BEVERLY — High school students turned out in force at City Hall Monday night to protest getting “kicked out” of Pete’s Park by the city’s parks and recreation director.
Beverly High School senior Alex O’Neil and parent Michael Reynolds told city councilors that a group of high school students were playing basketball on Saturday morning as part of a senior project when they were told by Parks and Recreation Director Bruce Doig to leave or he would call police.
“It was extremely disappointing to plan all this and not have the respect or support of the city that I grew up in, and now vote in,” O’Neil told city councilors in front of a crowd of about 100 people in the council chambers. A group of about 30 high school students in the audience exploded in applause and gave repeated standing ovations to O’Neil and Reynolds.

O’Neil said he and his friends were playing basketball as part of a senior project, a three-on-three basketball league they named the “Pete’s Park Association.” Pete’s Park, located in a neighborhood on Middlebury Lane in the Centerville section of the city, was dedicated in 2018 in honor of Pete Frates, the Beverly resident whose battle against ALS helped raise millions of dollars for research into the paralyzing disease. Frates died in 2019 at age 34.
O’Neil said he and his friends Matthew Stevenson and Aidan Mountain organized the league as a way to bring their friends together for their last summer before they go off to college. He said they also wanted to “pay homage to Pete Frates” and support ALS research.
“Pete’s is a public park, and it is being treated like it is private,” O’Neil told councilors. “We felt as though he was using the permit idea as a way of excluding us rather than including us.”
Doig was in the audience at City Hall but did not speak. Asked later about the incident, Doig said he told the students to leave because they did not have a permit for what he said was an “organized event.”
“Our policy is very clear,” Doig said. “It’s on the front page of our website. An organized group has to have a permit to use the facility.”
Doig said a permit is not required to play pickup basketball, but he said the group of students had a referee and a scorekeeper and thus were considered to be running an organized event. “That’s not pickup by any means,” he said.
Doig said he did not think a neighborhood park like Pete’s Park was the appropriate place for an organized event. He told the students they could move their league to Balch Playground or the McPherson Youth Center courts.

"I’m being made to be the bad guy because I’m trying to enforce a policy that’s been in effect since 2003,” Doig said of the permit process.
Reynolds, whose son was among the players, said he was at the park watching the games when Doig arrived. He criticized Doig for calling the players “lazy” because they said they wanted to play on the smaller court at Pete’s Park. The players said the smaller court is better suited for 3-on-3 basketball.
“This entire thing reeks of NIMBYism,” Reynolds told councilors. “Neighbors appear to be bitter that the park was rehabilitated and have the head of Parks and Rec on speed dial.”
Reynolds said the students were well behaved and were not swearing or yelling. O’Neil said they brought their own trash bags to make sure they left no trash behind.
The only city councilor to comment during the meeting was Ward 6 Councilor Matt St. Hilaire, who represents the area. St. Hilaire said neighbors of Pete’s Park have complained in the past about noise, traffic and public urination. But he said, “These kids have done nothing wrong.”
“These are good kids and they’re angry about how they were treated,” St. Hilaire said.
Mayor Mike Cahill did not speak during the meeting, but he met with the three student organizers after the meeting and said they would get together to resolve the problem.
“They’re a good group of young people and their project idea is a good one,” Cahill said. “We’re looking into how best we can support them.”