Port Washington Police Athletic League Gets Revamp

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Stuart Lieblein remembers sitting inside the Port Washington Police Athletic League’s brick-front clubhouse on weekend nights as a teenager and thinking about how dilapidated it seemed.

He was volunteering for Paul D. Schreiber High School’s Safe Rides program which provided free taxi services for teenagers who had too much to drink and needed a ride home.

Like many other buildings in Port Washington, the clubhouse provided a community service, but it was considered somewhat of an eyesore on the inside and was only really used as a bathroom and storage area for the sports teams that used it.

“Everything in it was dilapidated,” said Lieblein, who has taken over PAL’s helm as president.

Since the 80s, the building has become more run down, its dugouts used to drink beer and sleep by vagrants, and in October, vandals painted swastikas inside the clubhouse in multiple spots, Lieblein said. In the months since then, the organization has elected new board members, and they have plans underway that will clean up the property and expand programs there.

“It will be a real feather in the cap of the community,” said Lieblein.

The organization, which is roughly 60 years old, has not been affiliated with the police department for some time and operates as a non-profit that relies on donations. More recently, volunteers were able to cobble together about $100,000 in private donations to undertake repairs and a GoFundMe account collected an additional $25,000 to assist with the removal of the swastikas.

The inside of the clubhouse, which Lieblein says has been dilapidated for 50 years, will soon be renovated with new bathrooms, walls and lighting, and its fireplace will be serviced. New lighting will also be installed outside, as well as an alarm system and security cameras for safety purposes.

Under the new plans, the clubhouse will no longer be used solely for storage, but it will instead have the ability to host events, if the occasion arises, and sports teams will be able to meet and review the films of their games, also.

“It will be a sanctuary for kids to get in out of the rain, out of the sun. It will be more useable than just a storage shed, and it will be clean,” Lieblein said.

Lieblein said that the league’s sports program has not been making money and that the board decided to revamp its programs with the help of volunteers. The sports program will soon be expanded and offered at prices “under market value prices” to parents.

The league currently hosts youth sports like soccer, girls softball, travel lacrosse, basketball, and summer camps, Lieblein said. The league will likely be adding two or three more travel lacrosse teams to its roster, and it will be setting up a FAST camp for between 70 and 80 children over the summer, he said.

In addition to Lieblein, new board members include Stephen Sombrotto, who will serve as vice president. Robert Nachimson will serve as treasurer, and Diana Polvere will serve as secretary. Tracy Lefkowitz and Thomas Scalise will serve as registrars.

Lieblein said the group brings a set of fresh ideas to the organization, and he is looking forward to the future.

“The board of trustees has revitalized our programs,” he said.