Bloomingdale Park

The Daily Plant : Monday, September 27, 2004

STATEN ISLAND EXPERIENCES A GREEN RENAISSANCE

Photo by Spencer T Tucker

On September 21, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro, Design & Construction Commissioner David J. Burney and City Council Member Andrew Lanza to cut the ribbon at Bloomingdale Park. The $20.2 million project included new ballfields, basketball courts, a playground and bocce court, as well as a network of landscaped pathways and improved vehicular access. More than 15 acres of the 138-acre park were developed as part of the project.

The construction of Bloomingdale Park is the largest new park construction project begun and completed during the Bloomberg administration. On a snowy day in February 2003, the Mayor and Commissioner Benepe broke ground on the project. The Department of Design and Construction (DDC) managed the construction of the Bloomingdale Park project. Bloomingdale Park includes three fields for softball, baseball and soccer that will be open to all permitted teams. A new playground with a spray shower and swings will attract neighborhood children. There are also two basketball courts, a bocce ball court and a comfort station. The park is landscaped with interior nature trails weaving through the existing wooded areas. An exterior bicycle path surrounds the park.

"Bloomingdale Park continues the great Renaissance of Staten Island’s parkland," said Commissioner Benepe. "These 15 acres of active and passive recreation offer something for everyone."

As part of the project, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department Environmental Protection (DEP) provided additional public access and improved drainage at Bloomingdale Park. A new road was extended about 450 feet from Ramona Avenue into Maguire Avenue, complete with a cul-de-sac. Ramona Avenue was reconstructed with curbs, a storm sewer, a new concrete base, and resurfacing from Maguire to Lenevar Avenues. Curbs were installed on Lenevar Avenue from Ramona Avenue to Drumgoole Road West.

"When we broke ground here two years ago there was little active recreation space on the South Shore of Staten Island," said Mayor Bloomberg. "With the completion of Bloomingdale Park we are changing that. The highly anticipated ballfields and playground will serve the growing population of the South Shore for years to come. We are committed to growing and improving our parkland and making our neighborhoods more livable throughout all five boroughs."

Bloomingdale Park is 138 acres of mainly woodland on Staten Island’s South Shore. It was acquired in the 1960s to protect southern Staten Island’s natural areas from development. The park’s woods contain several species of wetland trees native to Staten Island, including swamp white oak, pin oak, sweet gum, and red maple.

"On behalf of the Staten Island community, I want to express my thanks to Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his leadership in bringing our dreams for Bloomingdale Park into reality,"said Borough President Molinaro. "This magnificent park represents the perfect marriage between preserving passive natural areas and providing active recreation areas for local residents to enjoy."

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

(1895-1972)