‘There is no band-aid solution’
Parks commissioner reveals costly price tag for Marine Park renovation
COURIER L 6 IFE, APRIL 26–MAY 2, 2019 M BR B G
2019 * plus tax and season pass.
2019 * plus tax and season pass.
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outdated infrastructure in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outdated industrial systems,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