City scraps plans for Gravesend park
Decision comes after locals protested the conversion of a local schoolyard
BY JESSICA PARKS
A group of educators, politicians,
and parents rallied on
June 14 against a plan to convert
a Gravesend schoolyard
into a public park — and by
the next day, the city reportedly
scrapped the plan.
“After listening to community
feedback, this project
will no longer move forward,”
wrote Laura Feyer, the deputy
press secretary to the mayor,
in an email to Brooklyn Paper.
The Parks Department’s
initial proposal would have
poured $4.5 million into IS
228’s schoolyard for public
amenities — opening it up to
the public, as opposed to just
the building’s sixth-througheighth
grade students during
school hours.
Prior to the mayor’s reversal,
protesters — led by Assemblymember
William Colton and
the school’s principal, Dominick
D’Angelo — gathered in front of
the Avenue S school hoisting
signs that said, “Go park your
park somewhere else,” and “No
park in our yard.”
The group blasted the plan
as outdated and inconsiderate
of the school’s growth, and of
its needs during the pandemic.
“This project was spoken
about ten years ago, and ten
years ago, when we had 800
students, it made some sense,”
D’Angelo told Brooklyn Paper.
“Now, we have over 1,600
students coming out of a pandemic.
COURIER L 20 IFE, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021
We are overcrowded.”
David A. Boody Junior High
School has nearly doubled in
size over the past ten years, according
to education watchdog
organization InsideSchools.
“Almost ten years ago, this
school was a very different
school,” said Colton, crediting
D’Angelo for “turning the
school around.”
But it’s more than just a bad
idea, the pol contended. Colton
argued that the city didn’t conduct
any outreach to community
advisory groups — claims
supported by both Community
Board 11 and Community
Education Council 21.
“This project was not presented
to Community Board
11 for review, nor was it listed
in the board’s geographical
capital commitment plan,
and there was no community
input,” wrote Marnee Elias
-Parvia, district manager of
CB11 in a Dec. 16, 2020 letter
addressed to Mayor Bill de
Blasio and city Parks Commissioner
Mitchell Silver.
Though some stakeholders
stand opposed to the planned
conversion, others argue that
the schoolyard is being used
as a parking lot for the school’s
administration and that it
would get more use if it were
open to the public.
“Call it what it is, a Parking
Lot,” tweeted Kings County
Democratic County Committee
member Megan DiMotta. “Congratulations
on taking a public
park away from children so you
can park a bunch of cars.”
Bensonhurst and its surrounding
neighborhoods have
less park area than most other
city districts, with only 2 percent
of the area’s 3,700 acres
dedicated to green space, according
to a recent report.
Community District 11
— which encompasses Bath
Beach, Gravesend, Mapleton,
and Bensonhurst — has just
61 acres worth of parkland,
according to the 2021 Open
Spaces Profi les report published
by the advocacy organization,
New Yorkers for Parks.
Of 59 community districts,
CD11 ranks 55th when it comes
to percentage of parkland.
Colton — who claims he is
one of 15 members of the state
Assembly who automatically
vote against any bill that focuses
on eradicating a park
— also pointed to another park
just down the street as another
reason the city’s plan is
not needed. “Four blocks away
— you can almost see it on Mc-
Donald Avenue — is the Mc-
Donald Playground, it’s not
like there is no park here.”
Though the city has
scrapped the plans for IS 228,
Colton told Brooklyn Paper
that there are other schools
in the city that might be interested
in this sort of project.
As for his district?
“This is not wanted, it’s
not needed,” he maintained.
“There are other communities
that would love to have this,
who need it.”
Kids at play in the IS 228’s schoolyard. Photo by Jessica Parks
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