The Trust for Public Land and New York City Host Opening Ceremony for New, Student-Designed Playground to Serve Flushing Queens Neighborhood
NEW YORK (PRWEB) September 12, 2018 -- Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, The Trust for Public Land New York State Director Carter Strickland, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Vincent Sapienza, and I.S. 250Q – The Robert F. Kennedy Community School Principal Tara Mrwik joined students and faculty September 12 to open a new, state-of-the-art green playground to serve the school and surrounding community, and providing 17,000 residents a new park within a 10-minute walk of home. The $1.2 million playground includes a running track, turf field, basketball practice hoops, tennis courts, trees, outdoor classroom space, game tables, and new fitness equipment.
The I.S. 250Q playground is funded is part through the Queens Borough President’s office, New York City Councilman Rory Lancman, and the Department of Environmental Protection.
"The opening of the Flushing Campus Community Playground is a milestone event for the residents of Flushing because the neighborhood now has access to a new state-of the art playground filled with amenities that will encourage area families to have fun and be physically active," said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. "The playground was designed by students and other members of the community to meet the neighborhood's needs and contains a number of green infrastructure elements that will help protect the environment. It was a great pleasure to work with Councilmember Lancman, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the New York City Department of Education, the School Construction Authority and the Trust for Public Land to make this playground a reality."
"Thanks to the collaboration between the Trust for Public Land, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the I.S. 250 community we are able to welcome a new playground and innovative green infrastructure to the neighborhood,” said Council Member Rory I. Lancman. “To know that the students contributed to a playground design that will not only be enjoyable for the community but environmentally sustainable is remarkable."
The new park was created in partnership with The Trust for Public Land’s Playgrounds Program, which serves to create vibrant, educational, and fun playgrounds for New York City’s schoolchildren. All The Trust for Public Land playgrounds include student participation in the design process, providing them with hands-on learning of the science, math, and architecture that goes into designing playgrounds while giving them an opportunity to voice their thoughts on what is needed in their school’s playground. 398 students at I.S. 250, as well as parents and neighbors, got the chance to contribute to the playground design process. Construction of the playground began in spring 2018.
“We’d like to thank the faculty and students at I.S. 250 for working with us to create a beautiful, new green space for the entire Flushing community to enjoy – providing 17,000 residents with a short 10-minute walk from a brand new park,” said Carter Strickland, The Trust for Public Land’s New York State Director. “Helping to transform communities for the better is a large part of what we at The Trust for Public Land do, but this work would not be possible without the tremendous support and partnership of the Queens Borough President, the City Council, and the Departments of Environmental Protection and Education.”
“DEP is so proud of our partnership with The Trust for Public Land and the Department of Education, which has resulted in the creation of more than a dozen new state-of-the-art playgrounds citywide,” said DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza. “This reimagined schoolyard now provides a fun and safe place for NYC school students, while also helping to improve the ecological health of Flushing Creek.”
“This is a great day for the Parsons Complex as we celebrate the ribbon cutting ceremony for our community playground,” said I.S. 250 Principal Tara Mrwik. “May this playground bring many teaching and learning opportunities for our staff and students and provide our community with a place where families can spend quality time together and create long lasting memories.”
Green infrastructure design elements, made possible in part through a partnership with DEP, are a hallmark of The Trust for Public Land’s playground work. These features reduce stormwater runoff that can flood streets and overwhelm sewer systems, allowing untreated water to end up in rivers and bays. Each playground absorbs hundreds of thousands of gallons of water annually and includes 20-30 new trees that bring shade and better air quality to their neighborhoods. Similar playgrounds are also being designed in the Bronx River and Flushing Bay watersheds.
Since 1996, working with the City, The Trust for Public Land’s NYC Playgrounds Program has designed and/or built 197 school and community playgrounds across the five boroughs. In addition to serving students, all playgrounds in New York City are open to the public on weekends, after school, and during school breaks, providing opportunities for both children and adults to be physically active. The program has added more than 150 acres of additional playground space serving the nearly 4 million people who live within a 10-minute walk of one of the sites. The need is critical in a city where 73 percent of low-income neighborhoods fail to meet the city’s standard of 2.5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents.
About The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Nearly ten million people live within a ten-minute walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year. To support The Trust for Public Land and share why nature matters to you, visit http://www.tpl.org.
About New York City DEP
DEP manages New York City’s water supply, providing approximately 1 billion gallons of high quality drinking water each day to more than 9 million residents, including 8.5 million in New York City. The water is delivered from a watershed that extends more than 125 miles from the city, comprising 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes. Approximately 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts bring water to homes and businesses throughout the five boroughs, and 7,500 miles of sewer lines and 96 pump stations take wastewater to 14 in-city treatment plants. DEP has nearly 6,000 employees, including almost 1,000 in the upstate watershed. In addition, DEP has a robust capital program, with a planned $18.9 billion in investments over the next 10 years that will create up to 3,000 construction-related jobs per year. For more information, visit nyc.gov/dep, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
Jes Siart, Gary Zarr & Associates, http://gzandassociates.com/, +1 603-289-8707, [email protected]
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