McGolrick Park Public Meeting Tonight (2/26) #OSOM

McGolrick Park is a hidden gem on the other side of McGuinness Blvd (#OSOM) but many local residents feel the park needs some major love, like updates to the playground and repair to the pathways. It doesn’t help that neighborhood punks have no respect, either; last year they set fire to benches and vandalized the statue.

Residents of #OSOM have come together and formed the McGolrick Park Neighborhood Alliance (like it!). Last week they pleaded with the Community Board 1, “requesting that fundraising efforts for the Park be made a major part of their next fiscal agenda with a particular focus on improving its playground,” as reported in the Greenpoint Gazette.

Show your support tonight by attending the CB1 “Parks & Waterfront” Committee Public Meeting at 6:30pm at Bushwick Inlet Park Facility, 86 Kent Ave. 

I had a chat with Daniel Lattore, member of the newly formed McGolrick Park Neighborhood Alliance about improvements the group wants to see for the park.

Daniel made the point, “we don’t want to just fix it,” but bring together a “community vision” for the park with examples that included public art, use of the center of the park for community events and turning the parks department office in the pavilion into a community or equipment storage room.

Given that many parents with children use the park daily, the Alliance is focusing on improvements to the playground first and invites locals to fill out this survey, which asks basic questions about frequency and satisfaction with playground conditions.

Aside from the playground, the group hopes to see repairs of potholes and the pavilion’s roof as well as improvements in maintenance of the lawn and garbage removal, since overflowing garbage pails are a common occurrence, Daniel noted.

Daniel said the Alliance has put in budget requests of $1.5million from the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office and $500,000 from Council Member Levin’s Office. Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn is the conservancy that will serve as the Alliance’s fiscal sponsor as a community non-profit organization, David explained. Despite this a proposal via the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund was not submitted on behalf of the park even though the park is situated directly on top of a toxic plume as the recent Gazette article pointed out.

OSA did not respond to my questions in time for this article.

If you want to see improvements to McGolrick Park, check out the meeting tonight, fill out the survey and like McGolrick Park Alliance on Facebook.