The Skatepark Is Open!

According to the Parks Department website: "London Planetree Park is named for the tree that can be found throughout the park. The London planetree (Platanus x acerifolia) is the ideal city tree because of its tolerance for pollution and physical abuse."  If you grew up in Woodhaven or Ozone Park you may know it as 88th Street Park.  Over the years, there have been some modifications to the park - the playground and sprinklers were modernized some while ago.  But the largest part of the park - the softball fields & basketball courts - were not fully being fully utilized.  At the same time, local youths were using the Pathmark parking lot as a place to skateboard, as local residents were complaining. 

And so, plans to renovate the park were made, funded by Councilman Eric Ulrich and Queens Boro President Helen Marshall.  Here is what the initial plans for the skatepark looked like -including not only a skatepark, but a walking path, exercise equipment, greenery, etc.

Work started on the project -- first, by tearing up the ground --

The asphalt was crumbled and then carted away.  Click here to see some great shots of the work in progress.  And in a few months, this . . .

. . . was turned into this -- a beautiful skatepark

We took a tour of the park the day before the opening - kids had been testing it out for a few weeks --

They added nice pockets of green space -- looks really nice.

And they added some nice exercise equipment --

The park was ready for its official grand opening --

-- and 24 hours later . . .

The skaters were ready to skate --

The sun was hot and the crowd was directly in the sun -- and the speakers -- NY City Councilman Eric Ulrich, Assemblyman Mike Miller, Parks Boro Commissioner Dottie Lewandowski, Deputy Boro President Barry Grodenchik, and CB9 Chair Jim Cocovillo - kept their speeches short.  We managed to stick to the shade :-)

The press was out covering the opening day ceremony -- they do a great job covering the goings on in our community!

The group got together for a ribbon-cutting.

We stuck around for a bit -- the skaters were having a blast --

It's a beautiful park - paid for by your tax dollars -- take advantage of it!  There's a beautiful path surrounding the skatepark with lots of shady spots.  

They renovated the basketball courts -- here's one of them --

Here's a nice spot with tables and benches -- the tables look like they're going to be chess tables, no? 

The other basketball court --

The playground -- this is like a little desert island with trees and seals that are actually sprinklers.  A beautiful design - nicely kept.

They have a pair of these giant climbing toys -- these look like a lot of fun!

And finally, here's the handball courts that everyone is familiar with --

If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.  

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Photos by Joey Wendell