Prospect Park

The Daily Plant : Friday, December 7, 2001

A NEW VISION FOR GORMAN PLAYGROUND

Visit Gorman Playground next year. You’ll see kids walking on sunshine and floating on clouds. They’ll be riding shooting stars and chasing giant snails over the moon. Those are the kids whose forms will be painted in murals over the ground and on the walls. The actual kids in the playground will be no less joyful. They’ll have glamorous color seal coating spread across their renovated basketball court and a reconstructed handball wall to play against. They’ll have a new court for volleyball and a winding path to lead them among young trees and newly installed benches. The edges of the park will bloom with perennials and within their confines kids will have a blast.

That is how Denis P. Gorman would have wanted it. He was the man who worked to have Gorman Playground built. As Chair of the local Youth Activities Committee, he dedicated himself to engaging young people. In just five months he oversaw the building of 20 little league baseball fields. For ten years he served as head of the Elmjack Little League and was a founding member of the local youth council. Later, Gorman served as Democratic District Leader of Jackson Heights. When he died in 1963, the Jackson Heights Model Playground was renamed Gorman Playground.

The reconstruction begun Monday, December 3 was made possible by the support of the local council member and the participation of a dynamic civic organization. Council Member John (Pathfinder) Sabini allocated the $850,000 for this work and has set aside another $350,000 for renovations to the playground’s playschool building. He has funded every phase of work in the park. The Jackson Heights Neighborhood Beautification Group, spearheaded by Park Warden Phil (Earthman) Saccone, acts as the eyes and ears not only of Gorman Playground, but of others nearby. The collaboration that brought about these renovations will ensure both a happy place for kids to play and a commitment to the legacy of the park’s namesake.

In attendance at the groundbreaking were Council Member Sabini; Council Member and Borough President-elect Helen (Sunflower) Marshall; Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern; Rich (Ricardo) Murphy, Queens Borough Commissioner; Designer Stacia Tull; Giovanna Reid, District Manager for Community Board 3; Park Warden Phil Saccone; David Rosario, a committed Member of Community Board 3; and children from the Gorman Park Playschool.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Friday, December 16, 1988)

MAYOR KOCH BREAKS GROUND FOR RESTORATION OF COLONEL MARCUS PLAYGROUND IN BROOKLYN

Some came by air, some came by car, and others just ambled across the street. It was a special day at Colonel David Marcus Playground in Midwood, Brooklyn on Wednesday. Parks was breaking ground for a $733,850 restoration of the 2.6-acre playground located at East 4th Street and Avenue P off Ocean Parkway.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"I just come and talk to the plants, really--very important to talk to them, they respond I find."

Prince Charles