From 2017 to March 2022 former Brockton resident Mark Roukous was allowed to claim he was “prepping the site” and there were heated debates behind closed doors for a basic land sale of 22 acress owned by the city that under an RFP Mr. Roukous submitted for a 127,000 square foot indoor/outdoor sports complex like Forekicks in Taunton that never came.

It never was going to be a sports complex. Within a year of a June 2017 meeting at the Brookfield School led by Ward 6 Councilor Jack Lally and his family, Mr.Roukous with help from Lally claimed a pre-existing condition and that this type of operation had been at Romuva Park since the 1960s.

It was a complete, unadulterated lie and fabrication that neighbors and community leaders fought against for years but got nowhere because of the political ties Mr. Roukous has.

Mr. Roukous is Manthala “Matty” George’s nephew and Mr. Roukous is close friends with many, many city hall power brokers, including Mayor Robert Sullivan. Mayor Sullivan has disclosed his close personal ties to Mr. Roukous, but others who abused their power and authority did not.

Instead, Roukous created an illegal, unpermitted toxic waste dump—a transfer facility for dirty asphalt, brick and concrete, and house and building demolition full of asbestos, lead and arsenic—all in the middle of a residential neighborhood and under the false pretense of a sports complex.

The crushing and grinding for resale of the asphalt, brick and concrete, which contained asbestos, lead and arsenic, was uncontrolled and few, if any measures were taken to protect residents from the leaching of these toxic wastes into ground water or spreading over a large area in the form of heavy dust that seeped into homes, cars, noses, ears, mouths and throats.

The Avon reservoir downstream from the site was closed after a dramatic increase in PFAS, toxic chemicals

The crushing and grinding creates sillicate—which is as harmful as asbestos and cuts the lungs.

It was a harmful and damaging illegal business that was all done under the false pretense of a sports complex and with the aid and blessings of incumbent Ward 6 City Councilor Jack Lally and a handful of others at City Hall.

If Jack Lally and Mr. Roukous’ friends in City Hall had their way, the crushers and grinders and all of the other harmful operations in the site would be crushing and grinding as you read this.

It was horrible and cruel.

Vote for Lisa Crowley for Ward 6 City Council—the woman who knew how to stop it and did.

These photos and video are just some of what the Brockton Fake Sports Complex looked like. Because the debris piles blocked the view of most operations and dumping areas it is somewhat difficult to show the extent of the dumping and what they were dumping on a daily basis. Machines were fired up at 5, 5:15 and 5:30 a.m. from April to October, and dirty asphalt, brick and concrete dumpers overflowing tractor trailers and double tractor trailers, landscapers, with fertilizer and pesticide drenched lawn clippings and sod, asphalt dumpers, seal coating and paving companies, and house and building demolition contractors headed in and out often until 8:30-9 p.m. The crushing and grinding machines are excruciatingly loud and created a dust cloud over the whole neighborhood. Massive dust clouds that covered cars and seeped into homes and likely included crushed asbestos from the debris.