Tag: Prospect Park Alliance

c. Elizabeth Keegin Colley

PPA Strategic Plan: Share Your Feedback

February 4, 2016

Last summer, the Prospect Park Alliance conducted a survey to gain valuable insight into how Park visitors use the Park, and help prioritize its work and focus moving forward. The survey was part of a larger strategic planning process for the organization, given its increasing role in the care of the Park, rapid changes happening in the surrounding communities, and limited public resources.

In early February, we invited the public to provide feedback on an overview of this draft strategic plan. The period for review has ended. Stay tuned for the release of our final plan later this spring.

 

Neighborhood Play: Stroud Playground

December 15, 2015

The Prospect Park Alliance contributed its design expertise to revitalize Stroud Playground in neighboring Crown Heights, which is an important community amenity as well as outdoor space for two public schools, PS 316 and MS 383. The $5.1 million project is part of Mayor de Blasio’s Community Parks Initiative, a citywide plan orchestrated by NYC Parks to renovate parks in communities with the greatest need through capital funding, programming and strategic partnerships, and also received funding from Council Member Laurie Cumbo.

“The Alliance brings decades of expertise in designing award-winning playgrounds in Prospect Park to this project,” said Alliance President Sue Donoghue. “It is important to share this knowledge with surrounding communities to strengthen and revitalize New York’s diverse green spaces.”

Stroud marks the Alliance’s first major design project outside Prospect Park. In order to further this partnership, the Alliance has also committed to providing pro-bono design services to transform two additional CPI projects in 2016 and 2017. Cumulatively, these three projects will represent a total commitment valued at $700,000 of in-kind support.

The Alliance developed a new design that fits many amenities into a compact, one-acre space. In a public forum held last December, the community voiced a strong desire for basketball courts, play spaces, ample lighting, and areas for parties and picnics. These elements are incorporated into the design, along with new play equipment and water features, shaded seating areas and picnic tables, handball courts, a jogging track, a turf field with misting spray and a quiet garden that can serve as an outdoor classroom.

“One of the most important parts of the renovation is how we are opening up the playground to the surrounding neighborhood,” said Justine Heilner, Alliance Senior Landscape Architect. “The design removed chain-link fencing to create a more accessible and engaging space, and new trees will be planted along the perimeter to create a green and inviting entranceway.”

Environmental sustainability and cost efficiency also played a major role in the redesign. The project will reuse some of the existing materials for benches and paving. Energy efficient lighting will be installed, and nearly 30 new trees will be planted. The Alliance and NYC Parks are also working closely with the Department of Environmental Protection on storm water management strategies. Rain gardens, porous paving and underground detention tanks will absorb storm water runoff not only from the playground itself but also the surrounding streets.

Stroud Playground construction begins in September 2017 and expected to take approximately one year to complete.

Protecting Prospect Park’s Wildlife

November 24, 2015

A wide variety of wildlife call Prospect Park home. In conjunction with FIDO in Brooklyn, WILD for Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Bird Club, the Prospect Park Alliance has recently taken a step toward protecting the health of the Park’s many wild residents.

The Alliance installed twelve fishing line recycling containers around the Lakeshore, where fishers can responsibly dispose of their fishing line. Improperly discarded fishing line and hooks can pose a serious injury risk to both wildlife and pets. Aquatic wildlife is especially at risk, due to their proximity to areas where fishing line is discarded. These containers were funded and constructed by FIDO and will be regularly maintained by WILD.

As a National Audubon-designated Important Bird Area, Prospect Park supports over 200 species of birds, as well as fish, turtles and other wildlife. Recreational fishers can help protect wildlife by placing used fishing line in one of the new recycling containers. Learn more about fishing in Prospect Park.

Giving Thanks

November 17, 2015

What better way to give thanks and honor a loved one this season than with the gift of a commemorative tree in Prospect Park? From around the Park, here are stories of three families, their trees and the people they honor. 

Learn More.

Stroud Playground Featured in The New York Times

November 13, 2015

The Prospect Park Alliance and its support of the City’s Community Parks Initiative is featured in The New York Times, in connect with the pro-bono design services that the Alliance is providing to redesign Stroud Playground in neighboring Crown Heights. The Alliance has committed to providing pro-bono design services for three CPI projects, with two other projects to be determined in the coming year. The Community Parks Initiative is a multi-faceted investment in smaller public parks located in dense and growing neighborhoods with higher-than-average concentrations of poverty. Stroud marks the Alliance’s first major design project outside Prospect Park. 

Prospect Park Alliance Featured on NYC TV

October 23, 2015

Join TV host Dave Evans on a tour of things to do in Prospect Park! $9.99 with Dave Evans, an NYC Life program that highlights the best free or low-cost activities in the city, devoted a recent episode to Prospect Park. This episode highlights Prospect Park Alliance activities at Lefferts Historic House, the Audubon Center, the Carousel, Lakeside, and the Tennis Center, and also features an interview with Alliance President Sue Donoghue. Although it aired last week, the episode can be watched online at the NYC Media website.

Visit our calendar to learn about upcoming programs in Prospect Park.

 

Alliance Receives Greener NYC Funding

September 29, 2015

The Prospect Park Alliance will receive $50,000 in funding from the New York City Council’s Greener NYC Initiative to support the Alliance’s Woodlands Youth Crew program. Speaker Mark-Viverito, Council Member Donovan Richards and the New York City Council awarded over $1 million dollars in funding to 26 organizations. The initiative supports environmentally friendly focused programs that encourage the improvement and conservation of New York City’s air, land, energy and open space.

Sue Donoghue, President of the Prospect Park Alliance, said, “Thanks to the City Council, this important funding will support the Prospect Park Alliance Woodlands Youth Crew, a unique initiative that employs local high school students to participate in Park restoration while learning about environmental preservation and future job opportunities. By countering erosion, removing invasive vegetation, and planting native plants, the Woodlands Youth Crew has given new life to some of the most damaged areas in Prospect Park.  Our thanks go to Speaker Mark-Viverito, Council Members Richards and Levine, and the entire City Council for their support.”

“New York City is committed to being a leader on environmentalism and sustainability on the city level,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “This initiative is part of the City Council’s ongoing commitment to making New York City greener and more environmentally friendly. Together we are moving in the right direction, and through the Greener NYC Initiative, we’re bringing every community across the city together to get there even faster.”

Check out our video to learn more about the Woodlands Youth Crew.

PPA Profiles: Christian Zimmerman

September 17, 2015

This year, Christian Zimmerman, the Alliance’s chief landscape architect celebrates his 25th anniversary with the Alliance. During his tenure, he has overseen the dramatic transformation of Prospect Park after decades of deterioration and decline.

As Vice President of Capital and Landscape Management, he leads a talented team of architects, landscape architects, horticulturists, arborists and ecologists. He is a passionate steward of the Park and deeply devoted to the democratic vision conceived by the Park’s creators Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux nearly 150 years ago. Nationally recognized for his historic preservation work, Christian was named an American Society of Landscape Architects Fellow in 2010.

Originally from North Dakota, he discovered his true calling as a landscape architect while studying horticulture at North Dakota State University. After earning a degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Idaho, Christian moved to New York in 1988 where he began working as a landscape designer for the New York City Parks Department at the Olmsted Center. It wasn’t long before he joined the fledgling Prospect Park Alliance at a critical moment in its development.

Since that time, he has overseen a number of award-winning, innovative projects, from the restoration of the woodland Ravine (Brooklyn’s last remaining forest), to the Zucker Natural Exploration Area. Most significantly, Christian played a key role in the restoration of 26 acres in the southeast corner of the Park into one of the Alliance’s most popular and celebrated projects, Lakeside.

In his time restoring and preserving Prospect Park’s iconic terrain, the Park has returned to its place as one of Brooklyn’s most treasured destinations. In the early 1990s, when the Park’s neglected landscapes were considered unsafe, Park usage was at a low, with only 1.7 million visits each year. Since that time, the Park has returned to its place as one of the country’s premier green spaces, and now welcomes nearly 10 million visits each year. No matter the number of visitors, the Park remains a peaceful respite.

“You can always find a place to feel away from the city,” he said. “That’s the genius of the design.”

Despite overwhelming success stories, he still sees a lot of work to be done. “We’ve only restored 150 of 585 acres,” he explained. “We’ve done a lot, but there’s so much more to do. There are endless opportunities.”

With the completion of Lakeside, Christian and his team will now focus on the Park’s northeast corner, including woodland restoration in the Vale of Cashmere and the restoration of the Oriental Pavilion and Flatbush Avenue perimeter.

Learn more about future restoration projects.

PPA Profiles: Joseph Oluwashola

September 9, 2015

To call City Park Worker Joseph Oluwashola a hard worker would be an understatement. Oluwashola is part of the team of maintenance staff who work nearly round the clock in the summer months to pick up trash and litter at this peak time of year. While trash removal is primarily the responsibility of the City’s Parks Department, for a number of years the Prospect Park Alliance has funded supplemental summer crews to work side-by-side with Parks staff.

“These crews work every Saturday and Sunday night cleaning up after picnics, and large special events, such as the New York Philharmonic and the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! concerts, usually until 2 am and sometimes later,” said Josephine Pittari, Vice President and Chief of Operations at the Prospect Park Alliance. “It’s the most challenging shift. Our goal is to remove the garbage on a same-day basis.”

Since he started working in the Park in 2014, he has routinely impressed his peers, ensuring the Park is a clean and welcoming space for all. He sums up his outlook on his job in the Park: “When there’s work to be done, I work!”

This hard work has not gone unnoticed. He recently won the 2015 Light of the World Award from the Parks Department’s Ebony Society, which recognizes Parks employees who have made outstanding contributions to the agency and their community. But Joseph is not one to brag. “I was told to attend the ceremony, along with the other nominees, and when my name was called, I was so happy,” he recalls. “I know I work very hard, but it was nice to be recognized for it.”

Since immigrating to New York from Nigeria in 1981, Joesph has fallen in love with Brooklyn, and more recently, with Prospect Park. For him, his job has very real-world implications, as he knows millions of others also cherish Prospect Park. And in his opinion, the partnership between the Prospect Park Alliance and the City is crucial to keeping the Park clean and beautiful.

Improving Neighborhood Parks: Epiphany Playground

September 7, 2015

NYC Parks and the Prospect Park Alliance have unveiled the design for the $2.9 million renovation of Epiphany Playground in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Alliance provided pro-bono design services for the project, which is being funded through NYC Parks’ Community Parks Initiative (CPI) as well as through the support of Council Member Stephen Levin.

Epiphany Playground is the Alliance’s second design for NYC Parks’ Community Parks Initiative, a multi-faceted investment in smaller public parks located in dense and growing neighborhoods with higher-than-average concentrations of poverty.
The Alliance’s design renovates the space by adding new play equipment for children of all ages, a gentle water feature, a multipurpose free-play area and sport courts, including a junior-sized basketball court with an additional hoop for shooting practice and one handball court.

In order to make the Park more open and inviting, the design removes high shrubs along the fence line and replaces them with small trees, lower shrubs and perennials and adds a new entrance at Berry and South Tenth Streets. Bench seating and café-style tables will be placed throughout the playground, as well as two bottle-filler drinking fountains and new trash receptacles.

Street trees will be added on all three sides of the site to provide shade and create a green, inviting border. Additionally, security lighting will be added to improve site visibility and enhance safety throughout the evening hours. In collaboration with the NYC Department of Environmental Preservation, green infrastructure will also be installed to help capture stormwater runoff.

The project is scheduled to begin construction in 2017.