City Council member Margaret Chin wants to know why the renovation of basketball courts at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, paid for by Nike, happened so swiftly while other projects, funded by the Council, have been languishing for years.
Earlier this month, Nike and Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver debuted the Stanton Street courts with great fanfare. While community activists were pleased that the renovation took place, they were unhappy about the lack of community input. They weren’t even told the project was happening until and hour or two before a ribbon cutting ceremony.
On Nov. 15, Chin wrote a letter to Silver expressing concern over the lack of communication with her office, Community Board 3 and the Sara D. Roosevelt Park Coalition (a community advocacy group). Chin added, “I am particularly troubled at how quickly the Parks Department approved and completed this corporate-funded project when capital renovation projects funded through the City Council’s discretionary capital budget remain unfinished for years.”
Back in 2014, Chin allocated $600,000 in discretionary funding to resurface the courts at Seward Park. The project had been a priority of CB3. Local residents have been complaining for years about the drainage problems on the courts (even a small amount of rain renders the courts unusable). The community has been waiting ever since for the improvements to be made.
In her letter, Chin noted that Department of Parks officials recently told her that the project was “still in the procurement phase.” She also mentioned that DeSalvio Playground in Little Italy, another project she funded, has been on indefinite hold.
Referring to the Nike courts, Chin told Silver:
…a corporate-funded public space seem(s) to have taken priority over public projects that received discretionary funding and community support. In the future, I hope to see the same, if not greater, urgency from the Department of Parks and Recreation to complete capital projects and other renovations funded by the City. Furthermore, it is my wish that the Parks Department to be more transparent to local advocates when large-scale changes are being made to any public parks throughout the City.
CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer said Parks Department staff mentioned during budget consultations over the summer that they were trying to get Nike to pay for the Stanton Street courts. But there was no public presentation before the community board and no notice that construction was actually happening. The Nike courts include a mural by KAWS (aka Brian Donnelly), a Brooklyn artist. The community board, said Stetzer, is normally asked for input about public art initiatives on city property.
As previously reported, City Council member Rosie Mendez vented at a CB3 meeting earlier this months about a lack of communication from the Parks Department. At the time, she brought up several projects in her district, including the renovation of a playground in Tompkins Square Park. Mendez and the community board have urged the city to reconsider plans to lower the fences around the playground (they’re concerned about safety and about worsening the park’s homeless problem). Since that meeting, Parks Department officials have reaffirmed their decision to lower the fences, in spite of neighborhood worries.
