Draft proposal for upgrading Delancey/Broome Street/Grand section in Sara Roosevelt Park
(And…”Don’t Bury the Pit” Info Below)
Draft proposal for upgrading Delancey/Broome Street/Grand section in Sara Roosevelt Park
Current Use: 4 large garden plots (one, the Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary, 3 main entryways, one Parkhouse (serving all five NYC boroughs), Park’s staff parking inside the park at Broome, a synthetic turf soccer field, and ‘The Pit’.
Entryways
-Grand Street: Open up for maximum visibility. Remove high brick walls alongside Grand to create maximum visibility from the street. Repair sloping entryway.
-Delancey Street: Renovate entryway for wheelchair accessibility. Redo plaza with permeable pavers.
Bird Sanctuary and three plots on Delancey
–Hua Mei Bird Garden: remove dilapidated fencing. Install new wrought iron fence around the bird sanctuary for safety (check with birders). Return gate to original opening to allow two means of egress in an emergency.
–Three front gardens: remove broken low brick walls that front the side plots and invite misuse.
–Pipe a water source for all gardens – Bruckner boxes and water fountain.
-For seating in plaza: fasten two round metal tables/attached seating – visible from street.
– Dept. of Sanitation install trash cans both sides of Delancey (ala ChinatownBID’s on Grand).
Preserve/Repair/Upgrade ‘The Pit’ Area: [see petition].
The Pit is a vital, flexible, shared and uniquely multi-use adaptive space. It’s the areas main anchor of positive use.
-Unclog/repair drainage- southern end of Pit. Lighting: more/brighter/downward facing. Return benches outside of the Pit on the southern end.
-A mural on all Pit side walls.
-Install low in-ground pieces apertures to attach volleyball net rig as requested by girls in schools here for years to return this sport to SRP.
-Preserve the uniquely flexible Pit area – reimagined for even more flexibility [see petition].
Community Organizations and the Mult-Use Pit:
Street soccer, ball hockey, bike polo, skateboarders, skaters. Children learn biking, Tai Chi, running track, Burmese Water Festival, New Museum, ROAR resource fair, Chinese Progressive Assoc., Stanton CSA, CB3, bike helmet giveaways, local children’s programming, movies under the stars, outdoor roller rink, with headphones piping music into participants’ ears.
As funding allows:
-Install permeable pavers Grand to Delancey. In sections to allow some areas to stay open.
-Fix benches along east/west sides of The Pit.
-Activate the Broome Parkhouse with a use that dynamically engages parkgoers here.
Don’t Bury The Pit!!!
