New Brooklyn Playground, 50th developed by TPL in NYC
New York City - 04/27/2011
Today P.S. 181 students celebrated the new community playground they helped design in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The new playground, created in partnership with Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative, will be available to the school's 1,200 students and to families from the surrounding community. It is also the 50th public school playground developed in New York City by The Trust for Public Land (TPL).
Previously a mostly vacant lot, the schoolyard at P.S. 181 has now been transformed into a new $1 million community playground, led by TPL and a design team of students, teachers, parents, and members of the community.
"The neighborhood of East Flatbush, Brooklyn is underserved by parks and recreation space. Through our PlaNYC partnership with the City of New York, TPL provided a safe place to play for the students of P.S. 181 and their community," said Mary Alice Lee, director of TPL's New York City Playgrounds Program.
P.S. 181, located at 1023 New York Avenue in Brooklyn, has more than 1,200 pre-kindergarten-through-eighth grade students. TPL led a three-month participatory design process with students, community members, and staff from the Medgar Evers TOAST Beacon Program, to design the new playground to better serve the needs of the children and the community.
"We are just ecstatic about our $1,000,000 playground upgrade. It was only about a year ago that our playground was nearly barren with very limited outdoor activities for our students. Now our playground is bubbling with the joy and laughter of children who now have a plethora of equipment to stimulate them during recess. We extend our fathomless gratitude to TPL and Mayor Bloomberg for such a magnificent gift to our community. We sincerely hope that the entire community will work diligently and collaboratively to maintain the beauty and charm of our lovely playground," said P.S. 181 Principal Dr. Lowell Coleman.
The playground features a turf field, running track, practice basketball hoops, play equipment and fitness equipment, an outdoor classroom, a gazebo, benches, game tables, trees, a "Shakespeare Garden" planted by the students, and an amphitheatre with stage dedicated to Luther Vandross.
The playground at P.S. 181 was created in partnership with Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC Schoolyards to Playgrounds initiative and is the 25th of 28 community parks that TPL is designing and building as part of this program. In addition, TPL has led participatory design for another 123 playgrounds that the city is building. When completed the playgrounds will serve 380,000 New York City students and residents. Prior to TPL's commitment to PlaNYC, the organization has created 25 playgrounds at New York City public schools through a pilot program.
"Through the Schoolyards to Playgrounds program, which has to date converted 165 underutilized sites into vibrant, community playgrounds, we are working to achieve the PlaNYC goal of ensuring all New Yorkers live within a ten minute walk of a park," said David Bragdon, Director of the Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. "These investments are not only helping to redefine accessible public space in the city, but The Trust for Public Land's innovative approach to participatory design is reshaping how our children engage with their neighborhoods and schools."
The Trust for Public Land conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. TPL has created or enhanced more than 250 neighborhood parks in New York City, investing roughly $200 million in land purchases and in the design, construction and stewardship of parks.
