New York City Park officials were joined by Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights) in the Brooklyn Ingersoll Houses for a visioning session to discuss the renovation of Commodore Barry Park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn last night.
Parks Commissioner, Martin Maher, opened up the meeting with a presentation detailing a timeline of how the renovation process will come to form. With about $10 million in funding, the renovation will mainly focus on the multi-use asphalt area and athletic field.
The major renovation project will be completed over the course of four steps — Project Initiation (1-2 months), Design Process (10-15 months), Procurement Process (7-10 months) and Construction Process (12-18 months).
“It’s my goal and intention to see this park be a place where we come together as a community. To be able to see our dreams and visions realized in this park, but what I most want to see through this process is that this process is a way to bring this community together, to be able to have a floor where we can express our visions and hopes for the next generation because this is really ultimately for them,” said Cumbo.
At the event, locals and residents of Ingersoll Houses were split up into groups to voice their opinions and suggestions into how NYC Park officials can modernize the park.
Suggestions ranged from better lighting in walkways that run from Park Avenue to Flushing Avenue, a recreational center for athletic training, a modernized children playground, a residential garden, updated athletic field equipment and real turf.
Lloyd Rodriguez, head coach and coordinator of the Brooklyn Pitbulls football team spoke about the lack of lighting in the park, saying the dark brings an unwelcoming presence to visitors and puts young kids at risk when walking the park at night. He was also in favor of closing an entrance in the children playground.
“Me as a coach at night we can’t have a thousand entrances because we have kids in the park at night. You don’t want somebody to drive up, snatch a kid and gone,” Rodriguez said
Using the suggestion and ideas from the meeting, Park officials will now start developing the design for the site and expect to project to take 30-45 months.
