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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, APRIL 28, 2019
‘There is no band-aid solution’
Parks commissioner reveals costly price tag for Marine Park renovation
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
It’s a drastic park renovation.
Southern Brooklyn residents
were stunned at a recent civic
meeting by an estimated $11 million
price tag to renovate Marine
Park.
The Kings County Parks Commissioner
informed locals of the
extravagant cost at a gathering in
the park’s Carmine Carro Community
Center on April 16.
“It’s a huge amount of money,”
said Marty Maher. “We agree that
the park defi nitely needs to be redone,
and we’ve been working together
with elected offi cials, but
it’s a very, very large sum.”
Locals have complained that
the park has become decrepit, as
cement pathways have begun to
crack and rainwater swamps the
low-lying parkland.
“There is no band-aid solution,”
said Maher. “We need to
redo the drainage infrastructure,
which has not been redone in decades.
We also need to look at redoing
the pavement, and the lighting,
and the landscaping around
the park.”
The steep price, which Maher
claimed was based on bids solicited
by the Parks Department,
was due to the outdated infrastructure
in the park.
“It’s extraordinarily expensive
to construct anything in New
York City, but when you have to do
things with outdated industrial
systems, that adds to the cost,”
he said. “This is mostly built on a
landfi ll in the 1930s, so if you just
say that you’re going to pour six
inches of topsoil, you’re not correcting
the drainage problem.”
The renovation cost would be
almost 30 percent of the Parks
Department’s total of $37,272,000
allocated to “maintenance, security
and repair of all parks properties,
vehicles and facilities in
Brooklyn, including municipal
parkland,” according to a City
Council budget analysis .
Maher said the department
was planning to work on the park
in separate stages to spread the
cost over several years.
“When we do a big project like
Marine Park, we break it into
phases,” he said. “We’re not going
to do it all at once, because it’s not
fair to expect our borough president,
our Council member, our Assembly
member, to come up with
all that money, because that’s a
very large chunk of change.”
Even with the advanced planning,
residents should not expect
the park to be completely remodeled.
“For example, the restroom at
the end of Avenue U, I don’t see
that being done in the near future,”
said Maher. “A fully developed
bathroom is very, very, very,
very expensive. You could buy the
house across the street and use
that bathroom, it would probably
be less expensive. So, I don’t see
that happening.”
Marine Park, which is the largest
of Brooklyn’s 877 park sites,
boasts 530 acres of greenery, a golf
course, multiple playgrounds, and
several miles of bike paths. The
shabby state of the park, and the
challenging road toward fi xing
its problems, is a particular sticking
point for residents of the surrounding
communities, who made
clear to Maher their displeasure
at the Tuesday night meeting.
“It might not be what you want
to hear, but I’ll always tell you the
truth,” said Maher.
EXPENSIVE: The Parks Commissioner says the Marine Park renovation would
cost $11 million. NYC Parks Department