SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: Retrofresh via flickr

The efforts of local politicians to beautify their neighborhoods is easily reflected in the quality of parks. The New York Times is reporting that quality of local parks depends not on how much private donations buffer parks budgets, or even on how much the city doles out, but on how hard local councilmembers work to steer funds to the Parks Department.

The Times details the contrast between Kelly Park in Sheepshead Bay and Canarsie Park, located just five miles down the road. It’s not just a tale of two parks in neighboring council districts, but a tale of two councilmembers:

On a sun-splashed afternoon in late spring, Abigail Mastroserio, 2, scampered in the playground at Kelly Park, in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. It was not long before she tripped on uneven cobblestones near the faded play equipment. Her mother, Melia, could not even comfort her daughter with a sip of water from the water fountain. It was broken. “This park used to look better when I was a kid,” said Ms. Mastroserio, 38, who grew up nearby.

Barely five miles away, a different scene unfolded in Canarsie Park, where young families explored a newly renovated nature trail, complete with fitness equipment, and athletes practiced on a recently installed cricket field. In an elaborate new skate park, teenagers and others careered over stair sets and ledges, and swooped on a half-pipe. “We love this place,” said James Belly, a 26-year-old skateboarder. “We’d be pleased with anything since we had nothing before. But this is something of real quality.”

According to the Times, the reason why Canarsie Park is beautiful and Kelly Park is falling apart is the difference between the priorities and political clouts of the councilmembers representing the areas. Councilman Lew Fidler, who represents the Canarsie section of Brooklyn made sure to direct $18 million for parks over his 12 years in office, with $13 million coming in the last three fiscal years alone. Michael Nelson, who represents the parts of Sheepshead Bay that cover Kelly Park, has steered a paltry $1 million over the past years in comparison.

Fidler expressed pride in his efforts to keep the Brooklyn parks in his communities beautiful.

“Because I represent the hinterlands of Brooklyn, I know that our parks are not going to be the priority that some of the chichi parks are in Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan,” Fidler told the Times. “I made a commitment that just as the people of my district were not second-class citizens, they weren’t going to have second-class parks.”

Nelson was criticized by Julius Spiegel, the former Brooklyn borough commissioner for the Parks Department.

“It’s a pittance compared to what Lew Fidler gave, and the parks in Michael Nelson’s district show it,” Spiegel said.

Looking to address the inequality of small city parks, often brought on by inaction of local politicians, the nonprofit advocacy group “New Yorkers for Parks” has drawn up a program that calls for more financing for park maintenance, among other issues:

“Scores of neighborhood parks have not benefited from the huge influx of capital dollars that has flowed into the handful of large parks targeted by the administration for upgrades,” the platform asserts. The dependence on elected officials to finance modest capital projects — a playground renovation, a new roof on a comfort station, new paving — “creates an inefficient, inequitable and potentially politicized process,” the platform said.

New Yorkers for Parks are looking to present their platform before mayoral candidates and local community boards across the five boroughs.

Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was highly defensive on the way the city spends on parks.

“Our parks system was just rated second-best in the nation thanks to the unprecedented investments we’ve made to park improvements and development projects across the city. Of course we have to prioritize projects based on needs and goals,” Passalacqua told the Times.

Spiegel believes that more money for parks is needed in a city that has 1,700 parks.

“Compared to other boroughs, we did O.K. But there are dozens and dozens of projects that aren’t getting done. We’re O.K. at picking up the garbage. But when you scratch below the surface, there are serious infrastructure problems,” Spiegel said.

Richard Landman and representatives from the Roma community unveiled the new stone honoring Roma and Sinti victims at a May 5 ceremony.

Salgado (Source: Erick Salgado for Mayor)

Long-shot mayoral candidate Erick Salgado is entering the fray over Sheepshead Bay’s Holocaust Memorial Park, blasting the Parks Department for allowing the addition of stones memorializing non-Jewish victims.

A press release issued last week to Russian and Jewish news outlets but obtained by Sheepshead Bites quotes Salgado calling the installation of five new stones for non-Jewish victims “a betrayal of the community and even worse, disrespectful to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.”

The stones, which honor groups including the disabled, Roma, homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses, were dedicated during a May 5 ceremony marred by a protest led by City Council candidate and Holocaust Memorial Committee member Ari Kagan. The protesters claimed that the group of activists who successfully pushed the new stones through had pulled an end-run around the committee, by going through the Parks Department.

Richard Landman, the gay son of Holocaust survivors who spearheaded the initiative for the stones, said that those allegations are phony, and that he had attempted to go through the committee and was repeatedly denied – with no explanation – over the course of 15 years. Landman, an attorney, complained to the city that the committee’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious,” and in violation of the state constitution. The Parks Department established an appeals process for the memorial as a result, and created a Blue Ribbon advisory panel to review Landman’s request – ultimately greenlighting it.

The stones were installed in June 2012, and dedicated on May 5, 2013.

But Salgado, a conservative reverend from Staten Island, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor, sided with Kagan and the committee, claiming that the Parks Department should have ceded the decision on the stones to the local committee, in accordance with their Memorandum of Understanding.

“It is of great concern that a bureaucracy such as the Parks Department would take action that is counter to the community’s wishes, especially when it involves the memory of the six million who perished in the Holocaust and the thousands of Holocaust survivors and their families who visit the memorial each year,” Salgado said. “Was the proper decision pushed to the side by political concerns?”

Here’s the press release in full:

May 8, 2013

Mayoral Candidate Erick Salgado Blasts Parks Department’s Action

Controversial Memorial Stones Installed in Holocaust Memorial Park Without Community’s Approval

Mayoral Candidate Erick Salgado has termed the New York City Parks Department’s move to install five controversial memorial stones in Sheepshead Bay’s Holocaust Memorial Park, “a betrayal of the community and even worse, disrespectful to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.”

Salgado was referring to the Parks Department’s installation of large stones with inscriptions memorializing such groups as asocial elements (alcoholics and lesbians), political prisoners, Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals. The inclusion of these stones was contrary to the wishes of the Board of the Holocaust Memorial Committee, which under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Parks Department has been administering the memorial since its dedication in 1997.

The five stones were installed unceremoniously last July, but an unveiling ceremony was held Sunday by several organizations from outside the community.

“It is of great concern that a bureaucracy such as the Parks Department would take action that is counter to the community’s wishes, especially when it involves the memory of the six million who perished in the Holocaust and the thousands of Holocaust survivors and their families who visit the memorial each year. Was the proper decision pushed to the side by political concerns?” Salgado asked.

A group of activists unveiled five new stones memorializing non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust at Sheepshead Bay’s Holocaust Memorial Park this weekend, capping off nearly two decades of fighting for the right against a local committee opposed to the installation.

The stones, dispersed throughout the public park, remember the persecution of homosexual victims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the disabled, Roma and Sinti, and “asocials.” The unveiling ended nearly 20 years of struggle for broader recognition within the park. Members of the Holocaust Memorial Committee, charged with reviewing and approving the placement of new names and markers, held a protest led by City Council candidate Ari Kagan, who complained that the group of “outsiders” went over the committee’s head in getting approval to place the stone, and represented a threat to the memory of Jewish victims.

Keep reading, and view photos of the event and the new stones.

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!

After a decade of construction, numerous stumbles and some lessons learned about environmental infrastructure, the Carmine Carro Community Center is now open to the public. Elected officials and the Carro family snipped the ribbon Friday morning, and park officials gave tours of the facility throughout the afternoon.

“The jewel of this community, Marine Park, now has its crown,” declared Charles D’Alessandro, Carmine Carro’s son-in-law who spoke on behalf of the family.

With a few friendly jibes about the long delays, D’Alessandro and the numerous elected officials who spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony lauded the Parks Department for completing the first city building certified as LEED – an ambitious environmental standard.

Continue Reading »

Source: 10000birds.com

If you are unemployed, between the ages of 18 and 24, and looking for a good paying job, than this may be the opportunity for you. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is hiring 200 people to help with the “clean-up, restoration, and reconstruction of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge,” according to a post on Workforce1. The job is full-time and will pay employees $11 per hour.

It is preferred that the candidates live near the Jamaica Bay area but all applicants from NYC will be considered.

No formal education is required. These are the tasks the website stated would be preformed by workers:

• Working with NYCParks’ Natural Resources Group (NRG) and Natural Area Volunteers (NAV) to restore natural areas, woodlands, wetlands, and parkland in and around the Jamaica Bay Area
• Removal of tree debris, tree care, and potential new tree planting
• Trail creation and restoration
• Removal of wood, metals, docks, concrete, housing, boats, and other inorganic floatables from the sand areas inJamaicaBaypark
• Community outreach and educational efforts including needs surveys, customer satisfaction assessments, and interventions for residents of surrounding areas

All applications must be submitted today!

To apply fill out the form here.

Thanks to Councilman Lew Fidler’s office for tipping us off to this.

A staffer for Councilman Lew Fidler sent us the following note yesterday.

Today, Council Member Lew Fidler was informed that vandal(s) broke into the portable trailers, which have been used as a comfort station in Marine Park (near Fillmore Avenue), and caused damage.

The Parks Department is aware of the problem and Council Member Fidler has asked Parks to work as quickly as possible to make the necessary repairs. However, there will be no restroom facilities at this location for the next few days.

In the meantime, park goers can feel free to utilize the restroom facilities located at the Marine Park Environmental Center on Avenue U.

In lieu (Lew? [or, for a certain reporter who can't spell, Lou]) of a photo, please see the accompanying illustration.

UPDATE (5:50 p.m.): Turns out ninjas had nothing to do with it. This just in from Councilman Fidler’s office:

Councilman Fidler received an update today that the damage to the temporary comfort station in Marine Park was not the work of humans, as originally believed, but of animals. Further inspection today revealed that insulation was torn off and the heating element, used to prevent the pipes from freezing, was damaged. Without proper heat, the pipes to the station froze. Crews are working to repair the heating system and defrost the pipes. The current cold weather makes repairs more difficult but we have been told that a Parks Dept. crew is working to restore service.

I have long said we need to get the animals out of the parks. We look forward to Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal banning wildlife from using Parks Department land. All squirrels found in violation will receive a fine for 125 acorns, though observers already believe there will be lax enforcement due to a shortage of Parks Enforcement agents.

Source: Google Maps

After years of delays and millions of dollars over budget, Marine Park residents are still without a much-anticipated community center. And the project is now one of the most notable in the city as an example of the Parks Department’s waste and inefficiency.

The community center, located at the northern end of Marine Park at Fillmore Avenue was touted in a new report by New York City Comptroller John Liu that blasted the Parks Department for “not carrying out and overseeing capital construction projects in a timely and cost effective manner.”

According to  the report, which audited Parks projects conducted in fiscal year 2010-2011, the agency was late on delivering 47 percent of the 315 capital construction projects completed. On average, the projects were 218 days late, nearly double the estimated time for completion.

And it’s not just a matter of delays keeping parks closed from the public. They’re racking up a price tag. Thirty projects combined to run up a tab of $10 million in cost overruns. And bungling by consultants and designers cost the city an additional $4 million to correct, an amount the agency failed to recoup despite clauses in contracts that require contractors to return the money to taxpayers.

The Marine Park Community Center, though, remains particularly galling. Its numbers are not included in the tally above – as Liu’s team only looked at projects completed during the audit period – though it earned some honorable mentions.

Continue Reading »

Source: Paul J Everett/Flickr

Ice skating is one of the most romantic activities in New York City, at least according to all the TV shows and movies. Because of this, you can be damned sure that hipsters of all stripes will be eager to hit the rinks when air freezes in a month or two. Sadly, they’ll have to trek far outside the comfort zones of their favorite neighborhoods to do so.

According to the Village Voice, plans to open up all of Brooklyn’s ice rinks have been delayed this year, leaving only Southern Brooklyn locations for the borough’s 2.5 million residents.

On the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, plans to convert the recently opened McCarren Park Pool into a skating rink fell through due to a missed September deadline caused by limited cash flow (what, no trust fund?).

With their own neighborhood offering no ice, desperate romantics of North Brooklyn would most likely try to flock to Prospect Park’s rinks, but would quickly discover that the massive $74 million dollar Lakeside Project has temporarily closed those rinks down this winter as well.

With the trendiest spots unavailable, a premium will be put on the touristy rinks of Central Park. And, really, if you flew all the way here from some cow-town just so you could say, “Like, yah, I’m from Brooklyn,” would you go skating in Manhattan’s Central Park?

That just leaves the rinks we have down here, the Aviator Sports & Events Center at 3159 Flatbush Avenue, and the Abe Stark Rink at Coney Island Boardwalk and West 19th Street. Locals, look out.

As we reported last week, the Army Corp of Engineers began the process of restoring Plumb Beach by pumping more than 127,000 cubic yards of sand into the eroded stretch.

The video above shows you exactly what you’d expect sand pumping to look like, with a motorized plume of sand exploding onto the coastline in a near continuous stream. The sand itself is coming from Ambrose Channel, one of the city’s navigational waterways that serves commercial vessels coming and going from New York Harbor.

The process of pumping sand onto the beach is part of effort’s first phase, which should be completed in November.

The restoration of Plumb Beach, which was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Ida in 2009, is expected to be completed in 2013 at a cost of $6.5 million dollars.

The parking lot is temporarily closed to visitors.

Rod Roddenberry (Source: Google+ Profile)

Clean, dive, and rock out where no one has cleaned, dived, or rocked out before at Kaiser Park on Saturday, October 20.

The “Beneath the Sea Waterfront Celebration and Coastal Clean-Up” event brings together partners from the Avenue P Project, Beneath the Sea, Inc., Brooklyn Community Board 13, City Parks Foundation Coastal Classroom, Cultural Research Divers, John Dewey High School, The New York City Aquarium, Partnerships for Parks Catalyst Program and the Roddenberry Dive Team for a massive day long extravaganza of fun, education, sports, music, and entertainment.

The day’s events listed on the Kaiser Park Facebook event page include the beach cleanup, scuba diving and hard-hat diving, marine education exhibits and demonstrations, art exhibits, arts and craft activities like pumpkin painting, robots that go underwater, waterfront walking tour, football clinic, and music.

Best of all, you get to meet WABC Weatherman Bill Evans and the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Rod! We’re not sure how many Star Trek questions Rod Roddenberry can answer, but he is the leader of the famed Roddenberry Dive Team, which figures to be a key focus of the events activities.