History of S.I.T.R.A.C.
SI TRAC was formed in March of 1996
when a meeting of leaders from the running community was held at
Moore H.S. The purpose of this meeting was to resurrect a 60 year
old dream of having an indoor track facility on Staten Island. A
place to walk, train and compete for our running youth, athletes,
seniors and disabled. A Mecca of Track and Field for competition, as
well as providing a safe-haven for our community in inclement
weather.
Over 60 people filled the library
that evening as Staten Island A.C. President Bob Orazem directed the
attendees into thinking "Why can’t Staten Island have
its own Indoor Track?" Among those who spoke at the
original meeting was Dean of Staten Island track & field
coaching Bill Welsh and 1976 Olympian Bill Jankunis.
A petition drive was started and
information was sent out to all running groups and schools. In 1997
a flyer was developed by Pete Whitehouse and distributed that
highlighted the needs of the Staten Island Running Community. During
this time a community based Board of Directors was developed to
assist in the direction of the organization. TRAC was incorporated
at this time with the help of Larry Rampulla. We began to set the
dream in motion and developed a comprehensive strategy and business
plan to take this to the community leaders for their support.
In 2000, after several unsuccessful
attempts, a meeting was held with then Staten Island Borough
President Guy Molinari. Lorraine Lettieri prepared a power point
presentation that convinced the administration of the need for such
an Indoor Track & Field facility. Additionally we began to work
with the Parks Department in identifying state and city land
available to house such a facility. We were finally making progress
toward our goal and all indications were that Staten Island would
finally get the long-awaited Indoor Track.
In May of that year a press
conference was held in Borough Hall and the headline of the Staten
Island Advance the next day read " Indoor Track funded for
Staten Island" TRAC forged ahead with the
determination that such a historic announcement can set. An
additional meeting with the Staten Island Department of Parks had
them on board and the Borough President added more funding to the
Dept. of Parks budget for this exciting project. TRAC, at the
request of the Borough President’s office prepared a site
selection analysis. The site selected after careful evaluation was
Ocean Breeze. Funding of $ 12 Million was allocated in the Capital
budget by Mayor Giuliani
The project continued forward until
Sept. 11, 2001.
The devastation of
that day pushed the project so far off the burner it couldn’t be
seen as the citizens of NYC concerned themselves with more important
tasks. It took a few years to re-cover but our Mayor – Michael
Bloomberg and City Parks Commissioner – Benepe did not forget
their promise to the Staten Island Community. We felt the time was
right to resurrect the dream and take it forward.
The motivation of new
board member Jack Minogue breathed new life into TRAC in 2003, as
the group forged ahead with the same goal set in 1996. We have come
back together to insure the legacy is completed. Our Goal is to have
a World Class, State-of-the-Art Track Center completed as part of
the Ocean Breeze Project. We are hopeful that this Goal is finally
being reached…The rest of this story is still being written…
