Sunday, February 24, 2019

Re-Imagine Carroll Park: Come To A Community Visioning Session This Tuesday

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This Tuesday, February 26th, please join fellow Carroll Gardeners and the New York Parks Department for a visioning session for the future of Carroll Park.
As we have all noticed, our green oasis is a bit tired and will need a makeover in the near future.
To prepare for that time, the Parks Department is asking local residents to contribute their ideas for a park redesign.

Friends of Carroll Park just sent out this notice on the meeting:
Carroll Park is due for its first renovation in 25 years! Share your thoughts with NYC Parks and Recreation's Planning office at their first community visioning session.

We all love our neighborhood gem, Carroll Park, but anyone who pays it a visit can tell that it's in need of some refurbishing.

The last top-to-bottom renovation of the park was in 1994, which means that it's time for another imagining exercise for the next iteration of our neighborhood hub!

In order to get the best result, it is important that our community begin discussions toward the next renovation. To launch this process, Friends of Carroll Park are working with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and the office of Councilman Brad Lander.

Thanks to a generous grant from Councilman Lander, design firm Starr Whitehouse has been engaged to begin the process of designing a renovation proposal based on community outreach.

Community input is a vital part of this process, so Parks & Rec will be holding its first visioning session this Tuesday evening, February 26 (full details below).

Starr Whitehouse and the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner will explain the process, and the audience will split into groups to discuss options and gather ideas.

There will be visual aids in the form of plans of other recent parks and photographs of play equipment and tables and benches and other park features.

This is the first step toward discovery of our community's desires and to learn what is possible with current safety and design constraints.

As a follow up, we will launch an online survey to continue collecting ideas. Further meetings will follow to advance open dialogue.

We are counting on you to spread the word, to consider our options, and to contribute toward the next Carroll Park!


NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
Community Visioning Session for renovation of Carroll Park
Tue., February 26
Doors: 6:30 p.m.
Meeting: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
PS 58 Cafeteria
330 Smith Street
(enter from Carroll Street)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Katia

Thanks for posting this. Unfortunately, I am out of town and will be unable to attend. I hope you don't mind a proxy suggestion as I suspect you and your husband will be at the meeting. Here goes:

The bocce courts: I remember when I was a kid, there would be many a lively bocce match in Carroll Park. Sadly as the older Italians have died off, it seems the fenced bocce court sees virtually no use and the lower bocce court in the center portion of the park has never been used.

I think both areas should be up for reconsideration. I for one, would love to see adult exercise equipment. If you go to Prospect Park (near the lake) or Brooklyn Bridge Park there are stations that are used for adults for circuit training. It doesn't take much room, but it would be certainly nice to work out in the park on nice days.

Second is some sort of dog run. If you pass by the park early in the morning you will see a group of dog owners that let their dogs run free in upper portion of the park. The owners and the dogs are really well behaved. Even though I am not a dog owner, it would be nice to have a dedicated space for dogs so that they could use the park during the day.

I hope you will pass these suggestions on.

Thank you.

Katia said...

Anon, will pass the ideas on. This is just the beginning of the process, so the community will have other chances to weigh in. Will be at the meeting and will report on what happens at this first one.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for getting the word out! I hope they fix up the basketball courts - there is little for older teens to do in the neighborhood save for wander around. Creating a space where they can hang and play basketball would be great. I have no idea why we need a dog run when the city spent millions to upgrade the one near the BQE and another near the Old Stone House!

Anonymous said...

Maybe because those dog runs are far away?

Lucien Desar said...

I wish I could attend this meeting but I have another commitment. I'll make the next one.

Things I wish the community would consider:

- An large open grass lawn area with trees. The park seems to be all concrete and playground with very little "park".

- A sectioned off garden area for flowers and shrubs similar to the 91st Street Garden in Riverside Park.

thanks!

Anonymous said...

At the meeting they said if anyone had additional ideas they could submit to the following email for the next 2 weeks:
BKspecialevents@parks.nyc.gov