Neighborhoods meet with Navy athletic director

Naval Academy Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk talked with about 40 Admiral Heights and Germantown-Homewood residents in a neighborhood meeting at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Aug. 27.

Gladchuk told the residents the Naval Academy Athletic Association (NAAA) takes pride in the stadium. This is illustrated by the stadium’s ranking in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The stadium is ranked first among the facilities in the 12-member sports league. It’s also ranked as the No. 1 place to visit.

To maintain the stadium’s standard of excellence, the NAAA staff meets weekly year round to address any issues that arise. In 2017 Gladchuk began meeting annually with the residents in the communities surrounding the stadium because Navy Athletics also prides itself on being a good neighbor.

Since then “neat things” have happened. Each year a list of “action items” is developed. The next year the list is reviewed to see what progress has been made in tackling these items.

Communication has always been a key issue. Last year and this year Gladchuk made available refrigerator magnets with the NAAA hotline number (410-295-0088) on them. Last year a new website debuted to make it easy to find out about stadium events. The calendar has recently been updated. Go to https://navysports.com, click on Athletic Dept., and then on N-MCMS calendar.

NAAA continues to work on noise and safety issues and has opened up the stadium for neighborhood events. In July it held a movie night at the stadium that was so successful that it plans on having four movie nights in 2020. The Germantown-Homewood Community Association held a wine party in the stadium’s Akerson Tower, and the Admiral Heights Community Association plans to hold its general membership meeting there.

Gladchuk also introduced the concept of a multi-purpose facility on Taylor Avenue. “It’s pure concept,” he stressed. “No nails, no bulldozers, no ribbon cutting … this is purely speculative.”

He visualizes a visitors’ welcoming center similar to what exists in Williamsburg, Va. He conceived the idea back when Ellen Moyer was mayor of Annapolis (2001 – 2009), but the time never seemed right to pursue it.

“Nothing can happen unless everyone buys into it,” he says. For the idea to be viable, it would need state, county and city support as well as the Navy, individual supporters, and community residents. The process would take years, but the question is: “Is it worth pursuing?”

Gladchuk was encouraged by the response to his vision. “Everyone seemed to be intrigued,” he said, “and not a single person said, ‘Hell no!’”