Parks Dept. Gets Ideas From Residents
Corona residents gathered at St. Paul the Apostle Parish last Thursday, Dec. 18, to discuss changes they would like to see made to Louis Simeone Park, located in the area of Radcliff Avenue, 102nd Street and Lewis Avenue.
Queens Park Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski along with representatives from Partnerships for Parks and the Queens Capital Projects team were eger to hear what the people of Corona want to see done with their park.
“When we do meetings like this,” Lewandowski said, “you have an opportunity to hear things from the public that you may not hear otherwise.”
Steve Whitesell, the Parks Department project manager for Louis Simeone park sat with a group of people and took detailed notes on what they believed would be most needed with the reconstruction of the park.
Whitesell said, “we’re here to listen to the community and identify priorities for the park reconstruction.”
One of the main concerns of the community was security at the park. Many in attendance noted that the park sorely needed security lights at night, as people want to feel safe if they go out for a nighttime stroll around the park or if they need to take their dogs for a walk after dark.
Better park management was also a much talked about topic at the meeting. Attendees stated they want to see someone around to enforce the rules of the park to better enhance the safety of all the park’s visitors.
Members of the community discussed what could be done with the open grass area in the center of Louis Simeone Park. One idea that many shared was to transform it into a playground for children.
Another use for this area that was suggested was to leave it as an open area where people could come and play sports.
“We want people to recognize they have these really nice green spaces near where they live and they’ll be able to use them,” Lewandowski said.
After hearing from the community a general timeline for the park’s reconstruction was laid out. The next step the Parks Department will take is to continue discussions with the community via an online public feedback forum that will remain open for one week after the meeting.
Later, a concept plan will be presented to the community board for review and discussion. When the plan is accepted the design phase will take 12 months, followed by a resource procurement stage that will take nine months.
The construction phase will be another 12 months.
Louis Simeone Park is one of 35 locations in New York City, and one of six parks in Queens, that will receive funding through the Community Parks Initiative (CPI) to help create a more equitable parks system in New York.
