Stroud Playground

NYC PARKS CUTS THE RIBBON ON COMMUNITY PARKS INITIATIVE SITE STROUD PLAYGROUND

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, today joined City Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, Prospect Park Alliance’s President Sue Donoghue and COO & CFO James Snow, students, administrators and PTA leaders from Elijah Stroud/P.S. 316, members of Community Board 8, and local community members to officially cut the ribbon on a total reconstruction of Stroud Playground under the Community Parks Initiative (CPI). The $5 million project was funded by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Member Cumbo. Construction was completed in January.

“Stroud Playground was one of the original five sites in Brooklyn announced as part of the Community Parks Initiative, and it is rewarding to finally see the community enjoying the very space they dreamed up,” said Commissioner Silver. “The transformation of Stroud Playground is remarkable, and we could not have done it without our partners at the Prospect Park Alliance, City Council Member Laurie Cumbo, and of course, the many passionate community members who supported the project and contributed to its design.”

"As a mother, mentor, guardian and Brooklynite, I firmly understand the value of recreation and how it fosters a positive impact on future generations. The many amenities associated with Stroud will serve as a prominent example of what can happen when communities come together around positive causes,” said Majority Leader Cumbo. “I am proud of the City Council' commitment here and continued advocacy for our parks."

“Every child deserves safe places to play and exercise outside, yet too many of the poorest neighborhoods lack these spaces. I’m so happy that the youth in this area will get to enjoy this beautiful new space with their families,” said New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie.

"Prospect Park Alliance has an award-winning team of landscape architects and designers, and were pleased to be able to share our expertise to help create this playground in the Crown Heights community," said Sue Donoghue, President of Prospect Park Alliance. "Stroud Playground features many of the amenities desired by the community, and also improves the environment by adding more trees and absorbing stormwater runoff. We hope it will serve as a model for future New York City playgrounds."

The newly renovated Stroud Playground features playgrounds for children of all ages and abilities, swings, and an interactive spray shower, a synthetic turf area, basketball and handball courts, a walking track and fitness equipment, lower fences and improved lighting, drinking fountains, plantings and landscaping. The innovative design was drafted by the Prospect Park Alliance in an effort to share their resources by helping to improve park spaces in adjoining communities. The comfort station is also being renovated in a separate contract and is expected to reopen this year.

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.

This playground and the adjacent school are named for Elijah J. Stroud (1923-1972), a New York Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty. Patrolman Stroud lived in Freeport, Long Island with his wife and small child and had two other grown children living in California. A veteran of the Police Department, Stroud was assigned to Grand Avenue Station, 80th Precinct, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Described as mild-mannered and kind, officer Stroud patrolled the area around P.S. 9 and volunteered at P.S. 136. This playground, located on Classon Avenue between Park and Sterling Places, was acquired jointly with the Board of Education in January 1964. Parks Commissioner Henry Stern named the playground Elijah Stroud Playground in 1985.