16 The Courier sun • june 9, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Mary Whalen Playground reopens after $1.4M renovation By Anthony Giudice [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport Gray skies couldn’t dampen the celebration in Woodhaven on Friday, June 3, as elected officials, members of the NY Parks Department, students and residents gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new-and-improved Mary Whalen Playground. The playground was renovated after Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley secured $1.1 million in funding, with an additional $339,000 in funds from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office. Mary Whalen Playground hadn’t received significant improvements in a quarter century. Previously, the playground had major infrastructure problems. All of the play equipment was outdated, the safety surface was deteriorated and the perimeter walls were in bad condition. In less than a year’s time, the playground is now completely renovated. The preschool and preteen play areas have brand-new play equipment; engineers added 250 percent more greenery to the playground; and a newly-repaired drainage system was installed. “We are very excited to have this restored and this beautiful playground right here in Forest Park,” City Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver said. “You’ll notice that the preschool and the pre-teen play areas, and the spray shower, have been completely renovated. We always like to plan for multigenerational spaces so children of all ages can enjoy our outdoor play areas. Also a priority for us was Elected officials, members of the NY Parks Department, students and residents gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newand replacing the old play structures with newer, safer and more modern engaging equipment for our children.” Another main aspect to the playground’s reconstruction is the newly installed American with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible entrance on the park’s western end. Mary Whalen Playground was originally built in the 1940s and later named after Mary Whalen, a local Woodhaven resident who had a strong sense of civic duty for her neighborhood. Whalen was the founder and first president of the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation, the vice president of Community Board 9 and a onetime president of the Woodhaven Block Association. “We owed it to Mary Whalen and her memory as a woman who was so dedicated to Woodhaven,” Crowley said. “I know as somebody who once had young children, it is important to give them the space they need to run around.” “It was great to rededicate the Mary Whalen play ground in Forest THE COURIER/Photo by Anthony Giudice Park,” said Assemblyman Mike Miller, who was on hand for the ribbon-cutting. “You could tell that this was a great success by the laughter of the children playing in the background during the ribboncutting ceremony. I am confident the work done to this park will fully benefit future generations to enjoy.” As the elected officials and members of the Parks Department gave their speeches, students from P.S. 88 were running around and enjoying all of the new equipment at Mary Whalen Playground. improved Mary Whalen Playground. South Queens paramedics honored for brave acts BY MIKE FRICHIONE [email protected]/@QueensCourier Two paramedics from south Queens were heralded for their bravery during the Fire Department’s annual Medal Day event in Manhattan on Wednesday, June 1. EMS Captain Horace Williams of St. Albans and EMS Lieutenant Robert Atkins of Cambria Heights were celebrated for quickly springing into action one early morning in Brooklyn to evacuate still sleeping residents in an apartment building right next to a laundromat that had caught on fire. As soon as they saw the fire, they alerted dispatch and then ran to the apartment building, gaining access by breaking building’s front door window with a golf club, and then proceeded to evacuate all the residents floor by floor, despite worsening smoke conditions inside the hallways. Also honored was Lieutenant Adam Vilagos of Engine Company 316 in Corona, who saved an infant trapped in the attic of a rapidly burning Corona home last November. Vilagos, who rushed into the fire alone and without the protection of a water hose, saved an innocent 3-week-old baby boy just before he could succumb to smoke inhalation. These were just a few of the 67 first responders honored for their courageous acts of heroism in the face of extreme peril. “The FDNY’s traditions of courage, dedication and service was on true display today,” Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Jake Lemonda said right after the ceremony. “On behalf of a grateful city, we are all extremely proud of the fine work these brave men and women do each and every day.”
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