may use the gym to host its programs.
“We’re actually – I don’t want to say making money – but we’re better off,” said Natalie Newton, Glaser’s deputy chief administrative officer. “It’s not going to cost us any more than we’re spending today, and we can actually take that utility money and put it back into other recreation programs.”
Rafael Carmona, founder of NOLA Sports Center, said there will be mini-soccer kicks program, a skills development program for 3-year-olds and drop-in play sessions that supplement soccer academies and clubs. Sessions typically cost $16, he said, but pricing may differ in Kenner.
NOLA Sports Center will also offer Kenner residents free programs ranging from after-school play to health and wellness sessions for parents and kids. It also plans kickball, lacrosse and flag football.
Participation in recreation sports at Butch Duhe, like other playgrounds, has dwindled. City Council member George Branigan said that four kids signed up for baseball, one for softball, three for boys basketball and none for girls basketball.
Newton said Lincoln Manor, Buddy Lawson and Butch Duhe playgrounds have the lowest participation rates of playgrounds in Kenner.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow but it’s the facts. … The good old days are gone,” council member Ronnie Scharwarth said. “I wish I could keep [Butch Duhe] open, but it is not fiscally sound and hurts the recreation financially where there is not enough money to begin with.”
Newton said Kenner’s most successful programs “are those we have with public-private partnerships.”
Agreements of a similar nature are already in place throughout Kenner, Glaser said. Butch Duhe baseball fields already have agreements with East Bank Little League, and Archbishop Chapelle High School and Mount Carmel Academy have a similar agreement with Muss Bertolino Playground and Coconut Beach for beach volleyball, Glaser said.
Community input
Council member Tom Willmott, who cast the lone “no” vote Friday, said he has heard from residents opposed to the agreement.
“This is not being vetted right with this community,” he said. “If it’s a government property, if it’s a city property it should be vetted. It should be clear that the citizens do not have a problem with it. They should understand and have the opportunity to understand what’s going on with that gym.”
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