Chelsea Park

The Daily Plant : Monday, July 14, 2003

STATE OF THE ART SOCCER FIELD GROWS IN BROOKLYN

Hey, Bath Beach Brooklynites! There are two new ballfields in your neighborhood—and there are more on the way. Thanks to $2.4 million in funds allocated by Council Member James Oddo, Parks & Recreation has completed two artificial turf fields—one, soccer, one baseball—in time for summer scrimmages. On Thursday, July 10, 2003, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Council Member James Oddo, State Senator Martin Golden, State Assembly Member Adele Cohen and Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe celebrated the new green space. Young soccer and baseball players from Cosmopolitan Soccer and the Brooklyn Kiwanis Baseball League took to the new fields and showed off some tricks.

"This is the future of soccer fields," declared Commissioner Benepe. "It plays like real grass, and it feels like real grass." Indeed, artificial turf fields, once considered uncomfortable and unsightly, are now being used increasingly in parks thanks to the revolutionary technological advances made in the material. The first artificial turf field used by Parks & Recreation was a carpet-style field in Manhattan’s Chelsea Park and the second was in Riverside Park. Recent parks to receive similar artificial turf fields include the Fort Hamilton Athletic Field in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and East River Park in Manhattan.

"We don’t want to build a field that would be torn up weeks or months later," said Council Member Oddo. "This is not your father’s astroturf. This is state of the art." To prove his dedication to the new materials, Council Member Oddo also announced a plan to allocate an additional $2.5 million towards construction of artificial turf fields in nearby Bath Beach Park.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was also thrilled with the completed project. "I’m honored that your enthusiasm and dedication to make this possible for generations to enjoy. This park is open to all, and it’s utilized by all," he said.

Dyker Beach Park was assembled from eight pieces of land over the course of forty years. In 1895, the City of Brooklyn purchased the first parcel from the Dyker Meadow Land Improvement Company for a park. The landscape architecture firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot planned a 50-acre saltwater lagoon, children’s playgrounds, bathhouses, lawns, and drives along the shore. The 1896 Annual Report of the Brooklyn Parks Department claimed that Dyker would be the "finest seaside park in the world."

"Everything has an end."