Lemon Creek Park

The Daily Plant : Thursday, May 23, 2002

A FEW RANGERS GET HI-TEC

Sunday, May 19 marked the kick-off of this summer’s Hi-Tec Adventure Race. Orchard Beach, historically home to the Adventure Race finals, played host to the first race of this year’s 8 city tour. The Adventure Race is a modified triathlon featuring a ten-mile mountain bike ride, a two-and-a-half-mile kayak paddle, and a five-mile run. Between these grueling stages, contestants participate in special events including knot tying and the scaling of a twelve- foot wall. A great turn-out of 278 teams of three people each participated in Sunday’s race. Each team member must complete each stage of the event for their team to advance. Sunday’s race was won by the elite team sponsored by Balance Bar, but the Daily Plant would like to send special congratulations to our own team comprised of Urban Park Rangers Jessica Carrero, Susan Stanley, and Clara Holzworth. Some of the participants will be continuing on to race in other cities, but luckily for us, our team is already back with their Urban Park Ranger family.

In 1995 Parks approached the Department of Transportation (DOT) to request the construction of a "right-of-way" for vehicles at Lemon Creek Park in Staten Island. This request resurfaced a few years later, manifesting itself in 2001 as an 80-foot-wide corridor to be subcontracted out by DOT to the Department of Design and Construction (DDC). Parks rejected this plan and turned to DOT’s Requirements Contracts to strategize a quick plan addressing sensitivity issues surrounding existing flora and the increased demand for on-site parking.

Parks Designer Peter Beeton and Resident Engineer George Erickson developed a plan to construct a 30-foot road, a double-tiered parking lot, and a sophisticated drainage plan. Complementing the double tiered parking lot will be a flagpole with yardarm and turnaround, all facing the waterfront. Borough Commissioner Thomas Paulo, Deputy Chief of Design Michael Browne, and a combined team of M&O and Requirements staff including Requirements Contract Unit Deputy Director Michael Hubartt and Borough Coordinator Anthony Arcamone played a key role in the project.

Other city agencies actively participated in the project. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) aided in site planning, helping Parks to identify and appropriately deal with sensitive environmental areas. DOT provided new crosswalks and signals to assure pedestrian and vehicular safety within the site and the surrounding area.

This project at Lemon Creek Park epitomizes smart design. It is environmentally friendly and it addresses fully the new needs of an expanded park. Because this site was bid through a Requirements Contract, the funds were immediately available after the design stage was completed and construction was able to begin on October 10, 2001, just days after the final drawings were issued. The cost of the reconstruction was about $500,000 and it was funded by DOT’s mayoral budget. Completion is expected ahead of schedule in late spring 2002.

(Thursday, May 31, 1989)

Join urban and architectural historian Barry Lewis on Saturday, June 10 for a walking tour, "Downtown Jamaica: Farm Town, Village and City," sponsored by King Manor and the Jamaica Development Corporation.

Jamaica’s evolution from a rural farm town to a 20^th century urban center will be traced through the area’s outstanding landmark buildings and sites, including King Manor, Grace Church, Wiz Store built in the 1930’s, the Art Deco Title Guaranty building, York College, and the Social Security building.

"Genius will live and thrive without training,

but it does not the less reward the watering- pot and pruning-knife."

(May 23, 1810–1850)