By Naeisha Rose
Ground was broken last week at Brookville Park , which is expected to reopen in 2018 with $2.2 million in new and updated features.
“Next year Brookville Park will reopen with more space for seating, better lighting, and refreshed tennis courts for the community to enjoy,” Queens Park Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski Lewandowski said at the event Aug. 31. “This is a significant project.”
The park’s other structures include an expanded picnic area with an accessible path to ADA, new grills, coal bin trash receptacle stations, bleacher seating at the sports field and a new sports lighting and surface, according to the park commissioner.
City Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) and Mayor Bill de Blasio funded the renovations to the 89.95-acre park.
Community Board 13 District Manager Mark McMillian, state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and representatives from state Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park) attended the groundbreaking.
“Brookville Park is the jewel of Rosedale, and Rosedale is the treasure of New York City,” Sanders said. “When you have neighbors who have strongly supported this park, you have to stand by their actions, whether it be our tennis league taking our young people and shaping them into the next Arthur Ashe or Serena Williams or the Friends of Brookville Park shaping the entirety of this area.”
When the tennis court was last resurfaced in 2001, it was also named after JFK Airport traffic controller and Rosedale resident Derek Dilworth (1955-1999) that same year. He was an avid tennis player and park volunteer who lobbied for the maintenance of Brookville Courts. He repainted fences, purchased storage equipment and obtained fish for the park’s pond, according to Lewandowski.
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose
