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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JULY 12, 2020
BY BEN VERDE
Cooped up pups in
Central Brooklyn fi nally
have a place to run free,
thanks to a newly opened
7,000-square-foot Kensington
Dog Run at the Parade
Grounds in Brooklyn’s
Backyard.
“I think this dog park
is amazing,” said Kensington
resident Vivian Johnson,
who was playing fetch
with her French bulldog
Lucy on Tuesday afternoon.
The new space — which
opened on July 6 near Coney
Island and Caton avenues
— will serve as a
green refuge to the quarantined
residents of nearby
neighborhoods like Kensington,
Windsor Terrace,
Ditmas Park, and Flatbush,
where about 20,000
canines reside, according
to 2015 Department of
Health statistics.
Johnson said she and
Lucy particularly enjoyed
the added bonus of fresh
water available at the run’s
dog-accommodating water
fountains.
“It’s wonderful to have
water on tap,” she said as
Lucy lapped up cold water
from the built-in bowl.
“You don’t see that very often.”
The dog run was funded
by the city’s participatory
budgeting program, where
locals vote directly on
projects they’d like funded
through their local City
Council offi ce.
Residents of Councilman
Mathieu Eugene’s
40th District voted for the
project, which also received
additional funding
from Councilman
Brad Lander’s District
39, Brooklyn Borough
Hall, and local dog-loving
groups Kensington Dog
Run Association and FIDO
Brooklyn.
The additional funds
helped foot the total cost of
the project, which reached
$405,000 by the time of its
completion, according to
the Prospect Park Alliance
— the non-profi t group that
designed the dog run, and
managed its construction.
“The Kensington dog
run is the result of several
years of advocacy by
our neighbors,” said Salvatore
Garro, president of
the Kensington Dog Run
Association, which spearheaded
the effort. “This
park encapsulates community
and will forever be an
example of what civic engagement
can achieve.”
The park comes
equipped with state-ofthe
art dog run technology
— including the fi rst
canine-friendly astroturf
in any New York City dog
run, which boasts superior
drainage thanks to a porous
backing which allows
both water and dog waste
to fl ow through the material.
Also in the turf is an
antimicrobial agent that
keeps it from reeking.
The park also has ecofriendly
benches made
of reclaimed wood from
fallen trees in Brooklyn’s
Backyard, a separate
fenced off area for smaller
pups, and so-called “dogwaste
resistant” shrubs.
“It’s a win for the community,
and a win for the
dogs too!” Brooklyn Borough
Parks Commissioner
Martin Maher said in a
statement. “Pups deserve
open space, and now more
than ever, it is a joy to celebrate
a new space for our
dogs to run, play, and do
their business too.”
Raise the woof!
New Kensington dog run opens to the public
Dog owners lauded the new space, which gives locals more green space to play with furry friends.
Paul Martinka/Prospect Park Alliance