Partial City Renovation Takes Place at McDonald Ave Park in Gravesend, but Where Was Former Councilman Mark Treyger?
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Now that spring is in the air and the weather is bound to get even warmer, this time of year beckons children of all ages to come out and play. Unfortunately, for residents in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn, allowing their children to play in the McDonald Avenue Park between Avenue S and T will be a formidable challenge.
This particular park is in a state of devastating disrepair and absolutely no renovations or refurbishment has been made to it in over 40 years. Recently, however, the New York City Parks Department has launched a makeover project on the park, but have limited themselves to only a very small area .
Expected to be completed in the Spring of 2023 according to a NYC Parks and Recreation sign posted in the area, the McDonald Avenue park needs a lot more revamping and construction work desperately needs to be conducted on the rest of the park. Thought of as “the orphan child,” this park in Gravesend has been totally neglected in terms of maintenance, preservation and modernization.
While other parks in Brooklyn and throughout the city of New York have received glitzy makeovers, it would appear that the powers that be at the Parks and Recreation department have chosen to let this much needed park fall by the proverbial wayside.
There is no doubt that due to the construction work that is currently being done in one small area of the park that was previously referenced in this article, the children of the community will be limited on where they can play for obvious safety reasons.
The construction company working for the Parks Department on the Avenue Spark is William A. Gross Construction Associates, based in New Hyde Park.
In order put the renovation of the McDonald Avenue park in the proper context, it is important to provide an historical backdrop.
For decades residents of the Gravesend section of Brooklyn have been exhorting their local elected officials to persuade the folks at the city’s parks department to make this particular park a priority in terms of providing the requisite renovations and construction work as the park had drastically sunk into total disrepair.
During the years he served as City Council member for Brooklyn’s 47th city council district which covers the Gravesend area, former UFT official Mark Treyger was repeatedly and urgently contacted by his constituents to use his influence to have the city allocate the appropriate funding for the park’s renovation.
The Jewish Voice also joined the community’s efforts in attempting to contact Mr. Treyger concerning this matter.
In an editorial that was published in the Jewish Voice in September of 2021, the issue of the park’s renovation was addressed in terms of asking Mr. Treyger to produce precisely what he had done to make this a reality.
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The editorial said: “It is incumbent upon us to take this opportunity to query Treyger on what exactly he has done for his constituents in the 47th city council district in Brooklyn. The Jewish Voice has sent two e-mails to Treyger’s office as well as making repeated phone calls asking for a list of his accomplishments for the community he has served for the last eight years. Thus far, no response has been forthcoming. Treyger had repeatedly pledged to have the city allocate funds for a vast array of improvements for the public park on McDonald Ave and Ave S, yet nothing has been done to revamp the park. As a matter of fact, nothing has been done to improve that park in 40 years.”
The current city councilman for the 47th district is Ari Kagan. At this juncture, we would ask him to make the entire renovation of the park a top priority. Due to the fact those the vast majority of city parks get a complete overhaul, there is no logical reason as to why the McDonald Avenue park has been left out of the loop.
