It was a field day in Bay Ridge last week, when two neglected parks finally got the treatment they deserve.
Councilman Vince Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) broke ground — ceremonially, of course — on restoration projects for the windswept Leif Ericson Park and the overgrown Owls Head Overlook.
At the so called “Dust Bowl,” which is near the corner of Eighth Avenue and 65th Street in Leif Ericson Park, workers will install synthetic turf, ensuring that soccer games on the dingy dirt patch will no longer resemble a scene out of Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.”
The $2.8-million project will bring artificial turf, as well as new benches, fences, landscaping, drainage, and water supply to the shabby playing field.
Gentile is also behind a $1.35-million renovation of the run-down Owls Head Overlook near the corner of Shore Road and 68th Street, which calls for new benches, lighting, landscaping, drainage and water supply in the historic harbor-front vista.
“Making sure our public parks are the best they can be, even in tough economic times, means we’re protecting the quality of life that local residents deserve and expect,” Gentile said in a statement.
Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann cheered the renovations, even if it means the neighborhood’s infamous Dust Bowl will no longer live up to the name on the Parks Department’s signage.
“The Dust Bowl will no longer be a dust bowl — which is a good thing,” she said.
