FYI: Please see the following statement from CM Menchaca regarding the fencing placed around Valentino Pier Park and new capital funding for this Park
“This morning my office was informed by community residents that fencing was placed around Valentino Pier. This is deeply concerning for several reasons. First, our office received no advance communications from the Parks Department about this fencing. Our Red Hook neighbors experienced this only months earlier with the fencing that went up around Coffey Park with no prior discussion with our office, and limited community outreach. Second, we now have two community parks that have fencing around them simultaneously. This is unacceptable, and we are now working to get the details on the nature and scope of this project on Valentino Pier in order to resolve the problem this fencing has created. Improvements to our parks should be thoughtfully timed to ensure that there is always open space accessible to our community. And third, this fencing went up on the same day as Red Hook Flicks. We have been assured by Borough Commissioner Jeffrey that the fencing will not prevent Red Hook Flicks from going forward as planned. We will continue to work with the Parks Department to get more detailed information on the improvements that are now underway and post updates as we get them.
My office has also received some questions on the capital funding allocated for Valentino Pier, which is separate from the project that started today. To provide some background, in 2012, the City Council allocated $1.5M in funding to construct a comfort station (or in simpler terms, a bathroom) for the Pier. A scoping meeting was held on August 9, 2012 to discuss the particulars of the project. Then Sandy hit, which required Parks Department to rethink preliminary designs for the comfort station. The original cost estimates went up by about $500K—my office and the Borough President’s Office stepped in, each providing $250K in capital funds to close that funding gap. The project is now in design, and the Parks Department expects that they will present the design to the Community Board this fall. We will keep you all informed when a date is set for that meeting. The Parks Department has indicated that they do not anticipate having to close the park throughout this process, and that the impact on park usage during construction will be minimal. We are committed to ensuring a full community process in close partnership with the Community Board on this project and the parks in our district more generally.”
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The fencing is not really the problem, It’s the work they plan to do at the park without reaching out to the community. Everyone i’ve talked to likes the natural paths and adamantly opposes more pavement at Valentino Park.
This is one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever been able to enjoy every day just the way it is.
The landscaping is amazing. They’ve chosen plants that would naturally grow near the beach, and there are flowers blooming throughout the entire summer. Many families picnic and plan birthday parties here. The pier is frequented by the regulars that fish there. Red Hook boaters takes lots of kids out in Kayaks all summer. Dog owners take their dogs in the early morning. We watch movies there all summer on the lawn.
We DON’T want more pavement at Valentino park. We like the natural paths!
Whats wrong with getting community input before going forward on projects that are not even needed
Sometimes community input means a meeting of the Community Board. Not that many people go to those meetings and so yes, technically there is a community meeting, but in actuality, it does not get well attended by people in the community who might have opinions. We try and publish each meeting in advance in our paper, and if the agenda is available at presstime, we print that too.