Southeast Queens elected leaders joined city officials Monday at the Redfern Houses Park and Playground in Far Rockaway to celebrate the completion of a $9.3 million reconstruction project.
The 50,000 square feet of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) recreation area and the Redfern Playground were upgraded with funding from the Neighborhood Development Fund through the Far Rockaway Rezoning.
“I am elated that Redfern has a new baseball field, basketball, handball, outdoor exercise equipment, a barbeque area, and picnic benches,” Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson said. “The playground is now also ADA-accessible for all the children in the neighborhood to enjoy. This renovation will create a community hub for residents to enjoy for years to come.”
The ribbon-cutting on the renovation of Redfern Playground coincided with a $1.2 million project to revamp a 6,500 square-foot landscaped area of the Woodside Houses that created a newly accessible seating area.
“These just completed playground and open space renovations will create many much-needed recreational opportunities for the Redfern and Woodside Houses communities,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have underlined the need to provide everyone in our borough and city with equitable access to top-quality recreational space, no matter what their ZIP Code or socioeconomic status may be.”
Richards said these renovations will give residents at both Redfern and Woodside a better chance to live healthier and more active lives.
“I’m happy to have allocated funding for the Redfern Houses renovations while I was in the City Council, and I will continue to work to improve our parks for the benefit of all New Yorkers,” Richards said.
The completion of the projects represents the second and third renovations finished as part of the $23 million interagency open space upgrade initiative which included a $3 million upgrade at the Pomonok Houses in Flushing and three other NYCHA developments across the city.
“We are so excited to unveil these new amenities to the Redfern and Woodside residents, the latest park and playground renovations completed as part of our interagency open spaces upgrades project with our partners at NYCHA,” NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue said. “Parks and open spaces are so important for New Yorkers, helping to foster community connections, promote exercise, and provide much-needed space for relaxation. It is our hope that these new spaces will be loved by residents and community members alike for generations to come.”
Revitalizing the six open spaces as part of the initiative will improve existing amenities and create new recreational opportunities for the NYCHA community, making the sites accessible to all New Yorkers including those who may not currently live within walking distance of a park.
The Walk to a Park initiative focuses on increasing access to parks and open spaces, concentrating on areas of the city that are under-resourced and where residents are living further than a walk to a park.
“The middle of the summer seems like the perfect time to celebrate the construction of this amazing new open space at Redfern Houses,” NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt said. “We are ecstatic to have turned this space into a community hub where residents can enjoy the reconstructed playground, upgraded courts and ball field, outdoor exercise equipment, and grilling area. We thank Mayor Adams and our partners at New York City Parks for bringing new life to this open space for residents and the surrounding communities, in addition to five other NYCHA campuses, including Woodside Houses’ new seating area.”
