Plans to build a skate park in the center of Mount Prospect Park are moving ahead after New York City\u2019s Public Design Commission voted to approve the project. But many parkgoers say the redesign threatens one of the neighborhood\u2019s most valued green spaces.<\/p>\n
The proposal would transform the open field at the heart of the Flatbush park into a concrete skate area that city planners describe as a major upgrade. Representatives from NYC Design Commission called it a \u201cworld\u2011class design, where people can learn,\u201d during the commission\u2019s presentation, describing the park\u2019s two skating areas – including a skate bowl at the center. <\/p>\n
Opponents argue the project would replace a heavily used natural space with hardscape, pointing to the trees, dog\u2011walking paths and picnic areas that draw families daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is used by the community a lot \u2014 not just dog owners,\u201d said parkgoer Joseph, who spoke with News 12. \u201cThere are BBQs, picnics, and people play soccer. Why not other places that are concrete already to turn into a skate park? I’m not against skaters but why take away green?\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials said during the Monday hearing that the new design includes drainage improvements and would preserve portions of the existing green space. They argue the new surface would drain water more effectively than the aging concrete already in parts of the park.<\/p>\n
Still, some residents remain unconvinced.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople love the grounds here, so it\u2019s worn out. That means it needs maintenance, not paving,\u201d said Haley Gorenberg, a member of Friends of Mount Prospect Park.<\/p>\n
One feature that survived the final design of revisions is a large ramp that leads directly toward Eastern Parkway. Some residents warn it could encourage skaters to ride straight into traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s dangerous to have people bombing out of here on the skateboard,\u201d one parkgoer told News 12.<\/p>\n
The design approval now sends the project to a final vote scheduled for April 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans to build a skate park in the center of Mount Prospect Park are moving ahead after New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,48753,9,24,63,977,975,976],"class_list":["post-172932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-mount-prospect-park","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-skate-park","tag-skateboard","tag-skateboarding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}