TESTIMONY
Hayley Gorenberg, Chair of Friends of Mount Prospect Park, on the Proposed Skateboarding Complex in Mount Prospect Park
7:31:31
·
172 sec
Gorenberg opposes the mayor's $24 million plan to construct a 40,000 square foot skateboarding complex in Mount Prospect Park, Brooklyn, which would pave over beloved green space.
- The project is part of a larger plan for four skateboarding sites across Brooklyn and the Bronx
- Paving green space will worsen environmental issues like heat islands, flooding, and loss of tree canopy
- The site lacks clear sightlines from street level, posing safety risks
- The entrance ramps present dangers for skaters, pedestrians, and those with mobility aids
- The project is funded entirely with public money despite being marketed with Tony Hawk
- Alternative paved sites have been identified that could be used instead
- Gorenberg calls for investigation into potential financial interests and assessment of environmental/economic impacts
Hayley Gorenberg
7:31:31
It's on or off.
7:31:32
Okay.
7:31:33
With thanks for this opportunity, I'm Haley Goranberg, Chair of Friends of Mount Prospect Park.
7:31:38
Facing parks department cuts of $55,000,000.
7:31:41
It's all the more wrong to funnel $11,000,000 of public money to pave over beloved green space.
7:31:47
In Mount Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
7:31:50
We oppose the mayor's plan to construct a regional scale 40,000 square foot mostly concrete and asphalt paved skateboarding complex on beloved Green Park Space.
7:32:00
The mayor's $24,000,000 plan includes four sites, 2 in the Bronx, and 2 in Brooklyn, All Except Mount Prospect Park are already paved.
7:32:08
The paved sites do not face opposition.
7:32:10
This project would make environmental problems worse for New York families in our future.
7:32:15
This project warrants the most probing environmental examination, but officials have provided none.
7:32:20
Problems include heat and tree canopy, because paving green space worsens heat effects in heat islands.
7:32:25
The library next door runs a cooling center because of already dangerous heat.
7:32:30
Flooding, paving green space since storm water impacts flooding sewer problems flies in the face of key climate and resilience goals.
7:32:37
Other impacts include noise and traffic on a block already jammed with tourist attractions.
7:32:42
It's a dangerous site and a dangerous plan.
7:32:45
Celebrity skater Tony Hawk Skate Park Project Foundation publishes a best practices guide that says it's very important for monitoring problematic activity that there be clear sightlines through the facilities from street level, but Mount Prospect Park is on a steep grade high up.
7:33:00
No sight lines.
7:33:03
The ramp entrance to the park, everyone acknowledges the obvious dangers of skaters hill bombing down the park's entrance ramp.
7:33:09
People with strollers walking pets elderly frail people, small children accessing the playground, people with mobility aids, use the ramp all day.
7:33:17
Stairway entrance, someone's gonna try to skate off it, It goes right into the children's wing of the library and then busy Eastern Parkway.
7:33:26
Who is benefiting from spending our public money?
7:33:29
The PR campaign is referencing partnership and collaboration with Tony Hawk, and it leads many people to believe the skate complexes bankrolled by a multimillionaire but not so.
7:33:39
It's our money.
7:33:41
So we want investigation and disclosure of the potential financial interests, analysis of the health and economic impacts of substituting a single use paved complex for multi use free public green space that requires no expensive purchases and an assessment of the value of green space to the community.
7:34:01
There are at least 5 nearby paved sites, park sites we've identified that could be built out and made great for skaters.
7:34:09
There's no reason to have this manufactured conflict, especially with a foundation that says its mission is to serve underserved.
7:34:17
So please change the course of this expensive, dangerous project, and don't pay for the park.
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Darren Hinton, Member of the Public on the Need to Increase Funding for NYC Parks and Maintenance Issues at the Parade Grounds in Prospect Park