Queensbridge Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, October 2, 2001

COMFORT STATION TO RISE IN QUEENSBRIDGE PARK

Photo by Malcolm (Cinema) Pinckney

The Queensboro Bridge opened in 1909. It cost $20 million to build and appears to have been well worth the expenditure. Today, 155,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day. Under the roar of the city’s daily commuting, a different essential urban activity takes place: play. In a few months time, Queensbridge Park will be more accommodating to the people who play there. It will have a comfort station and a picnic area care of New York City and the Queensbridge community. On Wednesday, September 26 Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern and Council Member Walter (Woodsider) McCaffrey joined the Friends of Queensbridge Park, Parkies, and community members in breaking ground. The start of work was, in Commissioner Stern’s words, "the joint achievement of Parks, Council Member McCaffrey, and the Friends of Queensbridge Park."

Project Manager Richard (Ice) Robbins has designed a comfort station that is ADA accessible, and includes changing tables as well as all utilities. Robbins and the Friends of Queensbridge Park worked together to plan a picnic area next to the comfort station. Council Member McCaffrey committed $850,000 for the job. Elizabeth (Riverview) McQueen, President of the Friends of Queensbridge Park and Queensbridge Park Warden was a forceful advocate for the comfort station. She has also helped bring programming to the park. This summer she helped organize "days out in the park" and a film series too that attracted residents from all over the neighborhood to this waterfront green space.

BLOOD DRIVE RESCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER

The Biannual Blood Drive, originally scheduled for September 12 and 13, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, December 11 and Wednesday, December 12, 2001 at The Arsenal Gallery from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. If you wish to give blood or volunteer to help, please call you blood drive coordinator: Tarice (Mystique) Harris 830-7814 (Arsenal West), Sydney Goldstein 360-2778 (Arsenal North), Hedi (Headlight) Piel 360-3442 (The Arsenal), Veronica (Faerydust) Llanos 408-0221 (Manhattan Borough), or Jennifer Milone 310-6626 (Central Park Conservancy). For giving blood you will receive three hours of comp time.

HELP OUT, CLEAN UP

Brooklyn's Prospect Park will be holding its annual Fall Clean-Up Day on Saturday, October 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Anyone interested in volunteering can call the Prospect Park Alliance Volunteer Department at (718) 965-8960. That’s also the day of the Citywide Fall Clean up. For more information, please call the Partnerships for Parks hotline at (212) 360-1357.

CORRECTION

Former Parkie Eli Wallach, mentioned in yesterday’s issue of The Daily Plant was not a lifeguard, but a temporary playground director in the late 1930s who supervised play and planned programs for the children.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT

(Tuesday, October 4, 1988)

PARKS PUBLISHES 1987 ANNUAL REPORT

Commissioner Stern has announced the publication of the Parks 1987 Annual Report, the most comprehensive summary of the entire agency and its year-long achievements since the Robert Moses administration

"The 1987 Annual Report reflects the current renaissance of the Parks Departments," said Commissioner Stern. "Its pages are alive with the people and projects that made1987 so successful. From park restorations to Ranger and Recreational programs, the 68-pagereport covers our many efforts to preserve and maintain our 26,176-acre green legacy."

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Twenty men crossing a bridge,
Into a village,
Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges,
Into twenty villages
Or one man
Crossing a single bridge into a village."

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)