Why is the historic Bronx park next to Yankee Stadium falling apart despite City Council members raising millions to fix it?

Built directly on the footprint of the old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the park opened in 2010 as part of a deal to replace the loss of public parkland when the new stadium was built across the street. Yet, over the past decade, it has degraded into what local leaders call a symbol of “broken promises” to the South Bronx community.

Durga Sreenivasan, a New York-born community organizer and social media activist, raised awareness to this issue on Instagram. She highlighted the hazardous track, turf and bleacher fire at Macombs Dam Park in April 2026.

“This park specifically was just falling apart. I saw the field right after there was a huge fire. No one knows why the fire was started, which is very odd given there’s cameras everywhere, which ruined sports equipment for youth teams. The field itself has huge holes in them. It’s such a juxtaposition with Yankee Stadium standing in the background,” Sreenivasan said.

Sreenivasan said she’s not sure how NYC officials could allow Macombs Dam Park to reach this state. 

Local residents say they are disheartened by the state of the park and are not able to comfortably play or exercise at Macomb’s park because it’s falling apart. 

“Where the actual New Yorkers are, is where the least care is,” Sreenivasan said.

The park serves a neighborhood in the Bronx that ranks last in health outcomes among New York State counties.

“The worst part of this is going there and seeing Yankee Stadium in the background. It’s one thing for the Bronx to be neglected but to see it on the same block is horrifying. What does this city stand for? Does it care about the rich coming to see the Yankees games or what the residents feel about living in New York?” Sreenivasan said.

New York City Council member Althea Stevens, who serves over Congressional District 16, including the area around Yankee Stadium and Macombs Dam Park, told the Bronx Times that one of the top concerns from residents is the park.

“The track is literally falling apart. There’s patches missing. The gravel is very thin. The usage and maintenance have not been able to keep up,” Stevens said. “We have a beautiful field, Yankee Stadium, which was built around the same time as Macombs but that stadium is still up and running yet the park is not.”.

Stevens said she helped secure approximately $48 million – the largest amount of funding she has secured for any single project in her district – from the prior administration toward a complete repair of Macombs Dam Park. Yet, the full-scale renovation of the proposed project was approved at $54 million, leaving a multimillion-dollar funding gap that must be closed before the larger repairs can begin according to Stevens.

“I worked really hard to negotiate and secure the $48 million before the prior administration said they needed more. It becomes very frustrating as an elective since I’ve advocated to get such a large amount for one park,” Steven said. “Unfortunately, the way the process works for the parks department is that you need to have all of the funding before they can start some of the work.”

Stevens said she has been working with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to try to find out a way they can partner with outside organizations and agencies to raise the last few million dollars.

“I’ve done my part to secure that much money and I have a whole district to worry about. I’ve prioritized this park but the parks department needs to do their part as well,” Stevens said.

Stevens said that at the time, Macombs Park was built when the Yankees Stadium moved, but NYC Parks didn’t negotiate money for maintenance and upkeep of the park.

“Everyone was excited about a new additional park in the community but no one thought about how expensive it is to have and maintain,” Stevens said.

Rather than relying on temporary repairs, Stevens said she wants a long-term solution that establishes how the park will be maintained after it finally gets renovated.

“Parks performs routine cleaning and maintenance of the playing fields. Since 2018, Parks has performed dozens of repairs of the artificial turf field in an attempt to improve the safety and quality of the playing surface. We’re continuing to explore avenues for funding for a full capital overhaul of the field,” said Jude Faulkner, deputy press secretary for NYC Parks.

What local residents think

Donald, a resident local to the area, frequently visits the park and enjoys exercising in the calisthenics area. He noted that the NYC Parks department visited the area months ago and took notes to make a record of the necessary repairs. However, no repairs have been completed yet. 

“The track has been worn down by e-bikes and motorcycles. The track is supposed to be red but it has skid marks. The bleachers had a fire where the damage traveled down into a storage area and destroyed some of the equipment that’s used for sports within the park,” Donald said.

Concerning the $48 million raised to repair Macombs Dam Park, Donald believes those funds should be used to fix what’s necessary instead of waiting for additional funding.

“There’s an event called ‘Motivational Monday’ where we get about 100 kids coming here to do muscle-ups, handstands and show off their athletic skills. If the money’s there and something can be done now, that’ll be used quite literally every Monday for a major event,” Donald said.

Maintenance crews clean Macombs Dam Park daily by emptying waste bins, removing debris and providing additional staffing during the park’s busiest hours, Faulkner said. 

The agency said it has made dozens of repairs to the artificial turf since 2018 in an effort to improve the field’s safety and playing condition, while continuing to seek funding for a full capital overhaul.

A separate capital project to reconstruct Summit Playground is moving forward, with the design phase now complete, Faulkner added. Planned improvements include new play equipment, pathways, accessibility upgrades, security features and tree plantings.

The agency added that it continues to work with the New York Yankees, which has provided in-kind maintenance support and a new irrigation system for Heritage Field. Parks said discussions with the organization are ongoing about additional improvements to the fields.

“We are continuing discussions with the Yankees on other ways to collaborate towards improvements at the fields,” Faulkner said.

LaMont Jackson is an intern at the Bronx Times studying journalism at Hunter College. He can be reached at Ljackson@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!