By Rich Bockmann
A Laurelton skate park and a resurfaced track and field at Roy Wilkins Park are among the recreation projects in southeast Queens vying for city funding.
Community groups lined up at Borough Hall last week to present their budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year, and among them were several proposals to improve open spaces in southeast Queens.
Greg Mays, who chairs Community Board 12’s Parks Committee and founded the nonprofit A Better Jamaica, requested $40,000 to fund a number of the organization’s initiatives, which include film screenings, a student/senior reading program and live jazz performances at the AirTrain terminal in downtown Jamaica.
Mays also made his strongest case to build a skate park at the Laurelton Playground sandwiched in between Brookville Boulevard and the Belt Parkway. Despite the fact that Queens leads other boroughs with six skate parks, the closest one to southeast Queens is London Planetree, more than 6 miles away in Woodhaven.
Mays noted the facility was constructed at a cost of $1.6 million — $600,000 allocated by City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and $1 million by then-Borough President Helen Marshall — and threw out a ballpark figure of $2 million for Laurelton, pointing out funding could come from Borough President Melinda Katz and any combination of the three southeast Queens councilmen.
In Roy Wilkins Park, the Southern Queens Park Association requested $5 million to lay down new synthetic turf on the park’s athletic field and to resurface its track. Another $262,000 was requested to support the organization’s summer program for students and costs associated with maintaining Roy Wilkins, the largest park in southeast Queens.
CB 12 asked for more city Parks Department patrol officers, lighting for downtown Jamaica’s Rufus King Park and a beefed-up forestry division.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
