Dear Editor:
With summer coming to an end and soccer season set to begin, let’s review the status of the Mayor’s promises on Parks.
In her State of the City address in 2011 Mayor Zimmer said 1600 Park would be the next big park to come online. This park, which has been in the works for years, was stalled for another 2 years due to the inability of the administration to complete the project. Now we have a field, but due to nearby ongoing construction, Park Avenue is still not safe for pedestrians.
Furthermore, since this field will also be contracted out to adult leagues, it will be really hard for older kids to use this field just for play. It is so sad that with all this talk about “The Year of Parks” it is so hard for kids to find a place to just throw a Frisbee or play a game of a catch.
Sinatra Park still has cranes on the field and it looks like that won’t be ready for play until the end of September.
Elysian Park hasn’t had any upgrades. We have the money, but the work hasn’t been done.
Legion Park hasn’t had any upgrades – we’re still having community meetings on that.
The City has been unsuccessful in acquiring any new park land in the Southwest despite promises of this in 2011 and 2012. Now the mayor is saying she won the “right” to purchase Block 12. A panel of judges will determine what that land is valued at, and we could end up paying millions more than the $2.3 million Zimmer offered. With legal fees and a purchase price that could be millions more than expected, what will we get from a block of land that is less than an acre, especially since Dawn Zimmer has no plan in place to build a larger park? If it takes Dawn Zimmer 4 years to put a field on 1600, imagine how long will it take for her to build the promised 6-acre park in SW Hoboken.
It’s not “The Year of Parks.” It’s “The Year of Talk.”
Sincerely,
Ruben J. Ramos, Jr. for Mayor
Laura Miani, for City Council at Large