Architect draws up better plan for Astoria Park diving pool

From DNA Info:

The Parks Department has planned for years to pave over the shuttered pool and turn it into a performance space, a proposal approved by Community Board 1 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2013.

But the plan has drawn criticism from some residents who would rather see the pool restored to its original use.

Andrew Tesoro, who runs the Manhattan firm Tesoro Architects, says he's come up with a design for the space that would keep it functional all year-round. He submitted it to the Parks Department earlier this month.

"As an architect, I object somewhat to the plans of the Parks Department," he said.

The diving pool should retain an "aquatic function" rather than be filled in, he added. "It should have at least other uses."

Tesoro envisions restoring Astoria Park's diving pool for swimming and using it as an ice rink in the winter, then adding a deck-like stage opposite the diving boards to use for events and performances.

He came up with the idea after being approached by Kathleen Springer, an Astoria resident who's spearheaded a campaign to get the pool reopened, Tesoro said, noting the "spectacular design" of the Astoria Park Pool complex.

"It's important to take this precious resource and do as much as we can with it," Tesoro said.

Tesoro doesn't have an exact figure for how much the plan would cost to implement, but thinks it could possibly be cheaper or close in cost to the Parks Department's current plan for the site.

"Filling a 17-foot basin with gravel and then paving over half an acre of that with attractive material — that's not inexpensive activity," he said.

Ice skating rink proposed for Astoria Pool

From the Queens Courier:

Astoria Park could soon be the next site to go skating for the holidays.

Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. sent a letter to Parks Department Commissioner Veronica White on November 19, asking the agency to develop the Astoria Park Pool area into an ice skating rink. The area being proposed for the rink is next to the pool and used for sprinklers during the summer.

“This area in the Astoria Park Pool would make the perfect space for an ice skating rink for the residents of Queens to enjoy during the winter months,” said Vallone. “With the addition of an ice skating rink to the existing skate park and upcoming amphitheater, Astoria Park will be a destination for every season.”

Vallone and White are both on their way out, so how is this even a "could soon" story?

Ice skating rink coming to Atlas Park

From the Times Ledger:

A Brooklyn-based sports and events center announced plans last week to open an outdoor skating rink this month in a parking lot near the Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale.

Kevin McCabe, founder and chief executive officer of Aviator Sports and Events said the company would be temporarily opening and operating a 70-foot-by-130-foot ice skating rink in the “Marshalls lot” between 81st and 82nd streets on Cooper Avenue. The rink will be in business from mid-November to mid-March.

“We thought it would be fun to give it a try,” McCabe said.

McCabe said the exact opening date of the skating rink has not been determined since Aviator is still going through the permitting process. The current plans now are to temporarily install a rink as well as a large carnival-style slide which will be coated with ice. There will also be booths that will sell snacks and hot drinks like hot chocolate and coffee, places where people can buy Christmas merchandise, benches for people to sit and a Christmas tree.

“It’s more like a winter park, a Christmas park type of thing,” McCabe said.

The Atlas Park rink will join the City Ice Pavilion in Long Island City and the pool and rink in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Lost opportunity for Tent of Tomorrow

From the Times Ledger:

The Parks Department estimated it would cost $21.3 million to $27.8 million to restore just the Tent of Tomorrow.

This would have all been unnecessary, said Marcia Lynn, a former city Department of Environmental Protection employee, if city leaders had carried out her plan, introduced to officials in 2002, to make use of the Tent and towers while providing Queens residents with useful services.

At the time, she said, she had three experts who determined the entire Pavilion was structurally sound and had lined up a group with $20 million to $30 million in funding to restore it.

Lynn’s proposal would have saved the structures by turning the Tent into a multi-floored ice skating facility, public school and New York sports museum and transforming the tops of the towers into a sports bar and restaurant. Lynn’s daughter, now 21, was an avid hockey player and figure skater during her school years and Queens offered no place for her to play the sports she loved.

That is where Lynn’s plan would come in. The Tent would have offered ice sports and a full academic day at an off-site charter public school, she said. The structure would have retained its character but been rebuilt with a glass skin, four to five floors, two or three rinks, the museum, a skate school, shops and more. The plans would have recalled the years when the Tent was operated as a roller rink.

In about 2000, Lynn organized a coalition of experts, including the pavilion’s original structural engineer, Vincent DeSimone; the original architect, the late Phillip Johnston; and Gordon. The three performed an analysis of the towers and Tent and determined they were structurally sound.

“We had a big consortium, we had about $20 [million] to $30 million to fund it. At the time the economy was good, we weren’t at war, so we thought it would be a great program,” she said.

Lynn became ill shortly thereafter and the project was put on hold until 2002, when she said the consortium took the plans to the Parks Department.

At the time, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff was hoping to secure the 2012 Olympic Games for New York City, so he was pressing for a new skating rink with an Olympic-sized pool, plans which eventually manifested themselves as the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Pool and Rink.

The consortium’s plans were ignored and the city is worse off, Lynn said, as only a two-rink facility can host tourism-boosting hockey tournaments.