There’s more good news for New York City‘s parks this week.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said $150 million will be spent on five city parks in underserved neighborhoods.
Each of these five parks will get $30 million:
- Highbridge Park in Washington Heights
- Astoria Park in Queens (pictured above)
- Betsy Head Park in Brownsville
- Freshkills Park on Staten Island
- Saint Mary’s Park in the South Bronx.
The funds will pay for new running tracks, hiking trails, soccer fields, and water stations. The renovations and additions will take between three and four years. Some parts of these parks will be closed during that time.
This funding is part of an overall $285 million initiative to revitalize 67 parks across the city through 2019 (announced last October).
Instead of spreading the funds through the city’s 1,953 parks, the de Blasio administration has instead chosen to focus on neighborhoods that don’t have access to the best parks facilities. They are giving top priority to those facilities, rather constructing several new parks.
Former Bloomberg-adminstration parks commissioner Adrian Benepe (now with the Trust for Public Land) praised the de Blasio administration for revitalizing old, unglamorous parks, rather than just focusing on creating new green spaces.
Photo credit: NYC Parks