Jackson Heights says early goodbye to play street

From the Daily News:

A play street that a park-starved Jackson Heights community fought long and hard to open up to the neighborhood this summer has come to a premature end.

The city reopened the stretch of 78th St. between 34th Ave. and Northern Blvd. to traffic unexpectedly last week at the request of a private school that borders the temporary open space.

The move left elected officials and community leaders scrambling to come up with a solution.

The road will revert back to a vehicle-free play street on Friday nights and weekends, a Transportation Department official said.

But that wasn't good enough for local leaders, who have been lobbying for more park space in the neighborhood for years.

"We are working closely with the Garden School and the Department of Transportation to come up with a solution that is acceptable to all," City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) said.

This isn't the first time the private school has come under fire on the issue of open space.

Garden has taken heat from community leaders and residents who would like the school to sell its yard to the city for parkland - a process that could take longer and be less lucrative than accepting an offer from a developer.

A lesson on getting what you really want...

From the Times Ledger:

After dozens of protesters marched into the meeting and spoke passionately in support of the measure, Community Board 3 members Thursday night voted to support turning part of 78th St., adjacent to Travers Park, into a two-month play street this summer.

The board voted 27-9 with two abstentions in favor of supporting the play-street application of Jackson Heights Green Alliance, a community advocacy group fighting for more park space, which rallied about 150 supporters throughout the neighborhood Thursday and marched them from 78th St. into the Louis Armstrong Middle School cafeteria where the meeting took place.

“Play Street! Play Street!” chanted the crowd as they cheered, clapped and stomped to show their support.

Officials from the city Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Fire Department, and the Police Department spoke in support of the play-street initiative, along with Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) and state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights).

Many were overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up to the meeting to support the cause.

Dromm, whose victorious November campaign dealt largely with advocating for more park space, said he was pleased with the board’s vote and although the final say goes to the Department of Transportation, he thinks the measure will be approved.

“It was a great victory for the kids in Jackson Heights,” he said.

Sorry, but tossing kids in the street to play is a temporary solution, not a victory. A victory would be to get a new park built to serve the community which has a dearth of park space. We seem to have lowered our expectations to satisfy Bloombergian standards. You gave them an out. They convinced you that this is what you want when it's less than satisfactory. This is not the direction to be going in. Why not have all those people show up at every CB3 meeting and demand a park? Why not hold press conferences that do the same thing? Let's see if the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Fire Department, Police Department Councilman Danny Dromm, Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras and state Sen. Jose Peralta show up then. I'm guessing you'll have a lot of "we can't afford it" type bullshit thrown your way instead. $3B budget surplus this year, folks.

Keep the heat on and don't settle.