Last night, members of the City Council met with members of the Paterson Board of Education to determine what is to be done with Hinchliffe Stadium, a historical structure behind School Number 5 in a state of decrepitude.

The Paterson Historic Preservation Commission wants to designate the stadium as a local landmark, while the Board of Education wishes to preserve the current state of affairs without the local landmark designation; but both parties have an ingrained interest in seeing the stadium come back to life.

Board of Education members argued that designating the stadium as a historic sight would complicate the repair process by causing the price of repairs to increase; for it is more expensive to hire a historic preserver compared to an average repair company for renovation.

The board members’ position was rebutted by Martin Feitlowitz, chairman of the Paterson Historic Preservation Commission, who said the sight was already on the State’s list of historic landmark. And the chairman argued that historic preservation would add only a small amount of extra expense not a large chunk to worry anyone.

Both sides bickered while the City Council members shared their sappy stories of playing or spending time at the Hinchliffe Stadium, when it was a functional stadium.

As usual very little was accomplished.