Ranaqua Playground

NYC PARKS CUTS RIBBON ON $3.5 MILLION TRANSFORMATION OF RANAQUA PLAYGROUND

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, joined Council Member Diana Ayala and students from Mott Haven Academy yesterday to cut the ribbon on the completely renovated Ranaqua Playground. This is among the first of 17 Bronx parks that will be reconstructed under the Community Parks Initiative (CPI).

Ranaqua Playground now features a synthetic turf field, a spray shower and entirely new, ADA-accessible play equipment with toy drum features, swings and safety surfacing. Trees and greenery have also been added to the park, along with a rain garden to collect storm water. This $3.5 million project was funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio and, in part, through green infrastructure funds provided by the Department of Environmental Protection.

“The kids of Mott Haven—especially the students at Mott Haven Academy Charter School—use this playground every single day,” said Commissioner Silver. “They are coming out in droves to play football on the new synthetic turf, cool off in the spray shower and tear around the playground. Before we started construction, there was only a worn-down basketball court and a patchy field. We are so thrilled to give this community the quality playground they deserve.”

“DEP is proud to be a partner in NYC Parks’ Community Parks Initiative which is transforming neighborhood parks across the city,” said Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Vincent Sapienza. “The newly installed turf field, permeable pavers, and rain garden at this park will help to reduce stormwater runoff, improve the health of surrounding waterways, and beautify the neighborhood.”

To manage stormwater runoff, green infrastructure has been added throughout Ranaqua Park. Green features include a rain garden, permeable pavers, synthetic turf field and flood-tolerant plants which, combined, are able to capture up to 99,000 gallons of stormwater per rain event. DEP has committed approximately $50 million in funding for green infrastructure installations at CPI sites throughout the city, helping to reduce sewer overflows that sometimes occur during heavy rainfall, improve air quality and lower summertime temperatures.

Also on Tuesday, NYC Parks broke ground on another CPI site in the Bronx—Longfellow Garden. Launched by Mayor de Blasio in October 2014, CPI strives to make NYC Parks a more equitable and accessible parks system by investing in smaller parks that are located in New York City’s densely-populated neighborhoods with higher-than-average concentrations of poverty. Through CPI, the City is investing $318 million in capital dollars to make renovations to 67 parks citywide that have not undergone significant improvements in decades.