BY JESSICA PARKS
Reps with the Department
of Parks and Recreation sat
down with Flatlanders living
around Power Playground
on Thursday to discuss an
upcoming renovation of the
Avenue N park, which locals
described as shady cesspool
rife with drug use.
“To be crude, it’s only used
as a urinal,” said one Flatlander,
while Councilman
Alan Maisel called the court
“completely disgusting.”
Maisel is trying to secure
$3.65 million to enhance the
athletic courts located behind
the children’s playground
between E. 49th Street and
Utica Avenue, and community
members offered plenty
of ideas on how to spend it,
including construction of additional
basketball courts, a
soccer fi eld, a running track,
hockey rink, and a dog run,
among others.
The head of a local nonprofi
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t said the park attracts
drunks and drug addicts due to
poor lighting, and that the city
should focus on building facilities
for adults so as not to encourage
kids to hang out there.
“We want to see this for
the adults,” said Paul Curiale,
head of Millennium Development.
“We want to see
this because it’s not the most
comfortable over here. Over
here it gets a little lonely, it
gets a little seedy.”
Locals insisted that the
renovations come with a new
bathroom, but Parks Offi cials
said the $3.65 million they’re
expecting won’t be enough to
fund a new comfort station.
In response, Maisel vowed to
get more money to make the
loo a reality before his term
ends in two years.
“The funding hasn’t been
fully secured, so we will just
have to get more money,” said
Maisel. “We need an indoor
bathroom, not an outdoor
bathroom.”
Some of the park’s pintsized
users recommended
a skate park, a soccer fi eld,
more basketball courts, and
a track, while Maisel said
he has received requests for
Lenora W. Gomas, left, and Paul Curiale advocated for Power Playground’s
multipurpose space to be repurposed for adult fi tness.
Photo by Jessica Parks
cricket and pickleball, a sport
for seniors that’s sweeping
through southern Brooklyn.
Thursday’s meeting
kicked off the project’s design
phase, which according
to the Parks Department
typically takes about a year,
and will be followed by a
yearlong procurement phase
and then another year of construction.
Parks Department representative
James Morris said
the construction phase of the
project is slated to begin in
2021 and wrap up the following
year.
Power play!
Playground ‘used as a urinal’ getting upgrades
The Parks Department listed locals
recommendations for Power Playground.
Photo by Jessica Parks
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