From the Daily News:
A PROPOSAL to sell a hard-to-access 4-acre parcel of parkland in East Elmhurst to a cemetery has stalled - despite strong community support.
Elected officials said the proceeds from the sale of the triangular plot - bounded by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 30th Ave. - would go toward purchasing park land in another location. And the sale would allow the nearby St. Michael's Cemetery to expand.
But the city Parks Department won't sign off on the plan until a comparable plot of land is lined up, officials said.
"The reason why we're opposing the transfer of the land is because we don't have replacement parkland," said agency spokeswoman Trish Bertuccio. "Green space in New York City is scarce, and we want to make sure that we preserve as much of it as possible."
The parcel is open space along the highway, without any playgrounds or play equipment.
Cheryl Huber, deputy director of New Yorkers for Parks, said she has heard the land is also used by BMX bikers. She said she was upset when she learned that Community Board 1 and the City Council had supported the sale.
"It's always better to replace parkland with parkland instead of money, to guarantee that the community will still have open space," she said.
But Assemblyman Michael Gianaris isn't so sure that the land is worth saving.
"It's decrepit. It's unkempt. There's rats and vermin in there," the Astoria Democrat said. "We have the opportunity to actually create acreage of good parkland in a different location and put this land to productive use."
He was approached by cemetery officials with the idea last year, he said. In February 2009, he introduced a bill in the Assembly to authorize the sale - since city parkland can't be bought or sold without legislative approval.
Cemetery officials declined comment on the potential sale.
But City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said it will allow St. Michael's, established in 1852, to survive for a least another 20 years.
"They were out of plot land," Vallone said.
His office is now looking into potential sites for new parks in northwestern Queens.
St. Michael's "will keep that land in much better condition than it is now," Vallone said. "It's going to make the piece of property much more beautiful to the public."
How stupid do these 2 electeds sound since the park is in their districts and its lack of upkeep is partially their fault?
Not only that, but Vallone's family lobbied hard for the sale. Now we know why Mike & Pete are so adamantly for it.
19 comments:
It's time to BRING IN THE FEDS to investigate the shady Vallone clan!
You guys ever hear of a capital project? That would have fixed up the park.
Saw this on A Walk in the Park:
"No word on why elected officials allowed the park to remain in this condition."
Ha, ha, true! This is like the city neglecting Willets Point all those years then claiming it blighted so a developer could take it over and make money off it.
Do these guys ever think before they open their mouths? Or are their constituents that dumb? Wait - they repeatedly vote for these guys. I have my answer. Never mind...
Not saying selling it would be horrible, but the line about the park being in bad condition is absolute bullshit.
The Parks Dept. just spent probably a couple million renovating this park, completed last year I believe. It was resurfaced, new lights, new fences. It is used heavily for baseball and other sports.
The park is a good distance from the rest of the cemetery with lots of stuff in between, including a strip club across the street.
I believe you are talking about St. Mark's playground, which is separate from St. Mark's park, which is what they're talking about.
Anon just above Crappy that believes this is a ball field and was just resurface and is "a good distance from the cemetery"... did you even look at the map at the top of this post? It's directly across the street from the back of the cemetery, with a factory building or two on the north side of 30th Ave.
As I said, I do not believe this is the parcel in question. The long thin triangular darker green line between the cemetery and the BQE is what the city is considering selling to St. Michael's Cemetery.
"Allow St Michaels to survive for another 20 years..." Huh? So the cemetery will go away otherwise? I don't think so. All the city is doing is allowing the cemetery to continue burying people for another 20 years-- and why do we want to facilitate that?
The Daily News article says there is "strong community support" for selling the park but only quotes two politicians, one of whose family is being paid to lobby for the sale...
I know about the recently renovated St Michaels playground, but I never heard of St Michaels park. I always assumed that the strip of land that Crappy mentioned was part of the cemetery. I will have to walk around there today....
I have to side with the parks dept. on this one.
Show us the plot of land you intend to relocate to and its all good. Till that time, dont give it up!
The Daily News article says there is "strong community support" for selling the park but only quotes two politicians, one of whose family is being paid to lobby for the sale...
...its Astoria dimbulb.
Everyone's opinion is determined by the politicans. The community is delivered like so many serfs.
How about the recycled graves in St Michaels?
Rumor has the stones were sent to Socrates Park.
Did you see those ugly monoseleums at St Michael's 48th Street entrace.
Ugly! Tasteless!
Yeah, something doesn't make sense here. A "triangular plot - bounded by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 30th Ave" corresponds to the playground. Since the playground is definitely in good shape and is being used, I think the newspaper was just lazy and didn't check to make sure it was describing the right property. Shocking, I know.
The playground is more than 5 acres and the space they are eyeing is ~4
This seems like a no-brainer. Funds form the sale of the thin park strip could go to the expansion of heavily-used Travers Park in Jackson Heights. Dromm, are you listening?
The park will be in CB1, and in Vallone's district. This isn't a free for all!
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