By Cynthia Koons
The city Department of Parks and Recreation plans include an expansive memorial park with a playground at the northern end of the park between 164th and 165th streets at 46th Avenue in Flushing where active recreation would not be permitted.
“We're looking for something that would make everyone at least relatively happy,” City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) said at the meeting held at PS 107. “This is a compromise that everyone can live with.”
A dog run currently sits on the property – the one thing both neighbors and descendants agreed they want to see eradicated. A debate ensued last fall, however, as to whether a playground belongs on the hallowed ground. A dilapidated playground sits on the field that is also home to ballplaying during the warmer months.
The history of the property emerged nearly 10 years ago after the black community made the claim that the land was once a burial ground for their ancestors and native American ancestors, according to Mandingo Tshaka, vocal black activist from Bayside who had led the fight to preserve the land as a burial ground.
In a community meeting, Liu forged an agreement between the neighbors and descendants for a small playground on the property if the remaining land were left as a park without recreational facilities.
After viewing plans for the park, the nearly 40 neighbors who attended held a vote in favor of the project. Only one resident said she had “reservations” about the construction of the park but was not opposed to the plan. About eight attendees at the meeting represented descendants of the people buried at the park and voted for the plan.
The city has earmarked $2.7 million for the reconstruction of Martins Field, a sum that Liu said may not be available after the fiscal year ends June 30.
“We need to make a decision. If we don't go ahead with this now, it will be another 10 years down the drain,” he said.
Residents raised concerns about lighting, entrances, the potential for the homeless to inhabit the park and the age-level of the play equipment.
Representatives from the Parks Department assured them that some changes to the plans would be possible. In the latest draft of the design, the memorial park includes trees, pathways, an earth mound and a sun clock. A concrete floor with a commemorative design will also be installed in the existing wading pool, the landscape architect Steve Whitesell said.
Entrances are mapped out on 46th Avenue at 164th and 165th streets, and there will also be a mid-block entrance on 165th Street and a service entrance on 164th.
Tshaka, who has been heavily involved in the Martins Field debate and has an ancestor buried at the site, said he had a different vision for the park entrance.
“I felt it would be nice if they had an elaborate gate as an entrance that would be closed at night,” he said. “That's been one of the problems I've heard from the residents, the hanging out there at night.”
Other residents questioned whether benches would attract the homeless.
But Liu was adamant about adhering to the agreements the two sides already had reached.
“Benches were something people agreed to at the November meeting,” he said.
For the memorial inscription, Liu said he would reconvene with the neighbors and descendants to create an appropriate message.
“There will be words on this memorial structure,” he said. “At every single step of the progress of this, we will have a meeting.”
He did not specify when the next meeting would be held.
Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
