By Nathan Duke
Four borough schools, including sites in Maspeth and Ridgewood, will have their playgrounds renovated for the upcoming school year to include new equipment, benches and improved athletic fields, a nonprofit group that raises funds to build recreation space at city schools said.
Andrea Wenner, founder of the nonprofit Out2Play, said the group has raised public and private money to upgrade 26 playgrounds at schools throughout the five boroughs, including four in Queens. This fall Ridgewood's PS 81, Maspeth's PS 153, Woodside's PS 12 and St. Albans' PS 134/233 will all have their playgrounds renovated for the 2008-09 school year, she said.
The four playgrounds will get new slides and monkey bars, basketball courts, kickball diamonds, soccer and football fields, tracks, hopscotch, four square, chess tables, trees and benches.
"Sufficient play spaces are absent from too many of our communities," Borough President Helen Marshall said. "For Queens to truly flourish, we must continue to invest in our borough's youngest residents. These playgrounds are true investments in the health and quality of life of our borough's children."
Maspeth activist Tony Nunziato said an influx of big box stores in his neighborhood and the shuttering of neighborhood community spaces such as Woodhaven Lanes bowling alley, have left children without recreational space.
"Anything the city can add to enhance outside exercise for children is great," he said. "Many of our kids live in a concrete jungle and have nowhere to go. They need to have fresh air and recreational space."
Wenner said there are currently 118 elementary schools in the city that do not provide playgrounds for their students and that an estimated 100,000 city children do not have a safe outlet for outdoor activity during the school day.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
