Its a big win for the neighborhood!
Councilmember Vincent Gentile has secured $8 million in capital funding for Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst in the New York City Fiscal Year 2015 budget. The bulk of the $8 million is reserved for neighborhood parks, including a complete rehabilitation of the 97
th Street Shore Road Park field house and comfort station (bathrooms), a restoration of the tennis courts at J.J. Carty Park, located on Fort Hamilton Parkway, as well as a complete renovation to the basketball courts at Benson Playground on Bath Avenue between Bay 22
nd and Bay 23
rd Streets. There will also be minor additions and refurbishments to Owls Head Park.Just last year a study found Bay Ridge to be the best place in all of Brooklyn to raise a family due in no small part to our miles of amazing waterfront and bucolic parkland. In fact, my district boasts the most green space per child in all of Brooklyn! Gentile said.In addition, a $3.5 million citywide New York City Cleanup Initiative was included in the budget; each district has a say in how its share of the money is utilized. Gentile also secured the necessary funding to expand daily garbage pickups to twice a day for four days a week along busy commercial corridors.The twice daily garbage pickups are for the following corridors: Third Avenue from 65
th Street to 101
st Street; Fifth Avenue from 68
th Street to 86
th Street; Bay Ridge Avenue between Ridge Boulevard and Fifth Avenue; 13
th Avenue from 65
th Street to 79
th Street; and lastly, 18
th Avenue from 81
st Street to 86
th Street.This time we were all able to work together to agree on a plan that is fiscally responsible but also proves that we will never sacrifice the essential services that make New York City the greatest city in the world, Gentile told this newspaper. As deputy leader and the dean of the delegation, I was happy to secure a nice piece of the proverbial pie for the hardworking people I serve in Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights and parts of Bensonhurst.
