{"id":61153,"date":"2025-12-04T21:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/61153\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:19:09","slug":"in-what-may-be-final-staten-island-visit-as-nyc-mayor-adams-announces-30m-for-parks-culturals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/61153\/","title":{"rendered":"In what may be final Staten Island visit as NYC mayor, Adams announces $30M for parks, culturals"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Mayor Eric Adams announced that nearly $30 million of his so-called \u201cBest Budget Ever\u201d<\/a> will go toward a handful of parks and public spaces across Staten Island.<\/p>\n

Adams highlighted the allocation of funds during a press conference at the Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York is a five-borough city, it\u2019s not just Manhattan-centered,\u201d Adams said. \u201cEach borough is important because the people of this city are important. And under our administration we have always made it clear that we have to catch up when it comes to Staten Island. For far too long they were being denied and we want to make sure we put the resources here. So today\u2019s announcement is just the latest example of this administration\u2019s five-borough concept and mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AdamsBorough President Vito Fossella, center, speaks at an event where Mayor Eric Adams, left, celebrated a $30 million investment into select Staten Island cultural sites and Bloomingdale Park during a visit to the Staten Island Zoo on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

Adams shared the funding news alongside Borough President Vito Fossella, who publicly thanked the mayor for his service to the city during what may be the mayor\u2019s final visit to the borough in his role.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for the last four years \u2014 invariably \u2014 every time I picked up the phone to say \u2018Staten Island needs something,\u2019 Mayor Adams was there for the people of Staten Island,” Fossella said.<\/p>\n

Of the $30 million allocation, approximately $8 million will go to the Staten Island Zoo, $6.5 million to Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, $6 million to the Staten Island Museum, $5.6 million to a playground at Bloomingdale Park and $3.8 million to the Noble Maritime Collection.<\/p>\n

Adams further spoke on what some of this money would specifically go toward.<\/p>\n

\"AdamsMayor Eric Adams, left, celebrated a $30 million investment into select Staten Island cultural sites and Bloomingdale Park during a visit to the Staten Island Zoo on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

Some of the funds will go toward the reconstruction of the Bloomingdale Park playground, to include new play equipment, new spray showers, fencing, security lights and updated electrical and water utilities.<\/p>\n

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa explained that the department expects to begin designing the new playground this coming spring following a community-input process in which residents can share their vision for the space. She also noted that the department is ready to begin a renovation project for the park\u2019s basketball courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBloomingdale Park is an essential place for recreation for Staten Islanders, that is why we are so thrilled to bring these wonderful enhancements for the community,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"AdamsNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa speaks at the event where\u00a0Mayor Eric Adams celebrated a $30 million investment into select Staten Island cultural sites and Bloomingdale Park during a visit to the Staten Island Zoo on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

Money going toward the Snug Harbor campus will \u201cmodernize\u201d the Staten Island Museum and the Noble Maritime collection with lab classrooms for students and renovated air conditioning, according to Adams.<\/p>\n

Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Laurie Cumbo praised the work of both Fossella and Adams for their efforts in preserving Staten Island culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I thank all of my colleagues that are here because we have really, really continued to thrive and to expand the visibility of Staten Island, because we know that cultural vibrancy is economic development for this borough,\u201d said Cumbo. \u201cAnd the more we invest in art and culture, the greater Staten Island will be, the stronger it will be…\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AdamsCommissioner of Cultural Affairs Laurie Cumbo spoke at the event in which\u00a0Mayor Eric Adams celebrated a $30 million investment into select Staten Island cultural sites and Bloomingdale Park during a visit to the Staten Island Zoo on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

The allocation to the zoo will predominantly go toward a renovation project focused on the Children\u2019s Center<\/a>, with the goal of making the area more accessible to special needs children and families, as previously reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a substantial investment for the zoo,\u201c Kenneth Mitchell, the executive director of the zoo, told the Advance\/SILive.com at Thursday\u2019s announcement. \u201cAs you know, the Children\u2019s Center was built in 1968, so it\u2019s probably 60 years old almost. So we\u2019re taking this opportunity to redo that and have a sensory educational center that we can incorporate into our educational programs. We serve 20,000 school kids a year, we feel we can pivot that to serving them better.\u201c<\/p>\n

Adams shared with the Advance\/SILive.com that, of the actions his administration has taken to address the needs of Staten Islanders, he is especially proud of the work he has done with housing<\/a> developments on the North Shore<\/a>. Additionally, he took pride in the bipartisan nature of his professional relationship with Fossella to deliver for residents over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, that\u2019s an important chapter in this administration: our ability to reach out across the aisle, come together and just work for working-class families,\u201d Adams said. \u201cWe\u2019re just two blue-collar guys that want to help the working-class people of this city, you know? And I\u2019m really proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Mayor Eric Adams announced that nearly $30 million of his so-called \u201cBest Budget Ever\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-61153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61153","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=61153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}