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Sixteen Sycamores Playground gets $1 million

Sixteen Sycamores Playground gets $1 million

The squeaky wheel received nearly $1 million worth of grease recently.

Following a half year of lobbying from local parents along with the Boerum Hill Association (BHA), Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Councilmember David Yassky each allocated $487,000 for the renovation of the Sixteen Sycamores Playground.

The half-acre playground, aptly named for its large sycamore trees, is on Schermerhorn Street between 3rd and Nevins Streets.

The money comes after Daughtry Carstarphen, a mother of two young children who lives in the neighborhood, lobbied both Community Board 2 and local elected officials asking for money to renovate the park.

Among the immediate concerns facing the park, she said, is to repair a platform at the eastern edge of the play area that is cordoned off with chicken wire and tape.

Additionally, the handball court needs repainting, and two pieces of playground equipment destroyed in the storm of 2006 – a straight slide and a missing platform – need to be reinstalled, said Carstarphen.

Carstarphen said with an infusion of $250,000, the playground can be spruced up, plus it could create a buzz in the community by holding such events as a family film night.

Other parents suggested the park be divided into different zones, in which adults might utilize benches to eat and play chess in one corner, while children can use the playground at the other end.

Meanwhile, BHA President Sue Wolfe wrote the CB 2 Parks Committee through District Manager Robert Perris that the park’s location is important, in that families from Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene as well as Boerum Hill utilize it.

“Diagonal parking could be introduced on Schermerhorn so that a large bump-out encompassing one lane traffic could be accommodated in front of Sixteen Sycamores Park without the loss of parking spaces,” wrote Wolfe. “The space created would be used to allow the expansion of Sixteen Sycamores playground.”

Wolfe asked the backing of CB 2 to upgrade the playground for the estimated 4,000-plus new neighborhood residents expected by 2023.

City Parks Department spokesperson Philip Abramson said the agency anticipates using half the money to renovate the comfort station and community room, and the other half to renovate the playground.

“The money was just allocated – the next step is to have a scope of work meeting with the community to discuss the potential design.We don’t have a firm timeline at this point,” he said.