A tale of two parks no more
Gerritsen Beach ballfi elds get much-needed cleanup after residents speak out
BY JESSICA PARKS
The Gerritsen Beach ballfi
elds suddenly underwent
landscaping at the end of August
after Brooklyn Paper reported
on residents’ outrage
over the unkempt fi elds.
“Late last week an army
of Parks Department workers
and fi ve tractors showed
up to cut the long overdue
grass in the ballfi elds and to
begin work on the fence line
and dugout cleanup,” wrote
Dave Reynolds, treasurer for
the Gerritsen Beach Property
Owners Association, in
a newsletter to the residents of
Gerritsen Beach on Aug. 31.
For almost a year, residents
of the southern Brooklyn
neighborhood have asked
the city to manage their three
ballfi elds on Gerritsen Avenue
— that have long sported
tall grass, weeds cropping up
in the sand of the baseball diamonds,
and vines overtaking
the fences and dugouts—
similar to the sports fi elds in
neighboring Marine Park.
“We always feel like we
are the stepchild,” said John
Mooney, president of the Gerritsen
YOUR PARTNER IN THE
STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE
BEST PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER
THANK YOU!
COURIER L 10 IFE, SEPT. 11-17, 2020
Beach Property Owners
Association. “Why take
care of one park and not take
care of the other?”
And on Aug. 27, two days
after Brooklyn Paper published
a story about the park’s
conditions, city landscapers
were seen mowing the grass at
the three unruly ballfi elds on
Gerritsen Avenue and beginning
to get to work on the thick
vines wrapping the fences—
much to the surprise of the
neighborhood’s residents.
“There is still some work to
do but certainly an improvement
over where we were a few
weeks ago,” Reynolds wrote.
Members of the Gerritsen
Beach Property Owners Association,
who have long been advocating
for the fi eld’s cleanup,
said they will continue to work
with the Parks Department to
obtain a more-regular landscaping
of the sports fi elds to
prevent them from again falling
into a state of neglect.
“We discussed ongoing initiatives
and perhaps betterscheduled
maintenance as well
as some preventive measures
to suppress some of the weed
growth,” Reynolds wrote.
One of the ideas fl oated between
the community group
and the city’s green space honchos
to deter weed growth is
laying down mulch, which
community volunteers are
asked to disperse if Parks
agrees to transport it to the
designated work areas.
“With a partnered effort I believe
we can obtain community
involvement to disburse mulch
accordingly,” Reynolds said.
A rep for the city’s Parks
Department, which has undergone
severe budget cuts due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, said
their employees are working
hard to regularly maintain
the borough’s green spaces.
“We are working tirelessly
throughout Brooklyn to provide
routine maintenance to
keep our parks beautiful. We
are pleased that the ballfi elds
at Gerritsen Beach recently
received some landscape improvements
including mowing
the lawn, weed removal, and
trimming the shrubs around
the guard rail and fences,”
said Anessa Hodgson. “We will
continue to make an effort to
upkeep our green spaces, and
ask parkgoers to show their
parks some love by taking out
what they bring in.”
Before and after the ballfi eld cleanup. Photo by Jessica Parks/Photo by John Mooney
BEST ATTORNEY AND
JOHN J. CIAFONE ESQ.
203 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
718-278-3900
johnjciafone@yahoo.com
NYS
Certified
EMT/EMS
BEST ATTORNEY
WINNER 4 YEARS IN A ROW!
BEST PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER
WINNER 3 YEARS IN A ROW!
Visit us at: www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
Visit us at: www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
Visit us at: www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
link
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
/www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
link