Charles Park Still Waiting After All These Years by Bryan Yurcan - Queens Chronicle

Read original...

Parents of the tennis students say the courts, shown below, are dangerous due to sea shells scattered about them and cracks in the pavement PHOTO BY BRYAN YURCAN

After years of hearing promises and placating answers, Howard Beach residents that have long made use of Frank M. Charles Park finally thought federal funding would became available to fix the park’s dilapidated tennis courts, baseball fields and make other improvements. Some residents say has not yet happened, though a representative from Gateway National Recreation Area said the money is in hand and on its way.

Local residents have long accused Gateway, which the park sits in, of ignoring the upkeep of Charles Park.

But in March, a community meeting was conducted where National Parks Service officials announced an appropriation of $200,000 that would be spent immediately on park repairs. Officials also vowed to form a new partnership that would ensure the community’s only green space no longer plays second fiddle to other priorities.

But those who use Charles Park regularly and live in the community say that has been just another in a long line of empty promises.

“This park is the only green space we have in this community,” said Dorothy McCloskey, director of the Friends of Charles Park Committee. “I think the National Parks Service can do a lot better. There’s a great deal of property that’s been neglected for a long time, and it’s a shame.”

McCloskey said the talk during the March meeting of an increased communication between Gateway and the community has not come to pass.

“They feel like they are not answerable to the community,” she said. “We have been trying to improve this park for years.”

Dave Taft, coordinator of the Jamaica Bay unit of Gateway, said the money is in hand and on its way.

“We do have the money, and the park is exploring the best way to spend it,” he said.

Taft added that Gateway is looking at improvements to the ballfields, and will soon be putting out a bid to renovate the tennis courts. He said Gateway is also going to be removing dead trees from the park.

Meanwhile, McCloskey is skeptical the money will be seen anytime soon.

She said current Superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area, Barry Sullivan, is set to retire this month, and McCloskey feels the transition period during which a new director is brought in will only delay the receiving of the $200,000.

“We haven’t seen a dime of that money and I don’t know when we will,” she said.

Parents of children who use the park for recreation activities said the longer the park is allowed to fall into disrepair, the less safe it will be for kids.

“It’s dangerous, quite honestly,” said Jean Trotta, whose daughter takes tennis lessons at the park. She pointed out the array of broken seashells scattered across the tennis courts as one hazard faced by kids and adults alike.

“I’ve never, ever seen this park in good condition,” she said.

A comment from Congressman Gregory Meeks’ office could not be obtained as of press time. Meeks’ district includes Charles Park.

Frank Gulluscio, who is head of the South Queens Democratic Club and a longtime Charles Park advocate, called the neglect of the park on the part of the NPS “simply atrocious.”

Gulluscio agreed with residents who said playing in the park could become dangerous if it continues to not be kept properly.

“You take your life into your own hands running the fields in there,” he said.

Ultimately, Gulluscio believes the greatest tragedy of the park is the potential of what it could become if it received the proper care from the NPS.

“It should be a shining star for the National Parks Service to show what they can do in the middle of a city,” he said. “That is not currently the case.”

Charles Park: Is Help on its Way? by Lisa Fogarty - Queens Chronicle

Read original...

Will Shafroth, left, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the U.S. Department of the Interior, toured Charles Park Monday with Friends of Charles Park founder Dorothy McCloskey and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica).

For most Howard Beach residents, it may be too soon to hope for the unimaginable: a neighborhood park that’s litter-free, verdant and in tip-top shape so tennis players, baseball dynamos of all ages, runners, walkers and children will have a space they’re proud to call their own.

What may be in the near forseeable future, however, is a promise that Charles Park is on its way to gaining the attention it deserves. On his first trip ever to Queens on Monday, Will Shafroth, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks for the U.S. Department of the Interior, made a beeline for Charles Park at the request of both Friends of Charles Park founder Dorothy McCloskey and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica).

Shafroth spent the afternoon surveying the park’s neglected baseball fields, tennis courts, benches and myriad destroyed trees, stopping residents to quiz them on their ongoing concerns. He was accompanied by McCloskey, Meeks and Maria Burks from the National Parks Service, which owns Charles Park.

“It was an eye opener for a lot of reasons,” Shafroth said. “The tennis courts clearly need to be resurfaced, the baseball fields need work and landscaping needs to be addressed.”

The two main obstacles in the way of refurbishment, he said, are a lack of funding — a challenge for parks across the country — and the fact that, although owned by NPS, Charles Park has unique elements more consistent with a city park.

“There are challenges like how to cut the grass on the baseball fields and what’s the mixture between clay and sand needed on the baseball diamond,” he said. “These aren’t day to day things NPS officers are trained to do.”

But McCloskey, who said she is very appreciative of Shaforth and Meeks’ efforts, said NPS has been in charge of the park for 30 years and excuses won’t cut it. “The idea that kids who play baseball and live within a mile of the park have to travel to play is absurd,” she said, referring to the local baseball teams that no longer practice in Charles Park because of its state.

Tony Modafferi, who has lived across the street from Charles Park for 25 years, says he has seen improvements made to the park maybe two times during this time span. The baseball fields, which he calls the worst in the city, are made up of weeds, rocks and ditches, now that their original clay has been washed away and not replaced. “It pains me to drive through other neighborhoods and see how beautiful their parks are, only to wake up every morning and look at the sorry state of our park,” Modafferi said.

Both Modafferi and McCloskey are hopeful, however, that Shafroth’s attention is the start of a new era for Charles Park. In addition to analyzing the area, Shafroth says he is working with Meeks and NPS to determine what happened to the $1 million appropriation the congressman earmarked for the park two years ago. “We need to give it some focus and we can figure it out,” Shafroth said of the missing money.

NPS did not return phone calls.

North Channel Lot: Who's Responsible? by Lisa Fogarty - Queens Chronicle

Read original...

Though it isn’t illegal to fish off the coast of the North Channel parking lot, inexperienced fishermen are warned to avoid wading into the waters, which are known to produce strong currents. (photo by Lisa Fogarty)

The changing weather may mean more time spent by the pool or frequent trips to Rockaway Beach, but for many Howard Beach residents bordering the Addabbo Bridge, it also unearths a host of familiar issues.

Each year, it’s the same old story: parking problems along 164th and 165th avenues, illegal garbage dumping both inside and along the perimeters of the community and safety concerns resulting from a lack of park security on the large patch of beach and concrete across the bridge known as the North Channel parking lot, residents said.

“People park across the street from us to go walk through the trails because it shortens their walk to the water,” said Pat Toscano, who lives along 164th Avenue. “They have picnics and leave their garbage all over the place and their vans and cars are sometimes still there at 9 or 10 p.m. We never know who is parked outside our house.”

Though recent accounts have focused on animal sacrifices that had reportedly taken place on the shore, many residents have temporarily looked past the religious practice to search for answers to an even more pressing question: exactly who is going to take responsibility for the area’s problems?

Eight years ago, Toscano and his neighbor asked Gateway National Park Service, which owns the lot, to take measures to curb the number of people loitering in front of their homes after hours. Parks Service responded by erecting gates and “No Entry” signs in front of the Jamaica Bay wildlife refuge, an effort Toscano said helped to an extent, but was in no way an antidote to the problem.

“It’s federal property, but it’s not being patrolled properly,” he said. “I try to look out for it as much as I can, but at this point I’m a little peeved that the federal government has done very little to patrol it.”

Dorothy McCloskey, president of Friends of Charles Park Committee, said Gateway needs to designate a park ranger to the area.

“There are no garbage cans down there and people barbecue and fish all night and day,” she said. “Why is it you can’t step onto Fort Tilden or Breezy Point without a permit, but it’s okay to run rampant in Howard Beach?”

Democratic District Leader Frank Gulluscio, who is running for City Council next fall, said trash build-up and loitering is only part of the problem. Recreational fishing, though not illegal, is unsupervised, he said. Some fishermen wade out into the bay unaware of its reputation for having perilous underwater currents.

“Forget about the legality of fishing for a moment,” he said. “It’s dangerous to go out in the water. Gateway doesn’t have a patrol in the area.”

Pete McCarthy, acting superintendent of Jamaica Bay, said the organization is ramping up its efforts to maintain the North Channel parking lot. A few weeks ago, staff members and a park ranger began patrolling the area on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, picking up garbage and ensuring visitors clean up after themselves, he said. When asked about the fact that, just this past Saturday, the lot’s beach was ridden with litter, McCarthy said he would address the issue.

Parks Service also plans to start closing the lot between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., an experiment McCarthy said improved the conditions at Brooklyn’s Canarsie Pier by 75 percent. On the issue of fishing, although Gateway is ultimately responsible for any injuries incurred while wading out into the water to surf fish, McCarthy said in his 11 years at the department, he has never confronted this problem.

“Most people who wade know what they’re doing and are prepared,” he said. “It’s part of the recreational experience.”

Waste Report Identifies Queens Park by Michael Lanza - Queens Tribune

Read original...

A Queens park was singled out in a senate report on wasteful federal spending released last week.

Frank M. Charles Memorial Park in Howard Beach, part of the Jamaica Bay Unit at the Gateway National Recreation Area, was prominently identified in U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Oklahoma) Worst Waste of the Year report.

The troubled park was singled out after $1 million in federal funds were granted this year to repair and maintain its ailing tennis courts and baseball field – the same grant it had received eight years earlier to little effect.

“While these examples of waste might seem insignificant when compared with the overall federal budget, the cost is sizeable when added together. And worse, many of these low priority projects are funded year after year, regardless of whether they achieve their intended effects or not,” the report said. “Such was the case with the Frank M. Charles Memorial Park in New York, which received $1 million in 2008 to repair tennis courts and to install Astroturf on a single baseball field. The same park received a $1 million grant in 2000 for similar upgrades, but the money was squandered, leaving the park in a state of disrepair and in need of more federal funds.”

The report alleged failures in park management and their “notorious inability” to perform routine maintenance at the site, leaving both the tennis courts and baseball field in disrepair.

Coburn, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, said the report is intended to illuminate “absurd federal spending from beltway bureaucrats and elected officials.”

“As we look back on federal spending for 2008, American taxpayers will laugh, and then cry at how their elected officials spent their hard-earned dollars. Not even these tough economic times have dulled Congress’ ability to find new and creative ways to waste taxpayer dollars,” he said.

The report identified more than $1.3 billion earmarked on alleged wasteful spending this year.

“The waste highlighted in this report is only a fraction of the more than $385 billion the federal government throws away every year through waste, fraud and duplication,” Coburn said. “The story the American people already understand is that Congress’ inability to make common sense decisions about spending priorities is putting our children’s future at risk. Until Congress abandons the short-term parochialism that gives us Lobster Cams and inflatable alligators, we will never get a handle on the major economic challenges facing this country.”

Park representatives did not respond to calls for comment.

Jamaica Bay Unit Boss Leaves, Imparts Advice by Lee Landor - Assistant Editor - Queens Chronicle

Read original...

Prior to leaving for another national park, Superintendent of Gateway National Park’s Jamaica Bay Unit Lisa Eckert, left, imparts advice to the next superintendent, community organizations and area residents. (courtesy of Lisa Eckert)

Changes are on the way for Jamaica Bay as its supervisor is leaving her position of three years on Aug. 18.

Wisconsin native Lisa Eckert worked at 11 national parks before coming to Queens in 2005 to fill the long-vacant position of superintendent of Gateway’s “most complex and complicated” unit, Jamaica Bay.

It’s also one of the most remarkable. “The diversity of the resources, not only natural, but historic, here at Jamaica Bay (is) really incredible,” Eckert said.

Being the first unit superintendent neither from New York nor from within Gateway, Eckert brought with her a “national perspective,” helping her to make accomplishments at the 6,000-acre unit.

A critical component of her job, Eckert noted, was leading and guiding the staff. She oversaw 60 year-round, permanent employees and some 140 seasonal staff members. “Leadership and accountability is one thing I’ve been able to provide,” she said, “especially with some consistency and managing tough issues.”

Equally as important as working with staff, Eckert believes building a good rapport with the community surrounding Jamaica Bay is essential to being successful and accomplishing goals. She has worked with community groups to create beach cleanups, educational boat and walking tours and others efforts to maintain, preserve and restore Jamaica Bay.

Eckert also helped employ a general management plan, set to launch in the fall in all of Gateway’s three units, that would generate better communication with the community, garner community interest and input, and disseminate information about the significance of Jamaica Bay.

“All of our jobs here should be to preserve and protect the park resources and to ensure that they’re here for future generations,” Eckert said, adding that a big part of this is educating the public and reminding people that Jamaica Bay is part of a national park.

It seems that has been a relatively easy part of the Eckert’s job. In her 26 years with the National Park Service, the superintendent — who applied competitively for and received a transfer to the Grand Canyon, where she will be the superintendent of a training program — has found that all national parks have one thing in common.

“There’s such passion and interest,” she said. “People really do care. I found that no matter where I’ve lived, I have some employees and ... park neighbors that do really care about the park.”

With an active community surrounding Jamaica Bay, there is no doubt that it will be monitored and cared for in Eckert’s absence. But some community members are worried that those tasks will be left solely up to them, depending on who the next superintendent will be.

Dorothy McCloskey, president of the Friends of Charles Park Committee — a group dedicated to maintaining and upgrading the park, which is part of the Jamaica Bay Unit — is concerned about being left out of the new superintendent selection process.

“The community wants to know what’s going on and to give our input,” McCloskey said. She and other community members have their own ideas, projects and goals for the Jamaica Bay unit that they want to share with Eckert’s successor. They also want to hear the successor’s thoughts and plans and work together to improve the condition of the bay.

Now is the best time to do so, Eckert said. With the general management initiative taking effect in a couple of months, community meetings will be scheduled and discussions will take place to guarantee that everyone has a chance to be heard. Collaboration with the public is as important to Gateway’s staff as it is for McCloskey and other area residents, according to Eckert.

It’s expected that the next superintendent will be kept busy after taking over the position. There are many exciting opportunities, according to Eckert, as well as projects needing completion, such as the general management plan and the $4.8 million rehabilitation of the Ryan Visitor Center in Brooklyn.

The next superintendent will also be responsible for carrying out budget changes Eckert and other Gateway staff are currently planning. All parks in the National Park Service are undergoing “core operations” in which they must develop plans for trimming costs. Gateway is getting close to implementing such a plan that will reduce the $24 million budget by $3 million.

But what Eckert would most like to see the next superintendent do is care for the staff “because the employees are critical resources,” she said. “I would love my successor to continue leading the staff and working with them as a wonderful team.”