While Carroll Park Is Closed, Cobble Hill Park Is Open. Why?

Above, Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens, which was entirely closed on April 2, 2020  because of the Corona pandemic.

Cobble Hill Park remains open except for its playground.

A few days ago, I received an email from reader Evan asking me if I had walked past Cobble Hill Park recently. He reported that this past Sunday, which was sunny and warm, it seemed "like a full on party there, packed with people oblivious to what's going on." He found it very "disturbing and upsetting to see locals acting like they're above the law."

I answered him hat I was a bit confused as to why Cobble Hill Park should be open. After all, Carroll Park here in Carroll Gardens had been entirely closed since April 2nd. In late March, the New York City Park's Department had taken away the basketball hoops and reminded people to keep 6 feet away from each other, and as that had not worked, the park was locked all together. No one has been able to set foot in it since then.

I wanted to check Cobble Hill Park for myself, so yesterday, as the sun was shining, I walked a couple of blocks down Clinton Street to Veranda Place. Sure enough, people were enjoying this beautiful day and the lovely plantings in the park.  

There were not many people there, but I was still surprised had it had not been closed like Carroll Park. The only section off limit was the play area in the back, which had been closed off with a  barrier.

Granted, Cobble Hill Park does not have gates at its entry point like Carroll Park and therefore may be more difficult to lock entirely, but a quick search on the Parks Department web site revealed that New York City parks are actually open.  Only playgrounds are closed.

One has to therefore wonder why Carroll Park was entirely closed when its playgrounds are fully gated themselves and could have been closed separate from the rest of the park, like the one in Cobble Hill.

The importance of green spaces in our neighborhoods have become even more evident during this pandemic.  They become even more important for those who live in an upper floor apartment without access to a garden or balcony, nor the possibility of escaping the City.
The news that Carroll Park was closed until further notice here in Carroll Gardens spread quickly and was met with dread. This neighborhood resource has been so much missed by so many.

If, however, people are not keeping a safe 6 feet between themselves and others or refuse to wear masks while visiting our green spaces, it would  make sense to keep both parks closed.

What do you think? If only playgrounds are closed, why is  all of Carroll Park on lockdown?  Or should Cobble Hill park be closed as well?

From the New York City Park's Department:

 At this time, City parks are open. We ask that all park goers take extra precautions to stay healthy and safe. While solo exercise is okay, team sports (such as basketball, football, softball, and soccer) are not permitted in our parks at this time. Please maintain at least 6 feet of distance between yourself and others when outside and avoid congregating in groups. 

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Parks Department Presents Updated Visioning Plan For Carroll Park, If You Can Call It A Plan

Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Marty Maher

Councilmember Brad Lander with Marty Mahr

Assemblywoman JoAnne Simon

Existing Conditions of Carroll Park

First Carroll Park conceptual design presented in September 2019

Updated Visioning Plan for Carroll Park, presented this past Wednesday.

The New York Parks Department came to PS58 in Carroll Gardens this past Wednesday evening to present their revised Carroll Park Community Vision Plan to the Community Board Parks and Recreation Committee. The meeting was not well attended, perhaps because it was held so close to the holidays and because of bad weather. That was a pity, since the discussion about a redesign for Carroll Park should involve as many local residents as possible.

The revised Carroll Park Vision Plan presented on Wednesday was created after gathering the community's ideas during the Public Workshop in February 2019 and after hearing the community's feedback at the CB6 meeting in September 2019.  It is fair to say that the community was less than enthusiastic about the first concept, because it would shift the play equipment and water features to the ball field at Court Street.

It was the loss of the multipurpose play area with its baseball and basketball features that prompted a big outcry from local residents.

However, as Brooklyn's Park Commissioner Maher explained in September and on Wednesday evening, much of the recreational and sports features in our park are now out of compliance and need much more space around them to meet current safety codes. In addition, no new equipment that needs to be anchored into the ground can be installed under the canopy of a tree since it could damage the tree's roots.

Given these new regulations and the fact that Carroll Park has many enormous old trees, the options of where to put play equipment and what features can be incorporated in a new design are limited.

With that in mind, Maher presented a revised concept sketch of the vision plan showing one way to incorporate the community's wishes. It was necessarily vague because there is no funding for a redesign at present and our community must continue to work toward consensus and a design which will not result in the loss of what we value most.

The redesign did try to honor the request for preserving most of the ball field as a multi purpose play area, but without the baseball field and fencing.  

In addition, the park house may be renovated, and the bathrooms made handicapped accessible. The area in front of the house would be set aside as a 'civic space' and for special events.

The central portion of the park where the World War 1 Memorial is located would stay pretty much the same as would the seating area along Smith Street.

There was also talk of changing the entrances to the park at Court Street, as well as the possible removal of the iron fencing around the park's periphery or replacing it with a lower one because of the Park's Department's current "Parks Without Borders" initiative.

No dog park will be incorporated into the design.

Carroll Park was last renovated in 1994. Normally, New York City parks get renovated every 30 - 40  years, depending on their use and their condition.There is currently no money set aside in the budget for a total renovation of Carroll Park. Therefore, any such renovation is still five to ten years, if not further down the road and would likely be done in several stages.

This round of visioning, was made possible with a grant of $25,000 by Councilmember Brad Lander.

The next steps, according to the Parks department is to use the current Vision Plan to advocate for funding. Once funded, further community input sessions will be held.

In the meantime, The Friends of Carroll Park will be hosting design workshops and conducting surveys to build consensus and support for new ideas like turning Carroll street into a play street and gaining access to the schoolyard at PS58 outside of school hours so please stay engaged in this issue. 

We have time to think outside of the box and come up with an improved plan, which will help the Parks Department to design an even better Carroll Park.

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Important Meeting On Carroll Park Community Vision Plan This Coming Wednesday

First Carroll Park conceptual design presented in September 2019

It is perhaps not the most convenient time for anyone, but the New York Parks Department has scheduled a meeting to present its revised Carroll Park Community Vision Plan at the Community Board 6 Parks/Recreation/Environmental Protection Committee Meeting on December 18, 2019 at 6:30pm at the PS 58 Auditorium, 330 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens.
The revised Carroll Park Community Vision Plan was created after hearing the community's feedback during the  Public Workshop in February 2019 and the CB6 meeting in September 2019.

There is currently no money set aside in the budget for a total renovation of Carroll Park and any such renovation is still five to ten years, if not further down the road. However, Councilmember Brad Lander was able to come up with a grant of $25,000 with which landscape design firm Starr Whitehouse was engaged to begin the process by creating a renovation proposal based on community outreach.

It is not quite clear what Starr Whitehouse did for the $25,000 except for hosting the first visioning session since the Parks Department clearly came up with the conceptual design presented to Carroll Gardeners this past September.

The community was less than enthusiastic about the first concept. Let us hope that the Parks Department listened to some of the very constructive critique it received and incorporated the concerns and suggestions into this new 'vision.'

Please make every effort to attend to discuss the future design for Carroll Park.

Related reading:
Carroll Gardeners Discuss A New Design For Carroll Park At Visioning Session
Carroll Gardeners Less Than Enthused By Preliminary Redesign For Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens.

Below are excerpt from notes written by Carroll Gardens resident and architect Tim McGinty about the park's redesign and what Carroll Park means to the community:

The presentation began wrong. Instead of beginning the presentation with a broad vision, the presentation focused on factors that limit what can be built in the park. As important as tree-root health, new equipment safety standards, costs, funding, and phasing are, beginning with these topics distracted from the goal of presenting a high level overview and vision for Carroll Park. What was missing was acknowledgement of the importance of the park to the community and that, despite the tiny size the park, Carroll Park has become the civic identity of the neighborhood. The heavy daily use of the whole park as well as it's well maintained green areas, and its many special events including parades, plays, markets, birthday parties, and performances, all contribute to its status in the community.

While the presentation briefly mentioned the success of the 1994 remodeling of the park, that remodeling deserved more attention so its achievements will not be lost as new ambitions are embraced. The 1994 redesign has proven durable and flexible as it has accommodated the changing demographics and growth of the Carroll Gardens neighborhood and has many features which deserve to be continued including appropriate zoning of activities, right-sizing the major activity areas, and an identity tied to natural features including the “landmark” trees and the wooded buffer zone.

It is amazing that the 1994 era design accommodates as many people as it does, as may age groups as it does, as many activities as it does — and all at the same time. The density of use is one of the secrets of Carroll Park’s success and popularity.

In the park, simultaneous, overflowing, and overlapping activities happen year-round, throughout the park, and especially in the asphalt play-yard along Court Street. Within the paved play-yard — in addition to participating parents and small clusters of kids hanging out and not counting the several dozen kids zooming on scooters, trikes, training bikes, skateboards, and rollerblades — there are frequently over 50 kids simultaneously informally playing or practicing some kind of sport such as, football, basketball, soccer, baseball, kickball, even tennis, lacrosse and street hockey. Occasionally there are additional play leaders and coaches teaching groups of novices beginning baseball, softball, and other sports skills. All-in-all an amazing spectacle with both threads of activity and age groups overlapping each other at peak times.

Equally amazing is how few times kids are bumped by balls, how infrequently they bump into one another, and how everyone understands and quickly learns the unwritten rules — be aware — everyone has a right to be there — enjoy the controlled chaos — compromise — and it's ok for play territories to overlap. Shaky first-time cyclists are accommodated in the baseball out-field and sometimes the in-field. Errant balls rolling into other games are simply returned with a quick throw or gentle kick. It’s important that everyone is pretty patient because peak use seems to be reached every nice day throughout the year. “It’s a family out there.”

The neighborhood expressed concern that NYC Parks understands neither what Carroll Park achieves nor which activities most deserve to be continued. NYC Parks’ vision sees the remodeling as an opportunity to create a larger “playground” and not as an opportunity to enhance a very special overachieving “civic park”. The audience’s increasingly heartfelt comments revealed they saw the priorities exactly the opposite.

The neighborhood expressed concern that NYC Parks understands neither what Carroll Park achieves nor which activities most deserve to be continued. NYC Parks’ vision sees the remodeling as an opportunity to create a larger “playground” and not as an opportunity to enhance a very special overachieving “civic park”. The audience’s increasingly heartfelt comments revealed they saw the priorities exactly the opposite. 

Revised Vision Statements
Enhance the reputation of Carroll Park as overachieving neighborhood park despite its small size
- maintain and expand the park’s reputation as a valued place and civic anchor for the community
- maintain the park’s reputation as an all-age destination attracting a wide variety of people in the community
- maintain the concept of shared active play territories and overlapping and intersecting use areas
- increase the variety of activities that attract people from the community
- increase scheduled attractions and provide attractions for each season
- minimize the loss of activities due to Critical Root Zone management
-enhance the ways Carroll Park provides both park and play experiences with an emphasis on the “park experience”
- enhance the park’s role as the neighborhood’s destination place of well-being
- emphasize “active free play” which is more important to the community than play structures
- integrate nature play into equipment play areas to increase flexibility and to reduce the number and size of designated play equipment

Anticipate changing park maintenance and care-taking needs
- include a planting and maintenance plan in the concept design
- manage the Critical Root Zones for the benefit of both trees and people
- anticipate replacing several of the large aging iconic Elms and London Plane trees over the next 15 years
- enhance park aesthetics with additional plants and trees selected to mark the changing of seasons
- add appropriate turf /artificial turf
- expand infrastructure to make the park more flexible for more kinds of events
- remodel the community building to meet daily park user needs as well as community meeting needs.

A refurbished Carroll Park that does not at least accommodate all people and activities that it currently does will not be valued by the community and park use will decline. Ultimately the goal is a refurbished park loved and heavily used by the whole community.

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Carroll Gardeners Less Than Enthused By Preliminary Redesign For Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens.

CB6 Parks Committee Chair Glenn Kelly

Councilmember Brad Lander at last night'ts meeting

Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Marty Maher

 

Proposed vision plan for Carroll Park

Leroy Branch, long time member of the Brooklyn Youth Organization.

Long time Carroll Gardener Anthony Pugliese

Rats in Carroll Park in broad daylight yesterday. September19, 2019

At last night's Community Board 6's Parks Committee at PS58, the New York Parks Department gave a presentation of a conceptual plan for a redesign for Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens. The plan, which the Department stressed was very preliminary, was based on ideas and comments collected from local residents at a public visioning session back in February 2019.

Carroll Park was last renovated in 1994.  Normally, City parks get renovated every 30 years, depending on their use and their condition. We have all noticed that Carroll Park's play equipment, safety surface, sprinkler area and bathrooms in the park are desperately in need of some updating. 

There is currently no money set aside in the budget for a total renovation of Carroll Park and any such renovation is still five to ten years, if not further down the road. However, Councilmember Brad Lander was able to come up with a grant of $25,000 with which design firm Starr Whitehouse was engaged to begin the process by creating a renovation proposal based on community outreach.

Councilmember Lander and Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Marty Maher, who both attended last night's meeting, were clear that nothing was set in stone, that this will be a 'long, long process' and that the plan for the park will be evolving with more feedback from local residents.

The idea is to think about what the next phase of this much loved neighborhood park will be, so that the community can be part of the planning.

At the February visioning meeting, Carroll Gardeners had asked for the old trees and open planting areas to be preserved. They had also asked for a turf area and an flexible open recreational area for bike riding, scooting, baseball/softball. and soccer.

There were also calls for expanded play areas and a dedicated performance space for special events in the park such as Smith Street Stage's Shakespeare in Carroll Park performances.

One thing Brooklyn Park's Commissioner Maher wanted the community to keep in mind was that since the last renovation, many regulations have changed within his department.  Much of the recreational and sports features in our park are now out of compliance and need much more space around them to meet current safety codes.  In addition, no new equipment that needs to be anchored into the ground can be installed under the canopy of a tree since it could damage the tree's roots.

Given these new regulations and the fact that Carroll Park has many enormous old trees, the options of where to put play equipment and what features can be incorporated in a new design are limited.

The presented proposal shifts the play equipment and water features to the ball field at Court Street and adds a turf area plus additional seating.  Swings might take the place of the current 'big kids area' along President Street, and adult fitness area could be installed in the current 'toddler area.'

In addition, the park house would be renovated, and the bathrooms made handicapped accessible. The area in front of the house would be set aside as a 'civic space' and for special events.

The central portion of the park where the World War 1 Memorial is located would stay pretty much the same as would the seating area along Smith Street.

By moving the children's play area to the ball field, there would be an increase from 9,000 square feet currently to almost 15,000 square feet of space, the park would lose the basketball hoops and the baseball/softball field in that section.

It was the loss of the open ball field and its baseball and basketball features that prompted a big outcry from those in attendance.  "You are talking about taking away the one thing that works best for the park," one local resident said. Another resident mentioned that open space is at a premium in the city and that Carroll Park's ball field  accommodates an amazing range of activities at all times of the day.

Leroy Branch, who represented the Brooklyn Youth Organization, which runs a baseball program in the park for kids aged 3 to 11, mentioned that his organization has been displaced several times from  parks in its 25 year history. BYO would strongly oppose losing the ballfield in Carroll Park without the guarantee of finding a similar field in another nearby park.

Long time Carroll Gardens resident Anthony Pugliese was concerned that the redesign was mostly accommodating younger children, but neglected the needs of adolescents."At one point, kids leave their parents and are alone in the park." He mentioned that when he raised his kids years ago, the community had the use of PS58 and PS32's schoolyards, where teens could skateboard and play basketball.  Those yards are now closed after school and on week-ends.

As was made abundantly clear last year, the renovation will not happen for 'many, many years.'

The community should continue to be involved in planning for a next renovation.  

Perhaps the best way to do so is to join Friends of Carroll Park, the all volunteer group that has acted as a steward for the park for the past twenty five years.

The group organizes events, takes care of the plantings and addresses concerns with the Parks Department. One of the current concerns are rats in the park.

The photo below was taken by someone who visited Carroll Park with a young child yesterday afternoon. It shows six rats in broad daylight lapping up some milk right across the street of PS 58.

That is frankly disgusting and a health hazard.

So lets not only look at Carroll Parks future, but let us address this issue by all calling 311 and/or Councilman Brad Lander's office at 718-499-1090.

The entire Parks Department presentation can be accessed here.
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/e1ee5f55685888a7b370efecd35aa3ad20190919171910/1d55fcf5691a0bb15067ac6bffa2294120190919171911/eb5caf

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This Wednesday, NYC Parks Department To Share Preliminary Carroll Park Community Vision Plan With Carroll Gardeners

Welcome to fall in Carroll Gardens!
You may remember that the New York Parks Department invited the Carroll Gardens community to a public visioning session for the future of Carroll Park back in February 2019.

The last top-to-bottom renovation of our beloved neighborhood park was in 1994. As we have all noticed, the park has begun to look a bit tired and will need a makeover in the near future. To prepare for that time, the Parks Department asked local residents to contribute their ideas for a park redesign.

Almost 150 people, young and old, attended the February visioning session to make suggestions and discuss options for a new design.

The Parks Department is now ready to come back to the community to present the Carroll Park Community Vision Plan "that was created after hearing your feedback."

This is the meeting notice from the Parks Department:

Remember that this is just another step towards a park redesign. there will be ongoing opportunities for discussion and modifications to the design. It will take some time to secure funding and to reach consensus on a final design. However, we should all be involved in making it the best design possible.

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One Of The Large London Plane Trees Snaps In Half On President Street

Photos of tree pruning along President Street between Smith and Court this morning.

(photos courtesy of Mary P.)

London Plane tree on this block snapped in two just a few hours later.

(photo by Jim C.)

(Photo Credit: Liz)

This morning, our friend and PMFA reader Mary P. sent us photos of Beucler, a sub-contractor for the New York City Parks Department pruning some of the old London Plane trees along President Street between Smith and Court Street. "I hope they are just pruning and not taking the whole trees down," Mary wrote.

I assured her that the trees had been in dire need of pruning for a while and that the Parks Department almost never cuts down living trees.

Well, wouldn't you know.  Just a few moments ago, friend Jim C. sent us a photo of one of the trees on that block, near the entrance to the Carroll Park ball field,  snapped in half, with its branches blocking the entire street. 

Luckily, there have been no reports injuries, but it looks as though at least two or three cars sustained some damage.
By this afternoon, the Fire Department had cut the tree into pieces and cleared the road.  However, there were quite a few pieces on the sidewalk across the street in front of several brownstones.

Of course it could be coincidence that the tree pruning on that block and one of them snapping in half happened just hours apart. But those London Plane trees have stood there for decades and it looks health.
Not sure we will be able to find out, but it is sad to lose one of these old giants.

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