Randall's Island Community Protest of Mayor Bloomberg's Sale of Public Parkland to 20 Elite Private Schools at Field Groundbreaking
Summary: Representatives from East Harlem and South Bronx community groups, including plaintiffs against the City and the Randall's Island Sports Foundation (RISF), protest the giving away of up to 80% of the park's athletic fields after-school to 20 Elite private schools for 20 years. The City's pay-to-play scheme will directly impact the residents of the East Harlem and the South Bronx who have little access to the island as well as funding for physical athletic programs after school. These two communities suffer from the highest asthma and obesity rates in the country.
Where: Randall's Island Park - Icahn Stadium
Date: Thursday, August 2, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm
Backdrop: Representatives from community groups including East Harlem Preservation, Nos Quedamos, New York Environmental Law Clinic Justice Project, will rally in front of Icahn Stadium outside of City/RISF luncheon.
For more information:
NYC Park Advocates
(212) 987-0565
(646) 584-8250 Cell #
Please also visit East Harlem Preservation to view the latest devastation to the Island!
4 comments:
I cannot think of an example where a private group has hijacked a park ... whoops, yup, it happened here in Queens at Flushing Meadow and the tennis.
You see folks in Manhattan, it IS important what happens out here and we need your help. It may be amuseing to you on how we are under the jackboot of the clubhouse, but remember, the torture techiques they hone on our unlucky backs will be in your backyard next year.
As Richard M. Nixon once said:
"Let me make this perfectly clear now".
Bloomberg is a real estate broker not a mayor.
His goal is to sell off every "underutilized" piece of public land to private developer friends in the guise of raising "needed" city revenues !
Can't wait to see his ass term limited out of city hall.
What a pic, says it all...
I don't get it...I think many who object to the plan have never really set foot out on the Island.
I have spent untold hours out on Randalls and Wards Island over the last 10 years as a baseball parent in CYO-Manhattan Youth Baseball. Except for the fact that the island is surrounded by water and that makes the views attractive, the place is an absolute DUMP!
The playing fields are abysmal, they are laid out in a horrific design, and the "alleged" open space is nothing more that gross patches of dirt, and when it rains, MUD. Socer players and rugby players who play in the "open" areas play on patches of weeds, broken glass, and rocks. And trust me when I say this: NOBODY goes to Randalls Island to sunbathe, as was alleged by Mr. Seigel during the court hearing......
As for the ball infields, they are now a safety hazard, with broken glass, infields with big holes and uneven grading so that chidren playing on them are more likely to be injured.
There are no restrooms for the thousands of people who use the park every weekend; parking is unsupervised and laissez-faire, making it incredibly dangerous for young children.
The RISF plan optimizes the land use to provide the most opportunities for the thousands of baseball, softball and soccer players who yearn for more and better playing facilities by putting more ball and soccer fields in the same amount of space. It provides provides for additional restrooms in logical spots to make being out there more pleasant. It controls traffic flow to minimize the pedestrian dangers that currently exist.
It eliminates the huge patches of swamp in the middle of the island and makes it usable land; the cluttered unkept areas near the edges of the Island are a haven for RATS!! I know, you have to watch out for them when you use a ballfield located near the water.
Why would ANYONE not want to take advantage of private financing to make a terrific public facility?
Would the critics of the plan to complete the renovation of Randalls Island have also preferred that dump of a track stadium that used to occupy the space remain where Icahn Stadium and the beautiful soccer fields next to it now exist ? What the RISF plan does is bring the rest of the Island up to those standards.
What is so wrong with that?
The alternative is what? More of the same?!?
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