WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 22, 2018 3
Board 5 eyes safety improvements in Forest Park
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Glendale native Anthony Perez,
11, was mourned nationwide
aft er his story of heroism in
saving his friend from the icy waters
of Strack Pond in Forest Park was reported.
Now, local civic leaders want
to make sure tragedy doesn’t strike
there again.
During the March 14 meeting for
Community Board 5 at Christ the King
High School in Middle Village, Parks
and Recreation Services Committee
chairman Steven Fiedler said that
the Board plans to write a letter to the
Parks Department to advocate for a
fence to be built around the pond.
“There should at least be a four- to
six-foot fence around that puddle of
water now that there’s been a tragedy,”
Fielder told the board. “I don’t think
you could have avoided it unless you
had something around it. Kids will
climb the fence, but at least there will
be something there protecting them.”
Fiedler also explained that Strack
Pond has formed naturally as the low
point of that section of the park. It was
once a lake to begin with, Fiedler said,
but it was drained and the land was
turned into baseball fi elds. When the
fi elds fl ooded all the time, they were
removed and the lake formed again as
stormwater ran down from the Forest
Park Carousel, tennis courts and Fire
Department Telegraph Station.
Board 5 district manager Gary Giordano
said that the letter has not been
draft ed yet, but he expects that funding
for the fence will be a challenge.
“Its going to become a money issue,”
Giordano said. “I might have to be
reaching out to elected offi cials for the
funding of that.”
Also at the Board 5 meeting, Fiedler
reported that the Board is advocating
for a safety-related change to the plans
to revitalize the Glendale entrance
of Forest Park. Fiedler said that the
Parks Department came to the Parks
and Recreation Services Committee’s
March meeting to present the plan
again, and the committee peppered
them with questions.
The biggest safety concern is a
20-foot section where separate bicycle
and walking paths converge into one
narrow path. Fiedler and Giordano
met at the location with Parks Department
offi cials to show them the
problem area.
Aft er the meeting, Fiedler and Giordano
both explained to the Ridgewood
Times that a hill leading down to the
merged section of bicyclists and walkers
could make the section dangerous
if bicyclists are picking up speed on
the downhill slope.
“If you start that run down the hill,
you’re doing an easy 20 to 25 miles per
hour,” Fiedler said. “That’s all right
when there’s single lanes, but when
the lanes are combined it’s dangerous.”
Both Fiedler and Giordano said the
biggest obstacle will be convincing the
Parks Department to remove a couple
of trees in order to make the section
of the path wider. The board will be
writing an offi cial letter with their
requests to the Parks Department in
which it will request a wooden divider
be built to prevent the bicyclists from
crossing over into the walking lane,
Fiedler said.
According to the NYC Parks website,
the Glendale entrance construction
project is 35 percent of the way
through the design phase, which is
projected to be completed in April.
The total funding for the project is
approximately $3 million, Fiedler said.
Photo by Robert Stridiron
Signs posted at Strack Pond where Glendale native Anthony Perez died
trying to save his friend on Feb. 6.
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