FEB 3, 2021 — It is with the greatest pleasure to announce that the RFP for the Brentwood State Park, formerly Pilgrim State Soccer Fields and home to the Brentwood Youth Soccer Club since 1978, has been cancelled. Over 5,300 people signed our petition opposing this RFP that would have crippled our programs and brought insurmountable hurdles to our youth. Brentwood Soccer club was key in getting the property pulled from the development plan when it was put up for sale back in 1998. The recently departed Jerry Wolkoff who was the buyer of the Pilgrim State Psychiatric facility, upon learning of the hardship it would have caused for the club and the children, simply returned the property to the State Department of Mental Health, which led to the transfer of ownership to the State Park in order to preserve it for the community. As one of the county’s largest private landowners turning down profits for the good of the community, he was one of the most disappointed about the RFP as it was not what the property, he gave back, was meant for. He stood up with us along with hundreds of others a year ago at the rally held at the park to oppose the RFP. Brentwood Soccer Club is a massive asset to the community, and to our High School in their capture of multiple State and National titles as well as being an essential tool in the success of a number of professional players in various nations that have come out of the Club. Our coaching staff is dotted with former Pro and National team players from various nations.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the State for doing right by our community; all of you who have signed our petition, the hundreds of you who attended our rally last year with the help of Legislator Sam Gonzalez, our friends from the Travel Baseball, and other community groups, as well as others who have sent out letters on our behalf. Thank you for your support in our fight to protect our fields; we could not have done it without you. We look forward to our continued collaboration with the State Park to advance our community project, continue to serve our youth with quality fields and cherish our once a dust bowl to our community jewel, our home, for many more decades to come.