Brooklyn Borough President Gives Over $10 Million To Park Improvements In 2017

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, BROOKLYN — Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Wednesday highlighted the more than $10 million he allocated from his 2017 budget to Brooklyn's parks. As the borough president unveiled safety improvements to Columbus Park in Downtown Brooklyn, he used the celebration as a chance to emphasize the investments he has promised for the year ahead to cultivate safer and more modern parks.

Betsey Head Park in Brownsville, a centerpiece of the community that the city has allowed to deteriorate for decades, will receive $2 million from Adams' 2017 budget to go toward synthetic turf fields and tracks, Adams underscored. This is in addition to the $30 million allotted to Betsey Head from the federal government in 2016. Linden Park in East New York will get $2 million as well from Adams toward the same improvements. The Myrtle Avenue side of Fort Greene Park will also receive $900,000 to go toward improvements in accessibility, drainage, entrances, landscapes and paths.

Adams talked about the foreseeable parks improvements at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday to finalize an $11 million undertaking in Downtown Brooklyn's Columbus Park that was funded by the mayor and the borough president. The $11 million went toward replacing Columbus Park's dangerous cracked bluestone on the ground that led to several pedestrian injuries, as well as toward maintaining the historic integrity of the park, Adams said.

"Before I took office, I promised to take out the crumbling bluestone and replace it with a plaza we can all be proud of for years to come. With the support of City Hall, this dream became a reality," Adams said. "Open space, both active and passive, is vital to building safe communities that raise healthy children and families."

Photo via BP Adams' office