Kissena Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, March 19, 2002

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG STADIUM

And Parks said, "Let there be light." And there was light. Last week, Parks completed its replacement of all flood lamps at Shea Stadium. Parks replaced the 816 1,000-watt light fixtures that had been there previously with 456 2,000-watt fixtures. "Compared to the old lights, they use a little less energy, but have three times the output," said Robert Principe, a construction project manager for Parks.

Musco, the lighting manufacturer for the project, used a computer program to calculate fixed aiming points in order to provide balanced light. Musco’s other projects include NASCAR, the USTA National Tennis Center and Ground Zero. Early last week, specialists conducted the final aiming, making certain all shadows were removed from the playing field. They also flagged the field and took final light meter readings.

In recent years, Major League Baseball had raised concerns that Shea Stadium was not meeting the league’s lighting standards. Since the recent construction of many new high-tech ballparks around the country, Shea had fallen to the bottom of lighting rankings. "We were in the bottom three," said Principe. "This should put us near the top now." The light replacement also spells good news for television cameras, since the new lights will provide more than the amount of "vertical foot candles" needed for television.

You can check out the new lights for yourself (in person or on TV) when the Mets play their first nighttime home game of the season on Friday, April 10 (versus the Montreal Expos).

March’s Capital Project of the Month is the restoration of Kissena Lake. It will be undergoing a $1.77 million restoration project, funded by Council Member Julia Harrison, beginning this spring. It is said that the lake and park are named after the Chippewa word "kissina," meaning "it is cold."

This capital project is necessary because of construction done to the lake sixty years ago. The WPA drained the lake in 1943 and filled it with a concrete liner, giving it the nickname of a "bathtub lake." While originally this project was meant to improve the lake, the lake’s health is now at risk. Kissena Lake plays host to phragmites, a particularly invasive species of plant, and the water is frequently choked with single-cell algae.

The capital project includes constructing wells and reconstructing the storm drainage system entering the lake. Also, portions of the concrete liner will be removed, naturalizing the edge of the lake. The goal of the project is to improve the water quality which will in turn improve the plant and wildlife habitat in and around the lake. This project at Kissena Lake is the Capital Project of the Month for March.

(Tuesday, March 28, 1989)

Parks tennis permits are now on sale for the 1989 season, which officially begins Saturday, April 1 and runs through Sunday, November 26 at more than 500 tennis courts throughout the city.

Tennis permits are available at Parks offices on weekdays from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. through November 24, and on Saturdays from 9 A.M. to Noon in April, May and June. Staten Island has no Saturday hours.

"If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark,

nobody's going to stop them."

(b. 1925)