Image credit: GoogleMaps

The City Planning Commission approved the acquisition of 6,000-square-foot community garden and passive recreation lot to place under jurisdiction of the Parks Department. On July 16, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on a joint application filed by the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to acquire private property at 237 Maple Street in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. The acquired property would be used for passive recreation and a community garden. (more…)

On July 6, 2015 the Appellate Division, First Department voted unanimously to enjoin construction of a shopping mall and movie theater on the site of the former Shea Stadium in Willets Point, Queens.  The suit was brought in part by advocates of New York City’s parks, the latest in a long history of actions by New Yorkers to represent their valued open spaces.  On October 21, 2005 Adrian Benepe, then Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation, spoke at the CityLaw Breakfast on the parks of Lower Manhattan and the efforts underway to renovate them.  The speech in its entirety is available after the jump.

(more…)

Mayor announces Community Parks Initiative at Queens Press Conference . Image Credit: Mayor’s Office.

$130 million secured to invest in 35 under-resourced parks throughout NYC. On October 7, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Department of Parks & Recreation Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver announced a $130 million investment in 35 community parks throughout the five boroughs. This is the first phase of a multi-faceted program to support investment in the most under-resourced parks and communities, known as the Community Parks Initiative. The Mayor’s capital budget raised $110 million of program financing. The City Council, Borough Presidents, and foundation grants cumulatively contributed another $20 million. (more…)

Parks agreed to implement only some of the Comptroller’s 22 recommendations. The City’s Department of Parks and Recreation solicits and awards concessions to operate golf courses, tennis courts, restaurants, and food carts on City parkland. Parks oversees about 500 concessions, and generally follows the competitive sealed bids and competitive sealed proposals processes. Revenue from these concessions equal more than half of Parks’ budget for Parks programs and services. Concession revenues in Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 2010 were $52.6 million, $46.1 million, and $39.8 million, respectively.  (more…)

Mayor’s Office agrees to create community committees to find new users. On April 9, 2007, the Planning Commission approved four applications by DCAS to sell four closed firehouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The plan sparked controversy with residents, community boards, Borough Presidents Scott Stringer and Marty Markowitz, and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky, who argued that their districts needed increased FDNY services and, if the firehouses remained closed, only a community service should replace the FDNY.

With 136 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, closed by the City in 2003 for budgetary reasons, Markowitz and residents argued that increasing construction of Williamsburg and Greenpoint high-rises and the influx of new residents required increased FDNY services in the area. Similarly, Markowitz and Cobble Hill Brooklyn residents asked that any use of the former firehouse at 299 DeGraw Street be temporary only until the City, which closed the location in 2003, returns Engine Company 204 to that location. They argued that the need for FDNY services would increase significantly as denser development continued in Downtown Brooklyn and construction started at the Atlantic Yards. (more…)