DailyHeights

Check out some of the big money being thrown around for jungle gyms these days…

1. The the budget for the teardown/rebuild of Underhill Playground (Underhill Ave. Btw Park and Prospect), underway after months (years?) of delay, is said to have a budget of $700,000. To be fair, that’s about what you’d pay for a floor-and-a-half of unremarkable PH brownstone these days. Yet at the same time, enough to feed an entire Peruvian village for 80 years and still have enough left over to buy half of them associate degrees at CUNY.

2. So now that we have some perspective, let’s take that number and double it, because that’s what the persistent Friends of Dean Playground have pulled down for their renovation project. Thanks, Mr. Boymelgreen. (Learn more about this on Thurs., Dec. 1 from 7:30-9:00 pm at the meeting of the DEAN STREET BLOCK ASSOCIATION, to be held at Iglesia Evangelical Latina, 506 Bergen Street.)

So what’s a Prospect Heights parent to do while waiting for the seeds of playground gentrification to bear fruit? You could check out Mount Prospect Park, a short trek across Eastern Parkway, where on any given weekday afternoon you’ll find a relatively new and fairly elaborate toddler habitrail supervised by a gaggle of Caribbean babysitters (along with some mommies and the occasional stay-at-home dad).

Prospect Heights Message Boards

The long-awaited renovations have begun. So far, they’ve torn up the mats, and apparently have not done much else in the past 2 weeks.

Discuss: Mysterious Fence at Underhill Playground []

We’re a little short on details, but apparently Shaya Boymelgreen’s Newswalk condo development disregarded a requirement to keep green space open. Now, to make up for that, they have agreed to pay for renovations at the Dean St. Playground.

NOTICE: The next meeting of the Friends of Dean Street Playground
PLACE: The Evangelical Church, 506 Bergen Street
DATE: Saturday, April 9th
TIME: 3 PM

“a ‘Friends’ group has been long overdue,” says Paul, a member of that group. “We can do a lot on our own without (Boymelgreen’s) money, but if there is money forthcoming, better it be advised by a group from neighborhood, and not city bureaucrats — besides, the Parks Dept. does need our help.”

Reference: Dean Street Playground Plans [Daily Heights Forums]

NOTICE:  The next meeting of the Friends of Dean Street Playground
Saturday, February 12th, 11 AM; The Evangelical Church, 506 Bergen Street
If you go, fill us in on what happens.