Sunset Park Playground Renovation Pushed Back To September, Angering Local Officials

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — The renovation of a kid's playground in Sunset Park won't be finished until September, meaning families in the neighborhood won't have access to the area for two straight summers.

The New York City Parks Department originally promised that the park, near Sixth Avenue and 44th Street, would be open again by April of this year, a year after construction began in 2016. But now the project won't be finished until at least September.

That delay has infuriated local leaders, including Community Board 7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer and City Councilman Carlos Menchaca, whose office contributed $2 million in funding for the upgrades

"We have been asking since before this project started — are you going to complete it on time?" Laufer told Patch. "Because we don’t want to lose two summers. And we were told many times that it was on schedule, and we wouldn’t lose a second summer."

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Laufer's community board, whose district includes Sunset Park, was told by the Parks Department as early as January of 2017 that the park would open as scheduled, according to a press release from Menchaca's office. While the department told the board in February that the project would be pushed back two months, it was still touting that June open date as recently as April 13, the release said.

Then the community was given the news that the park wouldn't be open until at least September.

After that, the community board voted unanimously to demand that the city comptroller's office to audit every current and upcoming capital project in the neighborhood. A formal letter will be sent to Scott Stringer, the comptroller, later this week.

Maeri Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the Parks Department, did not respond to several questions Patch asked about the project's timeline but said in an email: "Parks is doing everything we can to expedite this project, and I should have a more specific update for you later this week."

Menchaca and Laufer have asked that the park open by June but that looks unlikely, in Laufer's opinion.

"It’s not anywhere close to completion," he said.

He added: "I’m curious how often they actually work on it. I was sitting out there for an hour today and didn’t see one worker."

Menchaca, the city councilman who represents the neighborhood, is angry not only at the park's delayed opening but the communication breakdown with the community.

"Our community and our kids and our families want a playground, and we want it now," Menchaca told Patch. "We want it for summer. How we get there is the question. And it matters also, not what we do as government but how we do it. We have to figure out a way to get good information, solid information, to community members, to council members, community board members with efficiency, trust and respect."

Menchaca said the incident should be used as an opportunity to build trust between the public and its local government.

"We are in a moment right now," he said, "where our relationship between government and the community is so fraught with challenges that these projects become an opportunity for building trust in communities like Sunset Park, working families, immigrant families with kids, to show the real power of what we can do as a city. Period."

Menchaca added: "This is the city of New York. We have the power to make this right. And that is what I'm asking the mayor and Parks Department — to make this right."

Image via NYC Parks