As reported recently, Red Hook residents were surprised one day when fencing went up around Valentino Pier. Call were placed to Councilman Menchaca’s office, and he quickly arranged for a community meeting at the Red Hook Library. Kevin Jeffreys, head of the Brooklyn division of the Parks Department made a presentation that explained the reason for the fencing, and he apologized for the lack of notice or community input.
Many residents who attended that meeting were upset with the plan and at the end of the meeting, Menchaca said there would be further meetings with community input.
Last night, there was a meeting of CB 6’s Parks committee at the Miccio Center. There were two subjects discussed – an upcoming two day concert at Pier 9, in the Columbia Waterfront District, and a second Parks Department project involving Valentino Pier park. The second project was to build a comfort station – 4 bathrooms with heat and hot water that would cost more than the total renovation cost of Coffey Park. That will be the subject of a subsequent article.
I sat across from Commissioner Jeffrey’s and happened to ask him about the paving proposal that he spoke about last month. I was quite surprised when he told me that indeed he had a subsequent meeting with Menchaca and the plan was going ahead as originally proposed. The Star-Revue was not notified of any meeting or any decision.
This morning I stopped by Menchaca’s district office in Sunset Park (he has of yet not opened up a satellite office in Red Hook, as he had once promised).
There I was told that there had been a Facebook posting about a Monday meeting on Carlos’ Facebook page. As far as we have been able to find out, this was the only public notice of this meeting. I sent Menchaca a friend request in the past which as of yet has not been acknowledged, so I do not see his feed. Although I must confess, I don’t look at Facebook 24/7, and such a notice could be missed.
I did look now, and sure enough, a message was posted on September 15th. It went as follows:
Please join me tonight as we discuss the best way to move forward with the path improvement project at Valentino Pier Park with our neighbors and friends at ‘People for Red Hook Public Parks.’ DATE: Today, Monday September 15th TIME: 6:30PM WHERE: 351 Van Brunt Street.
I was also told something about a community group having to do with the park. I am aware of some sort of Friends of Parks that was recently set up on Facebook involving Allison Reeves and Victoria Hagman.
When I got to the office, I wrote emails to both Hagman and Reeves. I did receive a response from Reeves stating that she was not at the meeting.
I then spoke to Paige Tooker, who runs NY Art Foundry, and attended both the meeting at the library and the meeting last night. She told me that there was a meeting a couple of days ago at 351 Van Brunt Street, Hagman’s Red Hook office. She said that about 12 people were present. I asked how she knew about the meeting, and she said that she saw it on Menchaca’s Facebook wall. Among the attendees were Mark Chin, Mary Dudine, CJ, Menchaca and of course Hagman.
She said that she got there late but her impression was that while people were baffled at the Parks plan for paving the gravel paths and building some sort of asphalt path to help prevent deterioration of the retaining wall after Paige presented her photos of the park. Menchaca announced that he has thought about both plans and decided that the Park’s plan was the best.
Paige was upset, as she has said publicly and on the phone that she loves the park exactly the way it is and that the plan is not a good one. She didn’t think that a community process actually took place, saying about Menchaca “He is not supporting the neighborhood like he said he would. He disagreed with us and chose the Parks Department plan.
I spoke with Florence Neal who operates the Kentler Gallery just about next door the the Realty Collective office. She had no idea about the follow-up meeting, and was curious to hear about these plans, especially the $2.5 million comfort station that was the subject of last night’s community board meeting.
UPDATE: We received a message from Council member Menchaca explaining his position on the park. We reprint the email in its entirety:
“After the initial community meeting my office organized on the Valentino Pier paving project on September 4th, we had a follow up conversation with the new neighborhood group People for Red Hook Parks on September 16th.
At that meeting I discussed the decision to move forward with the paving project in its entirety. After conversations with the Parks Department and community members, I took the position that the design for the paving near the retaining wall made sense and would protect against further structural damage.
It is also important to note that my main concern about this project was the lack of notice provided to our office about the fencing. Now that the community is aware of the purpose and timeline for the project, I am comfortable with it moving forward as originally planned. I have also heard from the Parks Department a real commitment to making sure that all City Council offices are kept apprised of capital projects and that notice is provided before any work begins. I will continue to be in touch with the community when our office receives the official word that work on the park will resume. “
This story will be updated as we receive more information. Your comments are welcome.
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Menchaca originally said at the first meeting (at the library) that he thought natural paths were better for drainage especially in a flood Zone, and that pavement would probably not last very well right at the shore. He said he would not support pavement at Valentino.
But at the Van Brunt meeting on September he explained that he now supports the Parks department plan for pavement.
Everyone that i’ve spoken who lives in the community does not want more pavement in Valentino Park.
Originally a comfort station was thought to be alright by some like Steve who runs the Red Hook Boaters, but after the plan was unveiled last night at Miccio the community was very much opposed to the size and scope of this project as well.