Letter: Votee Park Improvements Worth the Cost

The following is a letter to the editor. To submit a letter, e-mail teaneck@patch.com

There is a lot of history to Votee Park, which until the mid-1960s was known as Central Park. It had been created from a marsh area during the 1930s as a public works project as part of the relief and recovery elements of the New Deal.

For most of its existence it has varied from an a multi-purpose recreational resource and a swamp. I grew across the street from Central Park, moving to a house on Queen Anne Road in 1947. It was our "front yard" for me and five siblings, a place where some played Jr. Ivy League soccer and/or football and a park where I worked as a playground leader for four summers in the early 1960s.

Finally, I coached JV soccer and baseball teams who played home games on the ball fields in the park. There are many more chapters to any "Votee Park" story than can be explored in the exchanges on The Patch. Some of your readers may recall and add to how the connections they made with Central Votee Park are firmly set in their memories.

It might have some value to have readers write about some of their own "Back in the Day" stories, without embellishment. The park is a resource for the entire Township and putting it into better shape will be worth the cost and effort.

David Rabadan

Annandale, Va.