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MAY 12, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
THE BLUEPRINT: Comptroller Scott Stringer wants to build playgrounds in the middle of residential streets. Offi ce of the New York City Comptroller
Put it in park
Comptroller pushes for more
playgrounds on Bklyn streets
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
He’s not playing around.
The city should build playgrounds
in the middle of residential
streets, according to its top
auditor.
Comptroller Scott Stringer
blasted the state of New York City’s
play spaces, singling out Kings
County as particularly reprehensible,
and called for construction
of playgrounds in the center of
several residential roads, creating
two dead-ends on either side.
“Today, we are calling on New
York City to build 200 new playgrounds
in the next fi ve years,” he
said. “This would employ a new
initiative to creating playgrounds
by taking advantage of under-utilized
residential streets.”
As a model for his plan, Stringer
pointed to a Crown Heights playground,
constructed in the center
of St. Marks Avenue between
Kingston and Albany avenues.
The plan came with a recently
released report from the comptroller’s
offi ce which criticized
the density and condition of playgrounds
around the city.
“On the whole, Brooklyn is the
most underserved borough,” says
the report. “Clearly, playground
construction is lagging behind the
times and failing to account for
changing demographics in our city
neighborhoods.”
The report, which examined all
2,067 municipal playgrounds in the
city, found that Brooklyn had the
least amount of playgrounds perchild
of any borough.
Public-space activists joined
Stringer at an April 27 press conference
following the release of the
report, applauding the auditor for
rethinking conventional wisdom.
“New Yorkers often complain
about the lack of space in this city,”
said Thomas DeVito of Transportation
Alternatives. “There is actually
a lot of space, it’s just that we
use what’s available to us thoughtlessly.
Seventeen square miles of
New York City is dedicated to storing
cars on our streets — that’s 13
Central Parks that we are giving
away and getting nothing communal
in return.”
PARKED: The Comptroller used a mid-street playground in Crown Heights as an example of his plan.
Offi ce of the New York City Comptroller
In addition to his playground
plan, Stringer called for a substantial
increase in funding for playground
maintenance, lamenting
the porous state of existing parks.
“Not only do we not have enough
playgrounds, but the report we’re
releasing today fi nds that too often,
the ones we do have are falling in
disrepair,” he said. “So we’re not
maintaining our playgrounds, and
it shows. In Brooklyn, 24 percent of
playgrounds were deemed ‘unacceptable’
by inspectors.”
Investigators consider playgrounds
to be unacceptable if they
feature a safety hazard or fail to
meet the city’s cleanliness standard,
according to Stringer.
“Damaged or loose play equipment,
broken benches, fl imsy
fences, and sharp surfaces. These
are the nightmares for every parent,”
he said. “A child could have
a permanent disability that could
change his-or-her-life forever.”
Stringer said the report showed
a lack of proper investment in
public spaces, and called on the
city to fundamentally re-examine
its administration of public playgrounds.
“Our fi ndings reveal stark disparities
in access to these critical
public spaces in New York City,” he
said. “That’s why our city needs to
overhaul the planning, construction,
and maintenance of our playground
system.”