BROOKLYN
P’Park gets historic $40 million city investment
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Brooklyn’s backyard is set
to get a major spruce-up, with
$40 million in city funds heading
to restore the Vale, a tranquil
oasis in Prospect Park’s
northeast section, Mayor Bill
de Blasio announced Dec. 16.
The investment is the single
largest budget allocation
in history, Hizzoner said, for
a park that he is known to love
and frequent, and which he on
Thursday called “one of the
greatest egalitarian experiences
in all of New York City.”
“I wanted to make sure what
we did would have a profound
impact,” the outgoing mayor
said before presenting a giant
check to the nonprofi t Prospect
Park Alliance, which stewards
the beloved green space.
The Prospect Park Vale is
largely a wooded area that sits
on 26 acres nestled between
the bike loop to the west, Flatbush
Avenue to the east, Grand
Army Plaza to the north, and
the zoo to the south. At its heart
sits the Children’s Pool, also
known as the “Vale of Cashmere,”
Film crews’ helping hand
COURIER L 18 IFE, DEC. 24–30, 2021
an idyllic oval lined
with red brick surrounding a
pond teeming with wildlife.
“At the heart of the park sits
the historic Vale, 26 of the most
serene and beautiful acres in
Brooklyn,” said Parks Commissioner
Gabrielle Fialkoff at the
project’s unvaleing. “The Vale is
poised for a long-overdue revitalization
and transformation that
will benefi t generations of future
Brooklynites and New Yorkers.”
The Parks Department
had been engaging with community
members for the past
several years on how specifi -
cally to reimagine this area
of the park, which when fi rst
built was some of the most renowned,
beautiful green space
in the city, but over the years
was allowed to fall into disrepair.
The area once featured a
rose garden, after previously
hosting the park’s fi rst carousel,
but the site festered in
disuse after the opening of the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden and
the relocation of its roses.
The Vale of Cashmere, for its
part, was designed as an idyllic,
isolated pond with fountains,
where children could sail miniature
boats and adults could
contemplate the very nature of
existence in the company of ample
wildlife and rare plants.
As part of the reimagining,
the south-end of the Vale
will become the site of a “sensory
garden and a rustic arbor,”
said Alliance president
Sue Donoghue, as well as a
new amphitheater, comfort
stations (which she said is one
of the most frequent requests
the Alliance gets), and an area
where children and families
can partake in “nature play,”
a form of recreation which has
become ever more cherished
during the pandemic.
The Vale of Cashmere,
meanwhile, will undergo extensive
renovation with the
aim of restoring it to its original
19th-century splendor.
Prospect Park has been the
site of several restorations in
recent years: the city has installed
new entrances and
built a protected bike lane
along the Flatbush Avenue
perimeter, as well as the restoration
of woodlands heavily
impacted by Hurricane
Sandy. The city also restored
the Endale Arch to fl amboyant
wooden grandeur, and is
in the process of restoring the
arch at Grand Army Plaza.
Last week, park honchos
broke ground on the last leg of
restoration for the park’s Long
Meadow Ballfi elds.
“As a very proud Brooklynite,
it was important to me
as my administration ended to
do all I could for this park,” de
Blasio said. “Because this park
has done so much for all of us.”
BY CAROLINE OURSO
Teamsters of Local 817 and
other members of the New
York fi lm industry are banding
together to help victims
of the recent record-breaking
tornado that devastated Kentucky
on Dec. 10.
Zach Badalucco, a Brewster,
New York native, started a Go-
FundMe in the days following
the natural disaster, calling
for both physical and monetary
donations to “donate directly
to Kentucky tornado
victims.”
As of Friday, Badalucco’s efforts
had raised nearly $13,000
and fi lled an 18-wheeler with
a variety of supplies such as
water, shoes and wheelchairs
for those in need after their
homes and workplaces were
destroyed by the deadliest
storm in Kentucky’s history.
“We have the resources
with Teamsters,” he said from
nearby the effort’s Greenpoint
collection center on Diamond
Street. “We’ve got set decorators,
costume designers, and
they always have a lot of stuff
that they donate usually to different
causes in the city when
they’re done using them.”
Time is of the essence, he
added. “Those in need, need
help fast. This is a sprint, not
a marathon.”
After getting the okay from
Local 817’s President Tom
O’Donnell, Badalucco, a 12-
year union member, was able
to research for mutual aid
groups in Kentucky with the
help of Julie Ivers, who works
as a production assistant but
is not a union member. That’s
when volunteers were connected
to Jarod Hines with the
Rise and Shine Organization,
Badalucco said.
“He’s connected with a mutual
aid group that is good at
fi nding people in need,” Ivers
said. “A lot of people don’t
know the resources available
to them, or they’re too afraid
to reach out.”
“Jarod enlisted to be our
contact on the ground,” said
Badalucco on the GoFundMe’s
page, “and will make sure all
the supplies get into the hand
of those who need them most.”
“This way they get the stuff
immediately,” he told Brooklyn
Paper. “We’re not wasting
any time.”
Wesley Hubschmitt, a Long
Island native and Teamster
for nine years, towed the fi rst
haul all 14-odd hours to Kentucky
over the weekend.
Hubschmitt is no stranger
to long-distance driving for
work, but this will be his fi rst
solo trip.
“It’ll all work out,” he said
with a smile after happily announcing
to Badalucco and
Ivers he’d received the offi -
cial go-head to leave Saturday
morning.
Badalucco and Ivers plan to
take the money raised via the
GoFundMe and send another
truck down at a later date.
“We’ll send them all brand
new batteries, socks, other
stuff that’s great to have,” said
Badalucco. “We’ve done this
before.”
Badalucco is indeed no
stranger to fundraising during
a crisis. During the spring
of 2020, in response to the start
of the global pandemic New
York City is still grappling
with, he started a different
GoFundMe and raised nearly
$30,000 to produce face shields
for healthcare professionals
and boost the local economy
in partnership with Quantum
Visual Imaging.
Their efforts produced
over 11,500 face shields for local
hospitals.
Lifting the Vale
Teamsters raise nearly $13k for Kentucky tornado relief
The Vale of Cashmere. Wikimedia Commons/Rhododendrites
Left to right: Julie Ivers, Zach Badalucco and Wesley Hubschmitt smile in
front of donations that will travel to Bowling Green, Kentucky as part of
a tornado relief effort by Teamsters of Local 817 and other fi lm industry
workers. Photo by Caroline Ourso