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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, OCTOBER 6, 2019
New look for Bath Beach Park
City unveils latest designs featuring spray showers, fi tness
hub, three playgrounds, and disability enhancements
BY ROSE ADAMS
Park offi cials unveiled
plans to install three stateof
the-art playgrounds, a
fi tness hub, and a seating
area for seniors among a
slew of other upgrades as
part of a $5.6-million renovation
of Bath Beach Park
at a community meeting on
Monday.
Under the new designs,
the park at Bay 16th Street
and Shore Parkway would
trade in the greenspace’s
dilapidated bocce court and
beaten-down playground
for additional seating for elderly
park goers, along with
new foliage, and three play
areas designed for toddlers,
pre-schoolers, and older children.
The revamped park
would also include a pingpong
table, chess tables, new
ADA-compliant pathways,
and updated light fi xtures.
And that’s not all! The designs
also call for a special
fi tness corner equipped with
outdoor exercise gear perfect
for cardio and strength
workouts, which one Parks
rep said will be the envy of
other city parks when it’s
completed in 2022.
“You’re getting the Cadillac
version in terms of
what’s happening in the
city,” the spokesman said
about the fi tness hub.
The park’s new design
UPGRADED: The latest designs for Bath Beach Park.
Parks Department
comes after community
members pushed back on
previous Parks Department
design proposal, which
pitched adding a skate park
to the public plaza, which
neighbors complained was
a little too radicle for their
taste.
“There were a lot of concerns
about the noise,” said
Elias-Pavia. “The residents
and attendants were not
very happy with that proposal.”
But the schematics presented
Monday drew high
praise from the board’s
parks gurus, who said the
agency managed to fi nd
something for everyone.
“I think it has a little
bit of everything, and it’ll
provide for different age
groups,” said Marnee Elias-
Pavia, the district manager
of Community Board 11.
Community Board 11 will
vote on the Bath Beach Park
proposal at it’s full monthly
meeting in October, and the
designs will be fi nalized by
the spring of 2020, parks authorities
said.
The Bath Beach renovations
are part of a larger effort
by Councilman Justin
Brannan (D–Bensonhurst) to
revamp southern Brooklyn’s
public parks. Two weeks ago,
workers kicked off renovations
to Bensonhurst Park ,
but Brannan said that’s just
the beginning of his ambitions
for local parks.
“I have made it my mission
to give love to some of
our most neglected parks
and playgrounds that
haven’t seen a renovation
in many decades,” Brannan
said.
Justice for Midwood sex victims
BY ROSE ADAMS
A serial sexual predator
will spend four years behind
bars for molesting two
underage children, including
a nine-year-old boy he
coached in a Midwood soccer
league.
Brooklyn Supreme Court
Justice Barry Warhi hit 41-
year-old Pablo Pineda with
a four year prison sentence
and fi ve years’ post-release
supervision on Wednesday
following his guilty plea to
abusing the two children
earlier this month, according
to the Brooklyn District
Attorney’s offi ce.
While working as a youth
soccer coach from July of
2017 until April of the following
year, Pineda repeatedly
molested a child athlete
in the bathroom of Friends
Field on Avenue L and E.
Fourth Street, according to
prosecutors.
The pedophile’s scheme
lasted until the victim’s
mother found text messages
from Pineda on the child’s
phone asking the boy to go
to the movies without telling
his mother, authorities
said.
Police cuffed Pineda the
following day and searched
the predator’s phone — revealing
inappropriate messages
sent to a teenage relative,
who he also abused,
prosecutors said.
Investigators also discovered
that Pineda had
failed to register as a sex offender
following a previous
child sex-abuse conviction
in Texas in 2005, according
to authorities.
Brooklyn’s top prosecutor
blasted the defendant
for violating the trust of two
children who he was supposed
to mentor.
“This defendant’s actions
are upsetting and shocking
betrayals of trust,” said Eric
Gonzalez. “This defendant
molested a boy on his team,
and his own relative, who
both had every expectation
to believe they would be safe
with him.”
The defendant formally
pled guilty on Sept. 10 to second
degree course of sexual
conduct against a child, forcible
touching, two counts of
endangering the welfare of a
child, and failure to register
as a sex offender.
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