Slattery Playground

The Daily Plant : Thursday, August 16, 2001

KIDS OPEN THEIR HEARTS TO SLATTERY PLAYGROUND ON VALENTINE AVE.

At any given moment during the year, 300 capital projects are underway. Parks is making more capital improvements than ever in our history, and building parks to last. Our designers work hard to create sites that are easy to maintain and up to date with the latest innovations like safety surfacing and graffiti-resistant materials.

Slattery Playground, recently renovated, shares a number of its successful features with parks around the city. But it is also one of a kind. Only Slattery Playground is protected by the Friends of Slattery Playground. Only in Slattery Playground can neighborhood kids find a stream of rainbow colored hearts painted on the ground and a cupid in the weathervane. These are the features added to make Slattery Playground unique and to highlight its location at Valentine Avenue. There’s a love affair going on between kids and their playground and that’s reflected in this design.

Assemblyman Jose (Captain Video) Rivera contributed $750,000 and Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer allocated $375,000 for this work, officially completed at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, August 14, 2001.

In the reconstructed park, kids will find two full basketball courts with new backboards and color seal coating. They can enjoy new swings, painted lines for box ball games, exercise equipment with safety surfacing, steel fences, gates, and drinking fountains. A new ramp leads to a sitting area decked out with World’s Fair benches, flowering shrubs, and perennials. The playground’s handball courts have also been reconstructed.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Police Precinct 46 presented a color guard in honor of the man for whom Slattery Playground is named. Corporal Robert A. Slattery was a Bronxite. He was the first New York City Police Officer to be killed in action in World War I. In 1937 the new park, acquired one year before, was dedicated to him.

Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern addressed a crowd of children from Fordham Basketball Camp. He thanked them for being present at the park to celebrate renovations that prefigure a great future for the neighborhood playground. Also on the speaking program were Council Member Joel (Mambo Kid) Rivera, State Assemblyman Rivera, William (Zorro) Castro, Bronx Borough Commissioner; Bob Nolan, a representative from the Bronx Borough President’s Office; and Captain Wilcox of the 46th Precinct.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ...to Parkies born on August 17: Lifeguard James Jaquez; Associate Park Service Worker Shirley Puglia; Principal Administrative Associate Patricia (Bradhurst) Kendly; Recreation Director Bruce (Marionette) Cannon; Recreation Specialist Monica Jones, Community Coordinator Nancy (Honey Bee) Melissas; City Seasonal Aides Denise Hardy and Williams Adickes; and City Park Workers Joseph (Slam Dunk) Dunker, Altagracia Gomez and Michael Ready.

…and to Friends of Parks born on August 17: Jane Proske (Croissant) Alexander; Lynette (Concrete) Baptist; Carl (Mr. Tree) Blumenthal; Norm (St. Paul) Coleman; Diane (Decimal) Dewey; Michael (Boomerang) Cosaboom; Michael (Gonzo) Connolly; Pablo (Yoruba) Guzman; Merrill (Masala) Hesch; Phoebe (NightStar) Hoban; Steven (Papa Oso) Kuhr; Jose (Hoss) Martinez; Michelle (Dixie Chick) Mead; Kyle (Beagle) Merker; Diane (Westy) Millstein; Rosemary (Red Rose) Ordonez; Robert (Plutarch) Romaine; Stephen (Think) Tank) Schlesinger; and Doug (The Seagull) Zeigler.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Thursday, August 18, 1988)

11TH ANNUAL PADDLEBALL CLASSIC
FINALS SET FOR SEPTEMBER 17 & 18

Some of the country’s best paddleball players will vie for over $12,000 in prize money and awards in the finals of the Eleventh Annual Budweiser Paddleball Classic. The balls will fly at Macomb’s Dam Park in the Bronx on Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18 beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Returning to defend their titles in the professional division are last year’s women’s and men’s singles champions, Anita Maldonado and Robert Sostres. Among the finalists in the professional division who will try to dethrone the champs are Madeleine Frederick and Anthony Fiorrino. In the men’s double’s championships, Fiorrino and Robert Chielli will compete against Artie Rondon and Sostre. For the women’s doubles championship, Kim Boyd and Frederick will play Maldonado and Sharon Galloway.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
"The heart is pure theater...throbbing in its cage as palpably as any nightingale."
Richard Seltzer