24,000 square feet for parking

Forgive me for getting a bit obsessed with the Cuver El, but it is hot in our sleepy neighborhood, new businesses are slow to open, and this is the biggest issue right now.

So I was poring over the plans, looking at the land the city is giving up for the affordable housing, and could not help being struck by the fact that the city is giving away public land for parking spots in an area where we desperately need green public space for safe play and enjoyment of folks young and old.

The location of additional parking lots for the unnamed community facilities right in the middle of the proposed housing development is perplexing. And that's 24,000 square feet of additional parking, in lots of 238x50 feet, 153x50 and 90x50 feet, the latter two being adjacent.

Maybe a there could be a Community Garden?

At the hearing is was said that being 50 feet wide, these lots are peculiar and not suited to anything really, and clearly public space was not a consideration.  I looked up the size of Community garden on E4th street - it is reported by the Parks department to be 0.184 acres. That would translate to 8,015 square feet - three community gardens that size could fit into the proposed parking spots! By adding a community garden, we'd be creating a gathering space, a place for the neighbors from the surrounding area, be they Jewish, Bangladeshi, Mexicans, Russians, Italians or Irish (I could go on) to get together, grow some beautiful veggies and flowers, and get to know each other. The E4th Street garden is such a fabulous neighborhood asset, and definitely large enough to provide for enjoyment of outdoor space, neighbors, and some shade to the apartment dwellers around here. (Never mind teaching kids about how the flowers grow, composting, and all those other good things of environmentally responsible living.). By adding parking spots we get ... parking spots.

Or - A Dog Run?

Yet another suggestion for a better use of the space than parking lots: neighbors in Kensington have been working for years to find a spot that would be big enough for a dog run - just ask Sean Casey of the Sean Casey Animal Rescue! Any chance one of these lots could be big enough?

Or, just maybe, a place to play soccer? Currently the games are played in the street ... a 40 year tradition, some residents say (see photo above).