For the second year in a row, the city’s Parks Department is saying they will begin renovations this Fall on the shuttered Von King Park Cultural Arts Center, 670 Lafayette Avenue, and local activists are biting their lips over it.
The center, which for years had extensive programming for young students to seniors serving Bedford-Stuyvesant, was closed in April 2015 with the promise renovations would be started in the fall of that year. Von King Park is bounded by Marcy, Lafayette, Tompkins and Greene avenues.
“For some reason they (Parks Department) keep pushing it back. Money has been allocated since the previous Council person (Al Vann) and the work just hasn’t been done. It’s really sad. The summer stage will be happening in the outdoor part, but the building isn’t available to the public. The whole entire building has been closed since last year,” said Wayne Devonish, executive director of the Von King Park Conservancy.
At the time of its closure last Spring, the Parks Department, told Our Time Press that the 18-month project would commence in the Fall with the following statement:
“The facilities being renovated at this beloved neighborhood cultural center include the Eubie Blake Auditorium. This multi-purpose room will be reconstructed with new wheel chair lifts, new seating, new stage, a new light and sound booth, and new equipment. New sprinklers will be installed on the lower level. Dressing rooms will be re-assigned as electrical & pump rooms and ceramic firing kilns will be relocated. All new features will be designed to provide accessibility, meeting established Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) design standards.”
Reached yesterday, a Parks Department spokesperson emailed the exact same statement, but but added, “The project is funded with $4.7M from Council Member Robert Cornegy and Mayor de Blasio, and pending a successful bidding process, construction is expected to begin in the fall.”
The spokesperson said that the hold up was because initial bids came in higher than expected, so Parks had to seek additional funding and rebid the project.
“Though the procurement process has been lengthy, it was recently rebid and the new bids are currently under review. Pending approvals, we do expect to begin work on the center this fall,” said the spokesperson.
Cornegy spokesperson Sefani Zinerman responded that money given by both Van and Cornegy wasn’t enough to complete the entire project so the Parks Department decided to wait until the entire sum was allocated.
Community Board 3 Chair Tremaine Wright, who is also running for the open 56th Assembly seat left vacant with the announced retirement of Annette Robinson, said the Parks Department is still in the process of negotiating contracts.
The design is complete The lowest bidder was identified and they are currently reviewing the bid and undergoing a bidder investigation, she said.
Her opponent in the race, Karen Cherry, said the work or lack thereof appears to stem form one of two things – either the money from the City Council was never allocated or it is not properly overseeing how the funding is being used.
“It’s sad with what’s going on especially when the programs in the community center were well utilized, and now for it not being funded for the second summer there needs to be someone looking at what’s going on,” said Cherry.
Meanwhile Devonish said the conservancy has gotten Parks to put in new sod and park benches and they are partnering with the Bed-Stuy Y in doing some outdoor programming such as an upcoming one-day boot camp. The conservancy also has some excellent advisory board members that work with Central Park and Prospect Park to help with the overall upkeep and progress of the park as an urban oasis, he said.
But Devonish said not having the cultural center, which includes, a full kitchen, study space, historical murals, a computer lab and other amenities, impedes on the park’s progress.
“I feel everybody should be up in arms about this, but I’m a park guy. We definitely could use some voices and some muscles to get things moving because it’s been sometime,” he said.
