CB3 Parks Committee
Thursday, April 11 at 6:30pm BRC Senior Center 30 Delancey Street (Chrystie/Forsyth Sts)
Parks: Request for support of Sara D. Roosevelt Park reconstruction project
Weigh in on the Grand to south Delancey area of Sara Roosevelt Park!!
After holding several in-park charettes and listening to stakeholders this is what we got!
Draft Notes Grand (north) to Delancey (south) for consideration.
Key Issues:
Accessibility:
– All the pathways and both north and south entryways made ADA accessible.
Water sources Bruckner Boxes:
– Bruckner box especially near the four large garden plots on South Delancey.
– Bruckner box middle park near Broome Streetway area.
Garbage/Rats
– In progress, Garbage cans on Delancey would help with rats. Ask electeds to help or BIDs?
Safety
– Targeted PEP presence. (Sundays 9am -11am at Hua Mei bird area). PEP presence outside of the Parkhouse at Broome.
– Targeted police presence. Police on foot crossing through the park at random times.
– Brighter lighting (downward facing)
– Activate the areas
Areas:
Entryways
–Engineers rework of retaining walls, accounting for the subway beneath. Design dependent on their findings.
–South end entryway: (dependent on what’s structurally possible). Focus on visibility from the street and ADA accessibility. Tear out Grand Street walls that hide clear sightlines. Use DRI funding to create welcoming structure? Add greenery in large planters. Beautiful open entryway that opens up the area with a focus on visibility, accessibility and safety – use most of the DRI funds for this area?
–North end at Delancey: Remove broken steps, slope for ADA accessibility.
Sunken Pit Area
–Drainage problem in the southern end.
–Downward facing lighting
–Benches repainted/fixed surrounding the Pit.
Gardens & Green spaces:
- Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary:
–Water Source – Bruckner Box.
–Repair the Hua Mei fencing (a bit higher on the sides and back – replace the plot northern side’s fencing with fencing 4” higher than its current height (the birders lean over the low fence to see their birds hanging in the cages).
–Maintain the same footprint – they don’t want it enlarged!
–Red plants, red Hibiscus.
–Rat mitigation.
- East West side areas from Grand to Delancey:
–Water Source – Bruckner Box.
–Widen both East and West side ‘plot’ areas to ensure walkways are ADA width and/or Parks vehicle width.
–Side plots: easily maintained green, low plantings. Bushes/trees spaced out for visibility by law enforcement. Drought tolerant Red Buds.
- Three Delancey front plots:
–Water Source – Bruckner Box.
–Leave interior of plots as is. Formerly a GreenThumb Garden area. They are interesting and complex and tended for almost 40 years by local organizations SRPCC, Tenement Museum staffer, 5th Precinct Youth Explorers, Hua Mei birders, MKG Head Gardener Ftizgerald, Citizens Committee, local residents.
–Remove the broken, low brick walls fronting the two east/west side plots.
–All plots are connected to legacies in this park: (African Heritage: de Britto, Latina/o heritages: Middle, ‘Ribbon plot’: Lanape, Chinese ‘Hua Mei ‘). Tenement Museum will put on their tours.
Broome Park Interior/Parkhouse
–Kiosk in Broome Street area with café tables near the Pit side. Run by/shared by local small businesses. BID helps? Cafe tables and chairs stored in Broome parkhouse?
–Share space in Broome parkhouse with some local organization to have an ongoing outside presence/activity at Broome.
–End car parking inside the Park here. Unsafe, misuse of narrow park, public resentment.
Lions Gate Field
– Remove fencing: safer, not ‘trapped’. Unwelcoming.
– Possibility? Lions Gate made smaller to accommodate a badminton/volleyball area with priority to local schools (schoolgirls have asked for a badminton for years). Build small seating garden area and/or dog run at the entryway?
Misc:
–Permit issues in turf fields: the local public schools can’t get onto the turf fields at Lions Gate.
–Dog runs – can’t be near the Hua Mei bird sanctuary as dogs scare the birds (we’ve been through this).
–Dog runs could help activate the area. Shrink the Lion’s Gate soccer field for a ‘small/medium sized dog’ dog run at the entrance?
–A courtesy ‘talk/walk- through’ with our 40-year gardener in this park Kate Fitzgerald? She knows what survives here.
