Community News
Investing in Astoria’s Green Space
Rainey Park will undergo extensive renovations through $3.7M from Van Bramer
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I SEPTEMBER 2019 21
BY BILL PARRY
Thanks to more new funding
from the city, a local council-man
is making sure that As-toria’s
Rainey Park will receive
some much-needed improvements.
On Aug. 23, Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer announced that he secured
$3.7 million in funding from the city’s
FY 2020 budget to restore Rainey Park.
With these new funds, a total of $7.5
million has been invested in the Rainey
Park renovations, including $800,000
from the Queens borough president.
Joined by Van Bramer were Queens
Borough Parks Commissioner Michael
Dockett, Ravenswood Resident Asso-ciation
President Carol Wilkins, the Ra-venswood
Senior Center, Jacob A. Riis
Neighborhood Settlement, the Dutch
Kills Civic Association and students from
the Growing Up Green Charter School.
“I am proud to have secured $3.7
million in this year’s budget to renovate
Rainey Park, adding to the $3 million
I have already allocated to the project.
This will be the first upgrade to Rainey
Park in over a decade,” said Van Bramer.
“Rainey Park is beloved by our Raven-swood
community and local schools,
and it provides much-needed green
space to the surrounding Astoria and
Long Island City areas. It is critical that
we continually invest in our parks and
provide all children and families with
the beautiful, modernized public open
spaces that they deserve.”
The renovation plans include making
improvements to the park’s play areas,
athletic fields, sidewalks and green
spaces. Van Bramer stated that he plans
to work with NYC Parks to ensure that
community input is incorporated into
the designs for the new renovations.
“From Hunters Point to Astoria, the
waterfront parks of western Queens
offer stunning views and a variety of
sports and recreational opportuni-ties,”
said NYC Parks Queens Bor-ough
Commissioner Michael Dockett.
“We’re thrilled to announce the new-est
investment in our waterfront at
Rainey Park in Ravenswood, Queens,
thanks to generous allocations from
Council member Van Bramer and
previous funding from Borough
President Katz. We look forward to
getting to work designing these new
amenities.”
Photo courtesy of the Office of Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
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